Supersized horses

By Jack Davison

Thank the Lord that I’m dedicated to maintaining a healthy mind and body – apart from weekends of course. It’s just that now I’m beginning to understand how so many American people have been well and truly supersized. Billboards everywhere, in your face advertising on every highway, television channel, sidewalk; it’s enough to brainwash even the most, strong-minded of people, let alone the kids, who are too young to understand the prospective bad health issues associated with too much saturated fat, salt and whatever other juicy ‘goodness’ goes into that delicious ‘Big Mac’. How easy it must be to slip into the fast food frenzy that plagues the nation, especially when you consider that it is usually cheaper to feed a family on Kentucky fried Chicken in place of a proper, nutritious meal. No wonder the States is otherwise known as, the consumer capital of the world.

I mean, yanks are just so damn innovative; they invent everything. The TV commercials over here never cease to amaze me as there seems to be a solution – usually in the form of some ridiculous product that would be laughed out of the Dragons’ Den – for every inconvenience and seemingly minute problem, known to man. They find opportunity out of nothing, then they build on that opportunity, squeeze it and bleed it, for all that it is worth, usually through a very successful brainwashing campaign. So, after witnessing such commercials I have vowed never to underestimate the stupidity and gullibility of the American population, but on the other hand they could sell oil to the Iraqis!

I would like to share some of my thoughts with you on the oversell that also seems to be encapsulating and changing the shape of the thoroughbred racehorse and the multi-billion dollar industry that goes with it. In marketing and advertising terms, presentation is everything and that philosophy can be equally applicable to the horse trade; the horse being the product. If the product on the shelf doesn’t look, smell and feel good, then, on the shelf is where it will stay, that is, until, it is unceremoniously dumped into the reduced to clear section. The same goes for the yearlings out here. It is all about cosmetics for the sake of aesthetics. You would not believe the lengths that the consigners go to, in order to have some of their, slightly dodgy products, looking and feeling good for the sale date and once that hammer goes down and that docket is signed, well the general attitude seems to carry a swagger of carelessness, coupled with sheer relief that the horse isn’t your problem anymore – job done. That is the harsh truth of business out here; only those with extra thick skins need apply.

The amount of horses, particularly in America that have been sold at the sales, sometimes for huge amounts of money, that have never reached the racetrack is staggering. We are talking about million dollar yearlings that have disappeared off the face of the earth since departing the sales ring. Move on a step and consider the racing stage. Think of the amount of horses that you have seen make a successful start to their racing career, only to breakdown or become too unsound to race thereafter. Can you recall a few? I’m sure you can. The fragility of the racehorse nowadays is becoming more and more obvious. The front page of the racing post illustrates this particularly well, where injuries or problems with big name horses are never too far away from the headlines. Is it that there are conflicting views and ideas as to what success in the thoroughbred horse industry really is? Are breeders becoming more and more committed to breeding sales horses instead of racehorses?

It was only the other day that, our farrier, who knows a thing or two about horses’ feet as he must have spent most of his life bent -double, with a hoof in hand, suggested to me that the good bone and good feet are being bred out of the horses. Coming from a man, who must be in his late sixties and can recall the golden era for American racing, in the 70s, with a genuine fondness, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by such a statement. Hybrid Vigour is the term given to breeding offspring that surpass the performance and favourable traits of their parents. This, however, could be a double-edged sword.

More to come on this topic.

By Jack Davison