Eight Belles

I'm sorry to blog about this...but I figure maybe if I do the images and the story will go to my computer screen and out of my mind. I can't seem to stop thinking about this poor filly. She was beautiful and now she is gone. She broke both of her front ankles just after crossing the finish line in the Kentucky Derby and they had to euthanize her right there on the track. She was the only filly in the derby on Sunday. There are many who say the jockey was whipping her towards the end and should have realize she was injured (hello...both front ankles were broke!) and should have let up. I am not a jockey, or a trainer, or a horse owner, but I am a horse lover.

When I was a child I loved horses more than anything. The show "My Friend Flicka" was my favorite. When I was 11 I would ride my bike about 5 miles to a stables that let me volunteer there (I can't believe my mom let me ride my bike 5 miles by myself at 11...but I lived in Michigan and that was in the early 70's and times were different). I always wanted a horse, but never got one. I would dream that Santa would bring me a horse...I guess it was too big to come down the chimney. When I moved to LA I started volunteering for a non-profit that offered free riding lessons to under privileged kids. I loved being around the horses.

I'm the type of person that if there is an animal and a person together and something happens to them I worry about the animal, not the person. That's just the way I am. So, when this happened on Sunday, I was so sad...poor Eight Belles....her life was to race and she did everything possible to be her best, she knew nothing else. There is talk that breeding race horses has changed, it's now more about breeding a horse for the performance instead of breeding a solid horse. I don't know if that is true all I know is that she is gone and it makes me really sad.

Comments

[Kimberlee]

alisa, this broke my heart, too. Many animals (dogs, horses) live only to please their 'owner/master/should be guardian and protectors'. I couldn't watch the footage of her demise, only read about it and still... I truly hope the reports about the jockey are untrue, I think most jockeys sort of 'commune' with their horses; it may just be hyped-up stuff from PETA to garner attention in opposition to horse racing.

She was a work of beauty, Eight Belles.

[Alisa Rosseter]

I didn't watch it either, just read about it..it was all over the news today and I would either turn away or turn the channel.

[Becky]

Ugh. This is so sad. And to top it off, I heard about it when I was with a little girl and her neighbor walked right up to us and told us the story. Poor child burst into tears and sobbed the whole way home.

[b]

Oh, I'm so with you on this. Sad and torn. I love horses so much and as much as I love to watch these beautiful horses race, I feel torn about how they can push the horses. Yet, I appreciate that these horses tend to have wonderful care, etc. So sad.