Many outside the horse racing world may find the idea of racehorses being injured and killed during their jobs surprising, yet unfortunately this industry is plagued with drug use, abuse of training techniques, serious injuries sustained while performing jobs, as well as slaughter. Although improvements are being made gradually over time due to increasing support and advocacy groups working toward improved conditions within horse racing, further progress must still be achieved before we can say anything positive can come out of this industry.
Havnameltdown’s postmortem examination revealed severe osteoarthritis and degenerative joint disease in all four limbs, as well as corticosteroids and sedatives being administered for pain control, while his forced running at 2 years of age when his skeletal system wasn’t quite ready to handle sprinting on hard tracks at high speeds is cause for alarm among animal rights activists.
Outer observers of racing often view its treatment of horses themselves as the most troubling aspect. While bettors wear silk hats and drink mint juleps while parading their fancy outfits around Pimlico, their mounts remain isolated in barns without sufficient room to roam and are subjected to treadmill exercise sessions in order to stay in peak running condition and run fast races. Breeding practices within the industry have come under scrutiny, often including mixing Thoroughbreds with Quarter horses that don’t make great runners for breeding purposes or colliding them together when matings occur between races – making breeding practices something which has come under criticism due to long bouts of treadmill exercise sessions meant to keep running fast on track races at Pimlico racetrack.
At the Preakness, fans in the grandstands threw off-cuts of wood from their shoes and other debris onto the track as they cheered, disturbing outsiders by racehorses’ confinement, frequent injuries they sustain and inevitable deaths – such as when HBO series Luck starring Dustin Hoffman was cancelled after one of its production horses suffered severe injuries and had to be put down due to medical costs.
Horse races can be disastrous for business. Even when properly conducted by boards and management, protracted succession races can damage momentum within an organization and lose employees faith in its processes. They also taint relationships between company and board and undermine open communications that help foster success in producing positive results.
Boards of companies using horse races to choose their CEOs typically claim it works because it allows strong candidates from throughout the organization a fair opportunity to compete like they would in an open business environment. An organized horse race can also serve as an effective method to identify future leaders within an organization by encouraging top performers to vie for senior roles against one another. Assembling multiple qualified candidates is a clear sign that a company has invested in its leadership development programs and prioritized placing high performers into challenging roles. A horse race also can serve as an effective motivating tool, encouraging employees to demonstrate they possess what it takes to lead the company against stiff competition.