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Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014

SIMPLE SUMMARY: This paper documents the dynamics of Australian thoroughbred jump racing in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with the aim of informing debate about risks to horses and the future of this activity. We conclude that the safety of Australian jump racing has improved in recent years but...

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Autores principales: Ruse, Karen, Davison, Aidan, Bridle, Kerry
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693203/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26506396
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040399
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author Ruse, Karen
Davison, Aidan
Bridle, Kerry
author_facet Ruse, Karen
Davison, Aidan
Bridle, Kerry
author_sort Ruse, Karen
collection PubMed
description SIMPLE SUMMARY: This paper documents the dynamics of Australian thoroughbred jump racing in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with the aim of informing debate about risks to horses and the future of this activity. We conclude that the safety of Australian jump racing has improved in recent years but that steeplechases are considerably riskier for horses than hurdle races. ABSTRACT: Thoroughbred jump racing sits in the spotlight of contemporary welfare and ethical debates about horse racing. In Australia, jump racing comprises hurdle and steeplechase races and has ceased in all but two states, Victoria and South Australia. This paper documents the size, geography, composition, and dynamics of Australian jump racing for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with a focus on debate about risks to horses. We found that the majority of Australian jump racing is regional, based in Victoria, and involves a small group of experienced trainers and jockeys. Australian jump horses are on average 6.4 years of age. The jump career of the majority of horses involves participating in three or less hurdle races and over one season. Almost one quarter of Australian jump horses race only once. There were ten horse fatalities in races over the study period, with an overall fatality rate of 5.1 fatalities per 1000 horses starting in a jump race (0.51%). There was significant disparity between the fatality rate for hurdles, 0.75 fatalities per 1000 starts (0.075%) and steeplechases, 14 fatalities per 1000 starts (1.4%). Safety initiatives introduced by regulators in 2010 appear to have significantly decreased risks to horses in hurdles but have had little or no effect in steeplechases. Our discussion considers these data in light of public controversy, political debate, and industry regulation related to jump horse safety.
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spelling pubmed-46932032016-01-07 Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014 Ruse, Karen Davison, Aidan Bridle, Kerry Animals (Basel) Article SIMPLE SUMMARY: This paper documents the dynamics of Australian thoroughbred jump racing in the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with the aim of informing debate about risks to horses and the future of this activity. We conclude that the safety of Australian jump racing has improved in recent years but that steeplechases are considerably riskier for horses than hurdle races. ABSTRACT: Thoroughbred jump racing sits in the spotlight of contemporary welfare and ethical debates about horse racing. In Australia, jump racing comprises hurdle and steeplechase races and has ceased in all but two states, Victoria and South Australia. This paper documents the size, geography, composition, and dynamics of Australian jump racing for the 2012, 2013, and 2014 seasons with a focus on debate about risks to horses. We found that the majority of Australian jump racing is regional, based in Victoria, and involves a small group of experienced trainers and jockeys. Australian jump horses are on average 6.4 years of age. The jump career of the majority of horses involves participating in three or less hurdle races and over one season. Almost one quarter of Australian jump horses race only once. There were ten horse fatalities in races over the study period, with an overall fatality rate of 5.1 fatalities per 1000 horses starting in a jump race (0.51%). There was significant disparity between the fatality rate for hurdles, 0.75 fatalities per 1000 starts (0.075%) and steeplechases, 14 fatalities per 1000 starts (1.4%). Safety initiatives introduced by regulators in 2010 appear to have significantly decreased risks to horses in hurdles but have had little or no effect in steeplechases. Our discussion considers these data in light of public controversy, political debate, and industry regulation related to jump horse safety. MDPI 2015-10-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4693203/ /pubmed/26506396 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040399 Text en © 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Ruse, Karen
Davison, Aidan
Bridle, Kerry
Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title_full Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title_fullStr Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title_full_unstemmed Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title_short Jump Horse Safety: Reconciling Public Debate and Australian Thoroughbred Jump Racing Data, 2012–2014
title_sort jump horse safety: reconciling public debate and australian thoroughbred jump racing data, 2012–2014
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4693203/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26506396
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ani5040399
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