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Jump horse safety: reconciling public debate and Australian thoroughbred jump racing data, 2012-2014
Citation
Ruse, K and Davison, A and Bridle, K, Jump horse safety: reconciling public debate and Australian thoroughbred jump racing data, 2012-2014, Animals, 5, (4) pp. 1072-1091. ISSN 2076-2615 (2015) [Refereed Article]
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Copyright Statement
2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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 Animals 2015, 5 1073 data in light of public controversy, political debate, and industry regulation related to jump horse safety.
Item Details
| Item Type: | Refereed Article |
|---|---|
| Keywords: | human-animal relations, horse safety, horse-racing, public debate, media, thoroughbred, steeplechase, hurdles, risk, safety |
| Research Division: | Human Society |
| Research Group: | Human geography |
| Research Field: | Social geography |
| Objective Division: | Expanding Knowledge |
| Objective Group: | Expanding knowledge |
| Objective Field: | Expanding knowledge in human society |
| UTAS Author: | Ruse, K (Ms Karen Ruse) |
| UTAS Author: | Davison, A (Associate Professor Aidan Davison) |
| UTAS Author: | Bridle, K (Dr Kerry Bridle) |
| ID Code: | 103659 |
| Year Published: | 2015 |
| Funding Support: | Australian Research Council (DP130104933) |
| Web of Science® Times Cited: | 8 |
| Deposited By: | Geography and Environmental Studies |
| Deposited On: | 2015-10-23 |
| Last Modified: | 2018-04-05 |
| Downloads: | 697 View Download Statistics |
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