At 18:23:37 on 28.09.11, Flicka wrote:
The use of the whip in racing has been in the news a lot recently especially after the jockey riding Ballabriggs,the winning horse in this years Grand National, was penalised for overuse. A lot of you may be pleased to know that the British Racing Authority have come up with much stricter rules for using the whip-see link below.

At 18:33:55 on 28.09.11, Flicka wrote:
However racing commentator John McCririck says that they've been gutless and should have gone for an outright ban. He says that women in particular can't bare to see the whip being used. Do you think that's true? And if it's wrong to use a whip in racing then what about in other disciplines such as show jumping? Are you anti whips or do you think they're an important aid to riding? Read what the outspoken McCririck has to say below-as usual he doesn't hold back although I'm sure they've edited out a few expletives lol!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/racing/article-2042560/John-McCririck-angry-gutless-decision-ban-whip.html

At 22:08:35 on 28.09.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I think in racing the whip is used largely instead of the leg because the leg has little effect on the horse with the jockeys riding with such short stirrups, i don't mind the use of the whip, if you have ever hit yourself with the whips they use they don't hurt at all, riding whips i use hurt a lot more

At 22:15:09 on 28.09.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
And the thing is yes the horse is the only animal we are legally allowed to hit but we are also allowed to use our legs and kick them too and put bits in their mouths and pull them up with this which would probably look cruel if you put a metal piece in a dogs mouth and led it around. I think the whip is an important tool used in racing, the sport will change dramatically with the new rules and is the whip is banned it will change even more because most big winners are pushed to it all the way through the closing stages

At 09:44:42 on 05.10.11, moonrabbit wrote:
Ban them. Its been shown they don't mske racing horses go any faster anyway as the poor buggers are exhausted.

At 20:39:26 on 05.10.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
its been shown it doesn't make them go faster? im not being rude but it does you can see it on any racing clip and yes they are tired but so are 100m sprinters after a sprint, if they were truly exhausted i am sure jockeys would find it easier to stop than they do lol and the horse wouldn't jog, i really like racing as it is and don't want it to change really... it gets wayyy too much bad press can't wait for the jump season to start then the grenville lookalikes come out :)

At 21:34:59 on 05.10.11, JaymeeLS wrote:
I think the main focus of worries in racing should be the age that they are started and raced, not whips.

At 19:56:27 on 09.10.11, claudia_glee wrote:
Since jockeys use such short stirrups, and a lot of horses just don't respond to leg, whips are used widely and are very effective

At 20:05:19 on 09.10.11, JessAndGrenville123 wrote:
I agree about the age, i also think they need to start breeding out the genetic bone diseases that cause lots of the deaths in flat racing instead of just breeding horses for speed but this happens with all breeding for all animals so anyone who is anti racing on here don't take it as something else against racing just something that happens in breeding of pure bred animals whether is dogs, horses or cats lol but i think the whip thing has gone too far

At 14:31:37 on 10.10.11, Sadie Ann wrote:
Applause...Grenville.