Question
smacking the horse on
hello sir, today a mock or a trial race was conducted after all the races which was held at 1100m. there were 4 runners. when the horses were loaded in the gates. a jockey in the stall number 4 smacked the horse with whip on its rump near 2 to 3 times before the start was effected even though the horse gates weres closed. when the gates were opened, the horse broke cleanly and fast went start to finish and won the race by 2 lengths.
now, my question is:
why did the jockey smack the horse when it was loaded in the gates 2 to 3 times? what does the horse learn from that? was he making the horse alert that the start is going to be effected within few seconds? please explain me sir. i even attached an image of the horse being smacking in the gates.
AnswerThis technique is used, more commonly, by quarter horse riders than thoroughbred jockeys. It looks pretty brutal an unnecessary, but it does work for reasons most trainers and jockeys do not know and can only speculate. Similar abuse tactics were practiced by trainers in the old days before they figured out all they needed to do was to workout the horse prior to entering the gates. A proper warm up should cause a horse's spleen to dump the extra red blood cells needed for high demands of racing. The spleen holds a third of the horse's red blood cells needed for oxygen transport. When the horse is excited, the spleen contracts and pushes the cells into the blood stream for immediate use. When the jockey start hitting the horse rapidly, it triggers the fight or flight response which causes the spleen to contract and get those extra blood cells in the system. It's pretty much a lazy warm up for today's riders. It can ruin horses mentally and end up causing a horse to refuse to load in the gates, refuse to break or even refuse to train in the morning.
Christopher Crocker
http://CrockerRacingStable.com
Thoroughbred Horse Racing Partnerships and Crocker Racing Stable
