What would you expect? Horses are an animal that has become a work force, they may not be in the fields anymore, or be pulling people to town but they are still working. They race, dance, jump, entertain and even provide therapy.

Accidents happen in ALL horse sports, I have personally seen horses die in three day eventing, jumping, racing etc. Why is it such a shock when something happens at the stampede? You don't think this doesn't happen in other places? Oh that's right, it's a rodeo which apparently are evil.

Most of the horses that are on those chucks are ex-racers who probably would have been slaughtered for meat, now they are trained, conditioned, fed the best and VERY well taken care of, they are athletes and without them those drivers are NOTHING. They retire on the farm, some used for breeding for the next generation or simply left to enjoy the lazy days of retirement.

What should we do? Stop all horse sports? Am I cruel because I love to ride horses?