Your Edmonton Journal

Treatment of horses slammed
Amanda Ferguson, The Edmonton Journal
Published: 2:50 am

EDMONTON - An animal rights group is objecting to chuckwagon races at Capital Ex, spurred by the death of three horses at the recent Calgary Stampede. But race organizers say their event keeps hundreds of thoroughbreds from the slaughterhouse.

"We're calling for a ban, for the chuckwagon races to be stopped," Tove Reece, director of the Edmonton-based Voice for Animals, said Saturday. "When you do the same thing over and over again, and you get the same results, you've got to stop calling it an accident. That's just not valid anymore."

About 25 protesters from his group showed up on the steps of Capital Ex for the opening of the derby Friday night, protesting the "inhumane" treatment of horses. More than 50 horses have been killed in the province from chuckwagon races in the last 21 years, according to the Alberta Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Jay Paylor, general manager of the World Professional Chuckwagon Association, said Saturday if it wasn't for the sport, as many as 700 thoroughbreds would be sent to the slaughterhouse at the end of their racing careers.

"In many cases, their lives are extended, gosh, easily 10 years; in many cases as much as 20 years. These are working horses that work about 50 days a year and then they are sent out to pasture and their lives are very relaxed."

Paylor said while the chuckwagon horses are seen as working animals, there is no inhumane activity present within the sport.

"The chuckwagon drivers and their families get to know the horses very, very well," he said. "Anyone would just have to come back to the barns and see the level of treatment they receive as part of a chuckwagon team and it would astound almost anybody."

Reece was not reassured.

"To say someone may be doomed, that you can exploit them and treat them inhumanely ... that simply is not a justification for what they are doing," he said. "That is no excuse for cruelty."

Ten-time champion Kelly Sutherland was suspended from the final day of racing during the Stampede for his role in the accident that killed three horses. Officials said Sutherland drove his team too aggressively towards the rail during the race, setting off the collision that also sent another driver to hospital.

His son, Mark Sutherland, won the first night of Edmonton's chuckwagon derby championship on Friday with the top time of 1:22.96. Kelly placed 32nd.

The Calgary accident did not seem to bother about 3,000 fans who came out to see the races Saturday.

"It's become a sport over the years," Grande Prairie resident Tara Blake said. "I think they keep really good care of the horses and they have to do that just to win."

axferguson@thejournal.canwest.com