Wednesday 13 April 2011

Aintree is a Disgrace.

There is interest shown already in the collie pups , if the homes check out then they will be leaving us very soon. If only all were so popular.Still, they too need permanent loving homes and with their scary start in life it will  a wonderful change in their circumstances.
There has been a problem with the blog as you may have noticed, the flickr photos are not showing up, I have posted new ones so if you type in flickr.com and then freshfieldswales@aol.com you should get to see them.The blog people are working on the problem so hope to have it sorted out soon.I have a new camera battery courtesy of friend Barry but need a new charger so for the moment at least I am able to take some more photos, one to check out on flickr is a great self portrait  of Paddy and me with half a head showing! Im constantly amazed that I am not approached by any leading magazines to photograph for them, my talents are clearly being overlooked! I confess to the puppy photos being taken by someone else, in fact if you spot any particularly good ones I can almost cetainly guarantee they will not have my name on them!
Pictured here are Dids and Paddy  enjoying their long lazy days. Unlike the poor racehorses which were forced to run the Grand National at Aintree , they have no such fears to confront. My heart goes out to those which gave their all and died because people wanted  to make money out of them . An ex National Jockey said in a Mail article that horses were bored in fields and the National gave them an opportunity to show their full potential.Whereas I am all for horses receiving exercise, the fences at Aintree are wickedly difficult and dangerous and no horse would choose to jump them unless forced to do so.Perhaps this so called expert on horse behaviour  has forgotten that in the wild horses seldom gallop unless to save their lives and are fearful of something.As for them running in enjoyment, they run because  a horses natural reaction is to run with the herd, that is why when a rider falls off the horses continues.Make no Mistake it is NOT because they are having such a good time. And as for the poor creature forced to run when his lungs were on the verge of collapsing, that is horrendous, the fact he had to be given oxygen immediately over the finishing line tells its own story.So the jockey was castigated for using the whip excessively, poor justice for his mount! Would that I had the chance to do the same to him. Why do people still support this event?  Does nobody care? Remember Jimmy the ex racehorse which we admitted, he was on the scrap heap at the age of 7 years and was only narrowly  rescued from ending up as dog meat. This beautiful horse (pictured here)was born in Ireland at a racing stable and showed 'great promise' but when he failed to make the grade, was he retired to enjoy his life, no he was sent to a horse sale where his rescuer  thankfully managed to outbid the 'meatman'. He was lucky. thousands are not.Please think about the fate of the horses if you are tempted to place a bet or attend a racing event. They have no voice. I am proud of being Liverpudlian but I am ashamed that it is my home town which hosts this appallingly cruel race.

We were donated two good sofas yesterday and they have replaced the old ones in the conservatory,.The cats are overjoyed to have new beds and have barely managed to drag themselves off them to eat. They so love anything new, the cats in the feral enclosure love it when a few cardboard boxes are placed inside, or a new scratch post or even when their beds are moved about.It is not the same as being free to roam  so we do our best to make things interesting as possible for them by interchanging things in the enclosure .Hopefully  one day they will be offered homes on farms/stables and they will have the life of freedom they deserve.

My photographer friend is threatening by email to put a photo of my bum on flickr - she snapped this horrendous sight when we were trying to get the pups to pose! I  must go to ring her with a warning,If she publishes it I will not be responsible for my actions. I am trying to build up followers, not scare them off!

4 comments:

Jan said...

Lesley I couldn't agree more. The horse racing fraternity is a selfish money making machine that forces uneccesary suffering on defenceless horses. I belong to the Mersey partnership and I will be sure to boycott any event hosted at Aintree and I will make sure they know why. This has got to stop. I am writing to my MP.

Sue said...

Totally agree Lesley. As someone who had to work at Aintree I saw first hand the cruelty of the whole three day event. The punters who get drunk and put their money onto these poor horses just dont see or acknowledge the cruelty. I have seen the horses end the races with burst blood vessels, legs cut to the bone from the solid wood jumps, nostrils the size of tennis balls trying to suck air into their poor lungs. I saw one horse which had just been shot approached by its owner whose main worry was that the valuable saddle was still on the poor creatures back. I have campaigned for years for it to be cancelled but am sad to realise it will never change as its all about money. The best that can be said is that some of the horses now no longer have to face this gruelling three day event. :o(

von said...

I wrote to the RSPCA following the race, asking them to stop working with the organisers of the Grand National. I think they need to take the same stand as they have against Crufts if they want people to listen - i.e saying that this organisation encourages cruel practices to animals which should be banned. I also emailed Aintree and the race sponsors, John Smith, to voice my protest. I have no idea if this will have an effect, but it seemed better than doing nothing. Would it be worth putting links to these websites on this site for people to email complaints to, as you did for Annie the Elephant's case, Leslie?

roy said...

Hi Lesley I agree with your comments on the National .But I am afraid it will never be stopped as there are people making fortunes regardless of how .If the public stopped supporting these events it would stop. It is the same as bullfighting if the british holiday makers stopped supporting bullfights that would cease also , but I am afraid they won't. I am pleased when I hear that the jockeys and people involved in any type of cruel sport come to grief. They deserve it.