Yesterday evening I was discussing with some people the outcome of the Derby, as I hadn't been able to watch it on TV. Nobody knew who had won, and I remember saying, rather cynically, that perhaps another horse would break a leg.

Well, as I'm sure you all know, the filly Eight Belles did indeed break not only one ankle, but two.

It's disgusting, and I'm growing more and more angry with horse racing. My trainer just recently bought a three year old filly off the track from a Thoroughbred rescue for about $200... BECAUSE SHE BROKE HER LEG. Kia will eventually be fine and even fit for riding, but it's an injury that shouldn't have happened. I'm sure everybody remembers Barbaro...

These horses are just too young to be racing. A lot of the colts and fillies (and shouldn't that be a clue if you still use the juvenile name for the animal?) have not finished maturing, especially in their bones. Their legs are still soft!

It frustrates me. I don't see why we can't just wait till the horses are four and five years old to be racing them. I'm aware that because all Thoroughbreds have the same birthday officially, that some of them are actually closer to being four years old than three, but it's still very young.

It seems to me as if the horse world is getting out of hand; I speak now of course of the two Rolex tragedies. The cross country course needs to be less dangerous...

We have to keep the horse's safety as the most important thing in our wonderful involvement with them.

I love horse racing itself, I think it's a fierce and beautiful thing to watch and there's no doubt the horses love it... But soo many of them are just too young.

Anyways, these were just some random thoughts, so. Sorry if it doesn't make much sense.

Jenny