Russethouse Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/default.stmA really tragic and odd death for two horses at Newbury yesterday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 So it was just the two horses that completed the circuit then? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pachapapa Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Strange. Some handlers are reported as feeling tingling in their feet, presumably with leather or rubber soles. The horses with light weight clean racing shoes would have been more susceptible; I wonder whether their would be a difference between aluminium and steel shoes. Methinks a horse with aluminium shoes would get a bigger kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Coeur de Lion Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Sorry about my joke earlier, was just horsing around.Anyway, aluminium is one of the best conductors of electricity, so papa is quite correct in his thoughts of a horse getting a bigger kick by wearing aluminium shoes compared to steel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
margate1 Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Very lame joke may i say Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russethouse Posted February 13, 2011 Author Share Posted February 13, 2011 Aren't all racing shoes aluminium ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 [quote user="Russethouse"]Aren't all racing shoes aluminium ? [/quote]Apart from a very small percentage of nylon stick-on ones, yes.The vets were saying yesterday that although the shoes contribute, it's the fact that they are quadrupeds which makes them 4x more susceptible than humans.Very sad and very weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Théière Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 [quote user="cooperlola"] it's the fact that they are quadrupeds which makes them 4x more susceptible than humans.[/quote]A human standing on One leg? or two times more susceptible than humans [:P] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 I don't know - the explanation was very technical and had something to do with the power balancing out between both sets of legs. I'm no expert but I certainly didn't find it in the least bit funny in any way. Suffice it to say that this was one of the reasons given as to why the horses died but the grooms did not. EDIT : From a vet':"Electricity affects four legged animals in quite a different way from humans. Because of the ground covered, the charge is multiplied. As electricity radiates, the charge becomes less, like rings on a pond, but the four legged animal will get the charge from both the inner and outer rings, so effectively gets a double charge, whereas the human will get just the one charge. It doesn't have to be a very strong current to kill a horse, and will often be totally unnoticed by a person." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sueyh Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Made me go cold Coops. So so sad for all involved, lads, trainers, owners etc Have stood at that point watching the horses parade. John Francome was saying that it only takes about a sixth of the electricity to kill a horse as it does a human.Condolences to all involved.Suey Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Horses get killed every day on racecourses (and many more off them) but there was something particularly unpleasant about this incident. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quillan Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 And too think only the other day there was a CSI Miami where the guys get electrocuted on the beach play beach ball, spooky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 This is so sad. I didn't know that horses were more susceptible to electric shocks than human beings. When I first started visiting France regularly I remember being surprised at the widespread use of electric fences when no-one I knew in England used them.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cooperlola Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Electric fences are DC and thus the effects are different, Hoddy. Again, I'm no electrician and don't know why but they aren't harmful in the same way - just a bit unpleasant - and they work mainly because once "bitten" animals avoid them! Electric fence is also used in the UK (usually to split paddocks up, or on top of fencing - you don't see it anything like so much in use as boundary fencing like you do here.) What is worse, where horses are concerned, is barbed wire - but that's another discussion altogether! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoddy Posted February 13, 2011 Share Posted February 13, 2011 Thanks for that Coops. The use of electric fences used to be widespread round here especially for dairy cattle but no-one uses it for horses. I've had horses on part of my land in France who've been kept in by electric fences and I know they're used to them because they never touch - I've just not seen them in use for horses in England.Hoddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keni Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Today, on the news it was something about these two horses on the grass and if they's stayed on the path, they might have lived - couldn't catch it all. Daughter's brother (long story) is a jockey at Middleham - he will be devastaated! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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