Whips to be Banned in Australian Harness Racing
By Judy Evans
@JudyEv (328120)
Rockingham, Australia
January 12, 2017 6:13pm CST
Back in December, Harness Racing Australia (HRA) voluntarily decided to ban the use of whips in harness racing. The ban comes into place on September 1 this year. Here the sport of harness racing, which we usually call 'the trots' (not to be confused with intestinal troubles!) is very popular although strictly speaking the horses don't 'trot' but pace.
When horses trot they spring from one pair of diagonals to the other so right foreleg and left hind leg hit the ground together followed by the left foreleg and right hind leg. In pacing, both right legs move forward and hit the ground together followed by both left legs. Remember that for a quiz night!
Back to the ban – the ban is in place for 'training tracks, on racetracks, stables, in any other application in our industry.' Harness racing has been part of Australia's sporting history for around 200 years and now employs 19,000 people nationally.
The timeline is interesting:
1970s: Cane whips were replace by fibreglass whips covered with plaited nylon
1990s: The length of the whip was reduced
2010: Drivers were to use elbow and wrist action only
2016: Drivers were to keep one rein in each hand at all times
While this is all to the good, there are times when it is imperative for some means of encouraging a horse to do something he'd rather not. I'm thinking of carriage-driving of coaches, phaetons, buggies, etc. If a horse gets a fright and suddenly starts going backwards towards a ditch, the person in charge has no way to stop the backward movement. It is quite different from being in the saddle. For this equestrian discipline, a whip replaces the rider's legs and is used to convey instructions to the horse, just as the voice it. In the trotting industry, it will be interesting to see what 'tool', if any, is developed in place of the whip.
The photo is of Blackie, an expensive 'trotter' that wouldn't pace and became a different sort of harness horse. Here, we are competing in a Combined Driving Event.
26 people like this
27 responses
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
13 Jan 17
I wish animals could speak so they could tell humans they do not want to be used for their entertainment purposes. I wish things like horse racing could be banned all together.
4 people like this
@katsmeow1213 (28717)
• United States
13 Jan 17
@JudyEv I think it's human nature to compete, I just wish humans would stop using animals to serve their own purposes. I'm sure if given the choice animals would choose not to compete.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jan 17
@katsmeow1213 That is very true in almost all cases. We saw bunny high-jumping on TV last night. The owners have to stay behind the rabbit in all cases so if the rabbit doesn't want to jump he doesn't.
2 people like this
@1hopefulman (45121)
• Canada
13 Jan 17
It' encouraging to see progress to a more humane way of treating animals.
3 people like this
@1hopefulman (45121)
• Canada
13 Jan 17
@JudyEv Yes, that is even more encouraging. 
1 person likes this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
13 Jan 17
I did wonder what they'd use instead of whips?
3 people like this
@Drosophila (16573)
• Ireland
13 Jan 17
@JudyEv ya, but I guess if the jockey wear spurs it's more painful no
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 Jan 17
@Drosophila The jockeys' legs are too high on the horse for them to be able to use spurs effectively.
1 person likes this
@garymarsh6 (23392)
• United Kingdom
13 Jan 17
We saw some super carriage riding in Spain at the National Spanish riding school.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jan 17
I am SO envious. I've seen the Spanish Riding School in Vienna and visited the Cadre Noir in France. Maybe we'll get to Spain next trip.
@Deepizzaguy (96040)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
14 Jan 17
Believe it or not there is no television sports channel in America that televises Harness Racing. Just boring talk shows about sports like football, baseball and basketball.
2 people like this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 Jan 17
We don't see much in the equestrian line here either although I think some races are televised and some channels show nothing else. We don't watch much TV so I'm not too sure about it all but certainly on the weekends there is a lot of sport on TV but not much harness-racing or flat racing.
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
13 Jan 17
well touching with an item, and whipping are two different things, sad that the tool didnt remain just an extension of the hand to add direction, rather than something to smack with
1 person likes this
@Jessicalynnt (50525)
• Centralia, Missouri
14 Jan 17
@JudyEv they will figure something else out, maybe a padded stick or something
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
15 Jan 17
@Jessicalynnt That's not a bad idea. Fibreglass whips were a bad idea I think.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (119018)
• Gainesville, Florida
13 Jan 17
I wonder how much of an outcry there would be if the whips were replaced by 'shock sticks,' where instead of smacking the horse with a whip to give it instructions, the driver instead administers a small electric shock to the horse to give it its cue.
1 person likes this
@moffittjc (119018)
• Gainesville, Florida
18 Jan 17
@JudyEv Ok, so scratch that idea! How about tickling the horses? Surely the horses will respond positively to that stimulation!
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
18 Jan 17
@moffittjc There might soon be a market for long-handled back-scratchers. :)
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@teamfreak16 (43419)
• Denver, Colorado
13 Jan 17
Good for them. My guess would be that the horse probably doesn't care much for it?
2 people like this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
13 Jan 17
You'd be absolutely right but It's hard to seeing the racing being much of a spectacle. It will be interesting to see how hard the horses try to beat each other. Maybe they'll be conditioned by shouts or something. Pavlov's theory and all that but whips are being banned in training and at stables.
1 person likes this
@FayeHazel (40246)
• United States
13 Jan 17
I like that they restrict the use of the whip, but I don't know what I think about banning it, esp. since like you mention - it's an aid to pass along cues to the horse
2 people like this
@Madshadi (8841)
• Brussels, Belgium
18 Jan 17
I have a very limited knowledge on horses but what I believe is that if horses are mistreated or subjected to severe pain, they would not obey their riders. So a whip, if used properly, should not hurt horses. But I do understand why some would be against the idea of horses being hit in the name of sport.
1 person likes this
@JudyEv (328120)
• Rockingham, Australia
14 Jan 17
I do. There doesn't seem to be a middle ground. I don't like seeing the horses hit either but they have clamped down on the action and severity of whipping. I think they can only hit them half a dozen times in a race now. I suppose a lot of the 'spectacle' seems to have disappeared from those last few frantic moments just before the winning post.
1 person likes this
@nanette64 (20364)
• Fairfield, Texas
13 Jan 17
It makes me maddern' hell when I see a whip used in the US for horse racing @JudyEv .
1 person likes this
@LindaCPearson (2241)
• United States
17 Jan 17
It's such a shame to hear of horses and whips being used. In a perfect world, how nice it would be if animals didn't have to do all those things we humans want them to do, regardless of the pain involved.
1 person likes this
