Racehorse injuries

Racehorse injuries and fatalities are a side effect of training and competition. The problem with equine injuries is that they so often result in death. A 2005 study by the United States Department of Agriculture found that injuries are the second leading cause of death in horses, second only to old age.Nureyev's recovery from a broken leg while retired at stud in 1987 typifies the struggle horses have after being injured.

Two years after Secretariat's recordbreaking US Triple Crown took the sport in the United States to a new level of popularity, the breakdown and death of Ruffian brought on a new era of safety concerns. Racehorses had been breaking down for centuries, but never before in an event so widely seen as the great match race between Ruffian and Foolish Pleasure at Belmont Park with 18 million viewers. The horse racing industry has been trying to adapt to the increased safety concerns ever since. "I personally think that in a very real way, we're almost held to a higher standard because of the horses—they don't make the decision to do this. And I think that's fair," said Nick Nicholson, the president and chief executive of Keeneland.

The racing industry will always be faced with the unavoidable and inevitable accident when horses get bumped or tangled in traffic, trip, or take a bad step. 1885 Kentucky Derby winner Joe Cotton had to be euthanized after breaking his leg while tripping over two other horses who had fallen in front of him in an 1888 race. Accidents and disputes were so bad in 1732 England, soon after nobility first started racing Thoroughbreds, that participants were ending up in court. The "Sport of Kings" has been described as an exercise in controlled chaos. The jockeys can be daredevils, and the racehorses can be unpredictable. As a response to the chaos, stewardship of racing began to evolve in 1751 when the first set of recorded racing rules were printed and in 1752 when Britain's Jockey Club started to become racing's first regulatory authority.

...
Wikipedia