| One of the things that will keep me from betting on a | | | | know because I have owned at least one horse that |
| horse, no matter how highly I may rate its physical | | | | was like that. He didn't object to the whip, he objected |
| attributes, is the line, "races with no whip." If I see a | | | | to doing anything he didn't want to do and was finally |
| horse that is being raced and the jockey is not | | | | sold to an Amish farmer who hitched him to a wagon. |
| carrying a whip, I won't bet it. It doesn't matter how | | | | There are jockeys who know exactly how to whip a |
| good it may appear. | | | | horse and how much to whip a horse to encourage it |
| Maybe I'm being a little superstitious, but my experience | | | | to race as hard as it can, without damaging the horse's |
| over 50 years around horses has taught me that | | | | psyche. They are good stick men and women. Any |
| betting on horses when the jockey doesn't have a | | | | good trainer will tell you that they want the rider to use |
| whip, is a waste of money. It has nothing to do with | | | | the whip enough to encourage but not to discourage |
| wanting to see a horse whipped, but it does have a lot | | | | or abuse the animal. |
| to do with horses and their attitudes. | | | | Horses that do not respond well to the whip, who slow |
| Almost any horse, in the heat of a race, will allow you | | | | down or act up in the stretch, have either had a bad |
| to whip it and will usually respond to the whip by giving | | | | experience with a whip or are just too contrary to be |
| a little more. There is nothing wrong with that as long | | | | good racers. There may be some exceptions, but I |
| as the whipping is confined to the saddle blanket or | | | | haven't seen them. Horses who race without a whip |
| rump, where most whipping occurs. To be honest, | | | | rarely last long at the race track and racing without a |
| horses are strong willed animals and if it bothered | | | | whip is a last ditch effort to figure out what it is that is |
| them that much, they wouldn't run faster. | | | | keeping it from winning. If you don't believe it, ask |
| If you do something to a horse that it doesn't like, | | | | yourself how many times any horse you have seen |
| antagonize it, it will react in a negative way. It may run | | | | race without a whip has won and how many more |
| a little faster but will also balk, jump, veer and do many | | | | times it raced with or without a whip. |
| things that would make it too dangerous in a race. I | | | | |