Horseshit- Getting your shoes ruined in the name of animal cruelty

"Not all of us can do great things"...but at least some of us are less inclined to support nonsensical industries such as animal betting. Oh, and if you love your dog or cat, why is it any better to race a horse that is whipped and bled? #melbournecup #itsbadenoughieatmeat #beconscious

This is the post I put up on Facebook. Obviously I am an animal rights advocate and it's an embarrassment to myself that I still enjoy the odd steak or chicken sandwich. But nobody is perfect.

What is ridiculous is quietly questioning the truthful impact of betting on horses, while simultaneously giving into peer pressure and parading enthusiasm for all the fan fare of the Melbourne Cup.

The Sydney Morning Herald published a piece yesterday, which reveals the reality of the inhumane treatment of horses in the lead up to and after the race. "Why the Melbourne Cup is actually one of the cruellest days on Australia's calendar" explains that "Horses who do make the grade are subjected to a gruelling schedule from a young age. Because their skeletal systems are still growing, many sustain muscle and joint injuries, fractures, musculoskeletal trauma, and ruptured ligaments." (6/10/17)

Aside from the big money involved among a small selection of society, the fashion industry already makes a huge winning by capitalising on women and men's desire to update an already chocker block wardrobe, where no doubt ample options already exist.

I am not a saint. I do know that the clothes I wear are made by child slaves and underpaid adults in terrible conditions, and that I live in a country that cannot even get its act together to allow homosexuals to marry, when many already 'civilized' nations have. Don't even get me started on puppy farming, buying from a pet store or greyhound racing.

However, supporting an event centred on few people making jackpot on the whipping and slashing of a horse seems uncanny. Why celebrate a so called "Australian" event, when society is supposed to have progressed from the days where animal rights did not exist?

Just a week ago the Weekend Financial Review (28-29 October 2017) reported that our spending on our pets is at all time high ("Sniffing out big deals as dogs leave kennels"). It is simply nonsensical to allow an animal with as much, if not more intelligence than our beloved domestic pets, to be sent to the slaughter house simply because we raced them to death.