Horse Whisperer Calls For Ban On Whips
By BRENDAD CORMICK August 6th, 2006
MONTY ROBERTS is known around the world as the horse whisperer. But where life has taught him that muted tones work for horses, where people are concerned, you need to shout from the rooftops. The best-selling author and horse trainer, who advises the Queen on horse matters, leaves Australia today having spoken to jockeys, trainers and anybody prepared to listen over the past week about the "felonious abuse" of racehorses with the whip.
He lives for the day when "the persuader" will be obsolete. Roberts is encouraged by trends in Europe where whip use by jockeys has been limited.
"Whips ought to go in a museum with a list of all the races lost with them," Roberts said. "It is a fact that whips have been involved in 86 per cent of racing accidents."
Roberts, who spoke to Victoria's apprentice jockeys this week, said it was a myth that whips make horses run faster. He said the same technology that measures the speed of tennis serves had proved that horses slowed when struck. On another level, Roberts believes whip usage is keeping people from the racetrack.
"Young people are telling us we don't want to go to the races and see horses abused," Roberts said at Sandown races on Wednesday, where a sparse crowd was in attendance.
Roberts has an ally in outspoken English commentator John McCririck, who lashed out in a television interview after champion Belgian jockey Christophe Soumillon hit the world's top-rated horse Hurricane Run 24 times to win the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot last Saturday.
Soumillon copped a six-day ban for excessive use of the whip. McCririck said the reason jockeys do it, especially in the big races, is because they are only given a few days off. He called for offenders to be disqualified from the placings.
"You cannot hit living creatures. It is unacceptable in the modern world," McCririck said on the At The Races coverage. "Whether that is right or wrong, it is unacceptable. It will end. The whip is coming to an end."
Horseracing Regulatory Authority director Malcolm Wallace said he didn't think there was any reason to review the whip rules.
"We obviously don't want jockeys to think getting a ban is a reasonable price to pay for winning a big race, but on the other hand six days is a pretty significant penalty and it cuts the jockey out of any Group Ones," Wallace said.
"There was no question at Ascot that the punishment didn't fit the crime. I think it was thought that six days is a significant punishment and we are certainly not limited to that. And if somebody butchered a horse to get it home in front, then they would be looking at more than six days."
Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee Ron Quinton is the liaison officer for apprentices and senior jockeys in NSW.
He won eight Sydney premierships and four Golden Slippers among 46 Group I victories in a career that also saw him win an Irish St Leger on Petite Ile. If anything, over almost three decades of riding, Quinton developed a reputation for not hitting horses enough in the eyes of some race followers.
"I was always taught by (my master) Theo Green to use the whip as a last resort," Quinton said.
"I was deemed, not by the stewards but the racing fraternity, to not being tough enough on my mounts. My old boss always said you couldn't carry a horse and it was about the skill factor, not force."
Quinton sees the whip as an important accessory to a jockey, like the helmet and safety vest. Jockeys will contend the whip is as much used to direct a horse that may be wayward, especially one with little race experience.
"It is definitely a tool of the trade for a jockey and I couldn't agree with what Monty is calling for," Quinton said.
"Whips today are made in a fashion that don't mark or hurt a horse. Whips that did that went out with button-up boots.
"I have no doubt that excessive use of the whip is not to be condoned but I do think there are horses that do respond to it (whip use)."
Today's whips are comprised of a fibreglass shaft with leather flaps that clap together to make a sound effect when contact is made with the horse.
Stewards in Australia will come down hard on jockeys who flog a horse unnecessarily but rules vary in international jurisdictions.
In England, a jockey may hit the horse once every four strides while in other parts of Europe it is one in six. In Germany, spongy nerf whips are all that can be used on two-year-olds while in Scandinavian countries jockeys can carry a whip but only use it while both hands are on the reins.
Quinton rode alongside one of the most vigorous jockeys of the modern era, Mick 'The Enforcer' Dittman. The Queenslander gave the impression that he was cutting steaks off the rumps of his mounts but Quinton said nothing was further from the truth.
"If you spoke to jockeys that rode alongside Mick Dittman, they'll tell you he was a relentless rider but he never hit a horse hard. He never used a hard whip. He used a very flexible whip and never hit a horse very hard and didn't mark them."
Australia's reputation, rightly or wrongly, as a nation of crash and bash riders over recent decades isn't lost on the California native Roberts. He was told by a hard-nosed racing veteran on a previous visit that Australia was the land of whips and dogs.
The extension of a competition founded in Victoria three years ago with the support of chief steward Des Gleeson has restored Roberts' faith.
Originally started at a point-to-point steeplechase meeting in 2003, the Hands and Heels Riding Competition now spans five race meetings in country Victoria. Jumps riders are judged and allocated points for the way they handle their mounts. Gleeson will judge next Saturday's round at Warrnambool with the series champion announced at Pakenham on September 10.
"I hope I am around to see someone go all the way but this is a step in the right direction," Roberts said.
Published in The Australian 2006