First conclusive evidence horses hurt by whips, whips don't aid jockeys

Do horses feel pain when whipped? Racing industry officials have long held that they don’t.

Yet in two studies released around Melbourne Cup week, Professor Paul McGreevy from the University of Sydney School of Veterinary Science and his colleagues have found that not only have horses evolved to feel as much pain when whipped as a human would, but that there is no compelling reason to whip these animals at all.

The culmination of nearly a decade of research, these findings have the potential to fundamentally change the racing industry, locally and worldwide.

Published across two papers in open access journal Animals, Professor McGreevy says he would not be surprised if the findings prompt the phasing-out of whipping in Australian racing within two years.

Professor McGreevy and colleagues examined whether horses are likely to feel as much pain as humans would when whipped. Using microscopic samples of skin from 10 deceased humans and 20 euthanised horses, they looked for differences between the species’ skin structure and nerve supply.

The results revealed “no significant difference” between humans and horses in the concentration of nerve endings in the outer layers of skin, nor any difference in thickness of this skin layer.

“This was not surprising, as horses, like humans, need robust yet sensitive skin to respond to touch, say, from flying insects or other horses,” said Professor McGreevy.

“From this, we can deduce that horses are likely to feel as much pain as humans would when being whipped.”

“Repeated strikes of the whip in horses that are fatigued as they end a race are likely to be distressing and cause suffering. A horse’s loss of agency as it undergoes this kind of repeated treatment is thought to lead to learned helplessness.”

In another paper, Professor McGreevy and colleagues, including Professor Phil McManus from the School of Geosciences, used data from the UK racing industry to compare 67 races with whips to 59 without, controlled for variables including number of horses, racetrack surface characteristics on the day, and race distance.

“In the UK, unlike in Australia, the racing authorities hold whip-free races for apprentice jockeys,” Professor McGreevy explained. “This seems at odds with the racing industry’s claim that whips are necessary for steering, and therefore, jockey safety.

“Nevertheless, our analysis of racing stewards’ reports from the two types of races revealed no statistical safety difference between races with and without whips.”

He and his co-authors also found that race times and metrics of racing integrity – compliance with rules – did not differ between the kinds of races. “This invalidates industry assumptions to the contrary,” Professor McGreevy said.

“The findings of this study clearly show that the use of whips in horse racing is unnecessary, unjustifiable and unreasonable.”

• According to the rules of Australian racing, before the final 100 metres, horses must be struck no more than five times. Ove the final 100 metres, they can be struck every stride.
• The industry has said that the padded whip (mandated since 2009) prevents the horse from feeling pain (but does not stop it from feeling ‘encouragement’). It has been shown that unpadded sections of the whip, that most likely cause greater pain than the unpadded sections, are more likely than not to make contact with the horse. Aside from this, there is evidence that the padded sections can also cause damage.
• Rules around whip use are hard to police. Previous studies by Professor McGreevy’s team have revealed evidence of at least 28 examples of breaches of the whip rules in 15 NSW races, that did not appear in routine, post-race steward reports.
• Norway outlawed the whipping of racehorses in 1982. Meanwhile, in the UK, since 1999, The Jockey Club, and more recently, the British Horseracing Authority, have run whip-free races for apprentice jockeys since 1999.
• In Australia, three quarters of the public support a ban on whipping.

Declaration: These studies and the costs of open access publication were supported by the Sydney School of Veterinary Science and the RSPCA Australia.