HBO's "Luck" cancelled (racehorse death controversay)

[yoopermom]

Here's the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/horse-racing-drama-luck-proved-too-real-hbo-140043755.html

I have conflicting feelings on this. This show was superbly shot, every aspect of the horse world felt so authentic, the racing scenes were exciting and beautifully shot, and the characters felt "real" (many of the minor characters and background actors are/were real people in the horseracing world).

OTOH, three horse deaths is a lot. They were all accidents (it's not like the director ordered some poor horse's leg to be fractured), and do reflect the large number of racehorses that are killed yearly (the article says 1 in 500 races has a fatal injury).

So should the show have been cancelled? Will it cause a change in the industry? Should it?

Terri

http://news.yahoo.com/horse-racing-drama-luck-proved-too-real-hbo-140043755.html

 

[lttlmc3]

Obviously the set wasn't safe for the horses being used. I bet that horse owners were no longer willing to let their horses be on set. They were obviously doing something wrong as well. If they can't get it right, then they should pull the show. That's what they did and I agree.

 

[Jennasis]

Without any additional information, I can't judge what they did or even the circumstances of the accident. Two horses fractured their legs while filming race sequences and one suffered a head injury when he slipped and fell, but I would need to know more about what exactly happened.

Horses are large, powerful animals. You've got 1200lbs held up on four relatively spindly legs, and when all that weight is in motion, any wrong step can be disastrous. I am a horse owner and a professional horse trainer, riding instructor and barn manager. There are currently 26 horses in my care on my farm. I'm no stranger to injury and death in regards to horses.

On my farm, in 9 years, there have been FIVE times a horse has broken a leg (only two required the horse to be euthanized). All five times were a result of the horse enjoying his time at liberty in our pasture or some cases, hanging out in his stall. We had one guy slip on wet grass and fracture his tibia (he had surgery to put in a plate and screws and returned to work in 6 months), another was kicked by another horse shattering his splint bone (required 6 months of stall rest but the bone eventually calcified and he returned to work), We had one fall in his stall and break his cannon bone (he was elderly and brittle and he had to be put down), we had one lay down in his stall and put his foot through the wall boards and give himself a hairline fracture (more stall rest before returning to work), and we had one running with his friends and turn abruptly causing a catastrophic compound fracture that I would wish no other human being would ever have to see...he was put down. Oddly, the first horse I mentioned slipped in mud two weeks ago and dislocated his patella just above where his plate and screws are. We thought he broke his leg again, but the dislocation was actually much much worse...but he was a medical miracle and the patella snapped back into place (long story) and we have retired him permanently.

My point is that horses can and do hurt themselves daily doing absolutely nothing strenuous or even involving humans. I'm not ready to blame the production or horse racing as a whole. The more horses you have around, the more likely you are to encounter one who is injured or sick.

It's a bummer. I was looking forward to this series.

 

[npmommie]

Well I bet you all can guess my opinion on horse racing, so I won't go into it

I did see a sneak peek of this show awhile back and thought it had a cool feel to it even though I am no fan of horse racing, so I don't care that it is gone. I wasn't watching it anyway. And not because of the horse racing aspect, I just can only be involved in so many shows at a time, lol

 

[dodukes]

I agree, not knowing anything about horses, I cant say that it was the show's fault, they may just have had an incredibly unlucky streak and then if the show had been kept on air have many years with no incident. Don't know what to say, I havent even seen clips of the show. It could be they were in fact mishandling the horses and then yes, i am glad they stopped the show. Obviously if that was the case, they had the wrong people caring for the horses. Not enough info is out other than tmz and other news media outlets who probably werent there.

 

[yoopermom]

Part of what made the show feel so authentic was that they filmed "real" racing sequences (although usually only a few furlongs, not necessarily the full mile or whatever), using real (former, now retired) racehorses. PETA wanted them to use stock footage, which really would have seemed obvious and like cheaping out, I think.

I've had horses all my life, too, and know that they can get injured at the drop of a hat. DH has always said we might as well have the vet on speed dial...

Terri

 

[cornflake]

Don't like horseracing and am glad they pulled the show as it seems an outsized number of incidents given the limited filming time.

However, I also think the show kind of sucked. I watched the first episode and was fairly confused and not engaged due to the crazy amount of inside horseracing terminology/drama. Anything set in a specific world is going to use the terminology but... if I have no idea what you're talking about and why it's important, much of the time, and it's never explained, that's an issue.

If the drama becomes about horseracing minutae instead of using horseracing as a backdrop for a drama, that's a problem, as it'd be with any drama. I think it was flawed a few ways.

 

[WDWBarb]

I cheered when I heard it was cancelled. I had been following the reported accidents on the set and when it hit 3, I prayed they would shut it down. Excessive for sure. I watched the first episode with high hopes that I would actually enjoy the show but I thought it was horrible. Awful. And the ending actually made me sick.

Any loss of life for the sake of entertainment is completely unacceptable.

 

[ShirikiUtundu]

From the few episodes I've seen, I'd guess the horses were bored to death.

 

[Mrs Jingles]

It's sad about the horses dying, and I agree that the series was pretty slow getting started. I have watched all the way through and it did get more interesting and less confusing as the season progressed. I'm sorry that it's being cancelled.

 

[hj0519]

Any loss of life for the sake of entertainment is completely unacceptable.

Yes, it is. But what happened with the third horse could happen to anyone with a horse, whether they're using it for a tv show or for their own leisure. The horse reared and flipped on the way back to its stall. That's just a freak accident. Horses are very delicate animals and unfortunately freak things like that happen.

 

[AlwaysMoving]

It is not just this show.

http://news.sky.com/home/uk-news/article/16189040

 

[WDWBarb]

Yes, it is. But what happened with the third horse could happen to anyone with a horse, whether they're using it for a tv show or for their own leisure. The horse reared and flipped on the way back to its stall. That's just a freak accident. Horses are very delicate animals and unfortunately freak things like that happen.

Accidents do happen but when there are 3 deaths in a short period of time on the set of the same TV show, it shows that not enough attention is being paid to safety for the animals on the set.

I have horses and understand that accidents can happen. This is far too many.

 

[Jennasis]

Accidents do happen but when there are 3 deaths in a short period of time on the set of the same TV show, it shows that not enough attention is being paid to safety for the animals on the set.

I have horses and understand that accidents can happen. This is far too many.

It doesn't necessarily show anything in particular. We had 3 horses die in the span of just under one year as well. One in late October 2010, one the following May, and one in early October again. Without knowing the specific details of the deaths of my 3 horses or the 3 on the show, you can't reach ANY logical conclusion about the state of their care or the concern that is taken to ensure their safety. We'll go MONTHS without seeing the vet, and then BAM, it's like the guy practically lives here.


I'm not defending or condemning the production. I'm simply pointing out that there isn't enough information to make a judgment. I wonder if the decision to shut down production was because they lost their insurance due to the injuries?

 

[hj0519]

Accidents do happen but when there are 3 deaths in a short period of time on the set of the same TV show, it shows that not enough attention is being paid to safety for the animals on the set.

I have horses and understand that accidents can happen. This is far too many.

I don't understand how a horse walking back to its stall rearing and flipping shows that they weren't paying attention to the safety of the animals on set. Obviously we don't know the exact details of the incident, but that really is a freak accident that may not have been prevented by more attention being paid to its safety.

 

[WDWBarb]

It doesn't necessarily show anything in particular. We had 3 horses die in the span of just under one year as well. One in late October 2010, one the following May, and one in early October again. Without knowing the specific details of the deaths of my 3 horses or the 3 on the show, you can't reach ANY logical conclusion about the state of their care or the concern that is taken to ensure their safety. We'll go MONTHS without seeing the vet, and then BAM, it's like the guy practically lives here.


I'm not defending or condemning the production. I'm simply pointing out that there isn't enough information to make a judgment. I wonder if the decision to shut down production was because they lost their insurance due to the injuries?

The first two horses died due to injuries sustained during filming of racing scenes. They used older, retired racehorses and sometimes ran them twice a day. This seems like a bad idea to me. The producers said they pulled the plug because they couldn't ensure the safety of the animals on set. There seems to be a fair amount of discussion that it was more likely due to low ratings.

 

[Jennasis]

The first two horses died due to injuries sustained during filming of racing scenes. They used older, retired racehorses and sometimes ran them twice a day. This seems like a bad idea to me. The producers said they pulled the plug because they couldn't ensure the safety of the animals on set. There seems to be a fair amount of discussion that it was more likely due to low ratings.

Yes I know they broke their legs during filming, but unless they release the exact details of how the breaks occurred I can't say whether or not they were being unsafe. You say "older. retired horses." I say DEFINE older/retired. Race horses generally "retire" between the ages of 4 and 8 depending on their record, their condition and their worth in the breeding shed. Were these 10,12,14 year old horses who retired in good health, or 25 year old senior citizens with a host of bad joints and old injuries?

Were they trying to film something that caused too many horses on the track or too much interference between horses? Did the horses spook at or somehow get tangled up in film equipment or the camera truck? Did the jockeys do something unsafe such as making an abrupt turn. Was their tack faulty? Were they running the horses too hard (in which case where were the ASPCA people on the set or the owners of the horses to advocate for their animals?).

Running a horse a furlong or two twice a day isn't a problem (a furlong is 660 feet), and generally they aren't run at full speed, but rather shot on high speed film that will make a slow gallop or breeze look like full racing speed (which is why horse racing looks much slower than it is when you watch racing on tv or live in person). Now if you it were to tell me they were running full races at full speed twice a day (or even once), I'd be calling for the producers heads, the ASPCA's head, and the horse owner's head.

It may be a case that the production was in fact terribly negligent. There have been plenty of movies and television shows that have been able to recreate racing scenes without injury to the horses, so why couldn't this show? Or it could just be a streak of (forgive the pun) bad Luck.