News: Pistorius vs. horse race

You guys called it on this one: People are NOT happy about the “flagrant abuse” inflicted on the horse Oscar Pistorius raced in Qatar on Wednesday. Especially the World Horse Welfare organization.

Pistorius won the race handily, but equine advocates who watched video of the race were appalled at the jockey’s excessive use of the whip. World Horse Welfare, which commented before the race that it “didn’t see any immediate welfare concerns,” has been particularly outspoken about its outrage.

“World Horse Welfare are appalled at the way the jockey used the whip which was not only completely unnecessary but utterly barbaric,” the organization told CNN.

“Excessive whip use like this is a disgrace to racing as a sport. We applaud the achievements of Oscar Pistorius and his race could have been a great spectacle, but instead it was marred by the flagrant abuse of this horse.”

In case you missed it the first time around, here’s a video of the race:

[SNTVonline]

Horse Nation readers weren’t amused, either. Here’s a sampling of their comments:

“That rider of the Arab was NOT asking it for ‘forward,’ he was just wailing at it without any request. The horse was completely confused. The rider had the crop in his right hand, which sent the horse into the fence. No wonder it couldn’t get going.” -48North

“Good god, how many times does the jockey hit the horse with the stick? It’s pretty clear he was wigged out about running alongside a human. Sheesh. Not the greatest publicity for horsemanship, that’s for sure.” -KelleyBC

“STOP hitting that horse!” -Patricia Davis

“I was pretty disgusted with the jockey.” -Nina Amelung

Read the full story on CNN International.