Reflections on the love of strappers for their charges
"They breed thoroughbreds to the tune of 30,000 a year so for every stakes winner there might be 200 draggers who get shipped off to the meat works when they can't earn their keep on the track. Being a groom is a special vocation – you're here in a lifesaving capacity. The breeders are breeding bigger horses on weaker legs, the owners rarely live around the horses and most are in it for the money or bragging rights, the trainers and vets are shooting them up with drugs and running them injured and the jockeys are making big bucks on their backs. You'll hear them all say they love their horses but as far as I'm concerned the only ones to earn the right to say that are the grooms. You feed the horse, you brush the horse, you pet the horse and then you can say you love it. We have an old saying in this sport. Treat the horse as your friend you're your slave." – The Sport Of Kings (4th. ESTATE, London) by C.E. Morgan.