Harness whip rules

[David Summers]

What are your feelings about the changes in the harness whip rules over the last year or so?

Personally, I am quite happy with them now myself, but have the feeling from talking to some harness "people" that they think that reverting back to how it used to be in the "good old days" would be better.

I most certainly do not share their opinion , and have expressed that vigorously on a couple of occasions (usually after one or two drinks!)

[triplev123]

I think that it makes a lot of the driving look a bit ungainly & unbalanced a lot of the time.
That being said I don't think unloading on a horse is the best way to get it rolling anyway so that's a small price to pay. The really talented drivers I've seen over the years don't need to flog them to get them to give their best. Loud noises, shouting is just as good or a couple of serious cracks of the whip on the wheel disk/shaft/dust sheet even, that does a lot more to shift them than slashing away like some half arsed Samurai.
I can remember the not so long ago bad old days where they'd come off the track with welts on their rears, sometimes pretty decent sized cuts etc. and some of the really mean pricks around thought nothing of landing really hard stifle shots on them etc. Good riddance to all of that. Thankfully I haven't seen anything that was even remotely like it in recent times.

[David Summers]

Yes, good riddance to that. I well remember a few years back , and cringe thinking about it now , a 2YO filly having it's first race start was flogged with the whip 66 times in the last 600 metres. Utterly disgraceful.

[David Summers]

Another thing I have noticed on occasions recently , is drivers choosing to not use the whip hardly at all , in the straight shouting and shaking and pulling the reins high in the air seems to be having the effect of horses actually throwing their head back. This is especially noticeable in tight finishes.

It seems to me that some drivers are getting too excited and overly animated with the reins and are actually having the effect of pulling the horse's head back and upwards. That really , I don't think , does anything other than confuse the horse.

[Ziggy]

I hate seeing Drivers jumping up and down in the sulky, just hate it. Don't they realise what it is doing to the momentum of the horse? It really is a pet hate of mine. I think anyone who drives like this should carry a driver in the sulky and see how it puts them off stride. I know this from countless years of pretending to be a horse at home as a kid and pulling my friends around in Dad's sulkies. Watch a race at globe and you will see a couple of drivers in every race do this.

as far as whip rules I love seeing the horses only being tapped up and not flogged. Much more appealing to the eye.

[triplev123]

That whole routine of flapping about in the bike like an errantly caught and recently dragged aboard Stingray does absolutely nothing good for a horse's momentum.
The adopted tactic of some by way using the lines in a kind of flapping motion akin to the way you might try from a distance to clear your garden hose of a snag is ridiculous as well. All that seems to happen is the lines yank on the horse's mouth not surprisingly causing it to then throw its head up in their air & backward in response.

[DAZZA]

Each horse to their own really. Some need a few to remind them there in a race. I hate seeing a bloke flog a horse when its 50m behind the leader. Its cruel. However Im all for the rule were after the 200 you can cross em and go for your life. As long as the horse is competitive and looking like earning a cheque than I think it should be up to the drivers opinion. Ive seen few drivers get 2 weeks recently and it didnt really warrent 2 weeks on the sideline which can cost someone $1000 bucks plus. So basicly if your gonna earn, have a go. But it is true, you can flog some of them as much as you want, they arent going to run any faster or try any harder. As for the flopping around in the gig, yeah its does get a bit much sometimes, but once again each horse to their own.

[gregcattell]

you 2 fellars must not watch drivers whip actions much
rule is flicking motion only whip not to go past drivers head
stay inside sulky not to the out side of sulky oh yes go have
look at horses being washed you will see welt markes

[Flashing Red]

I feel as long as there are no welts, then the horses have not been hit too hard. I'm with Triple V with this one.

[Don Corleone]

Love the whip rule you guys have got. I agree that seeing drivers throwing their arms, bodies, heads around like some African highland tribal dance does nothing to help a horses balance. Take a look at the best drivers and you'll find none of them do that.
Totally agree that the odd horse needs a reminder every now and then. I have one at the moment that if you go out a drive her with the reins she gives you nothing, in fact she will stop and smell the roses. A simple flick with the stick and she switches on.