Twenty thoroughbreds line up at the starting gate of the Kentucky Derby, stamping with impatience, leaning forward pulling the bits out of their mouths, unwilling to yield their heads to their jockeys. The two and three year colts and fillies, since the moment they were weaned and introduced to the saddle’s girth squeezing their chest, have been conditioned to gallop around a track without thought of anything but the finish line. Anticipation while waiting in the starting gate quickens their heartrates as their sense of duty insists they run until they reach the finish line or their last breath expires, every single race. I, the first time I watched the Kentucky Derby, was convinced that the horses were flying. Their hooves did not seem to graze the dirt beneath them as they dashed around the track. Instead, they were floating suspended by the sheer force of their speed and power. Running the race seemed easy, no more difficult than slicing an already melting stick of butter into halves. I interrogated my clueless father as to how the horses ran with perfect agility. He shrugged his shoulders and mumbled some idealized answer about how God created them to run for the sake of running.

Immediately upon watching that particular Kentucky Derby, I wondered how those horses could run as if they had no other purpose in life. My own horses were never eager for sprinting or even riding. The horses on the TV screen, however, seemed to enjoy their work. They had heart. I wanted that same feistiness to be shared with my lame Quarter Horse who never learned how to lope in the correct lead. Racehorses have been known to run to the point where their hearts burst as they give their last bit of effort to propel themselves over the finish line. Their spirit pushes to the limits of their speed and agility. Their hearts cannot handle the life that swells in the essence of their nature, the physical exertion becomes too burdensome for their cardiovascular system, and their aorta erupts leaving them collapsed in the middle of the racetrack. Learning this fact while studying for my 4-H Hippology exam both broke my heart and piqued my curiosity as to why any animal would willingly and even joyfully run itself to death.

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