"And at last, you admit it you think drowning horses at Appleby is OK."

Rubbish. It's the opposite of what everyone here has been saying from the start. I was pointing out a semantic inaccuracy which you'd deliberately created for effect, which is a manipulative and dishonest way to conduct an argument.

"These things happen, what was once a cute tradition is now a cruel and distasteful practice no longer suitable for the modern world..."

If that's true, it's much truer of racing and eventing. You still have not answered any of the criticisms directed at these sports. You haven't told us whether you go onto their internet forums to complain about the quantity of death, excessive whipping and drugging that goes on. Surely it's much more important to end the sports responsible for large quantities of death and harm to animals than to persecute one small annual event. So why aren't you going after them?

"exactly the same as children up chimneys, bear baiting, bull baiting and more recently fox hunting."

Again, PA, let's at least try to maintain some perspective. Appleby is not an event that exists to perpetuate cruelty: no one here has suggested that all, or even most, horses at Appleby are badly treated. Some may well be, and yes, measures that are both effective and sensitive ought to be considered. But tell me: as so many horses die in the racing industry, surely THAT is actually the outdated pracice which, along with cock-fighting bull-bating etc, ought to be stopped?

You may live and work with horses, but you won't accept the criticisms directed at your industry. I may not know about working with horses, but I never claimed I did and that's irrelevant to this argument. I CAN read statistics, though, and I can see the disparity between the numbers of horses killed each year at, say, the Grand National and the ones killed at Appleby.

Pots and kettles...motes and cinders...take your pick.