I work next door to a racetrack and I’ve seen those guys get stepped on, thrown, and knocked down a lot (I’ve also seen a fella try to pick a fight with one he thought hadn’t done well enough. Tough fellas.) My question is, where does being a jockey rate on the “dangerous jobs” scale? Not much?
Not long ago, I reviewed a workers compensation submission for employees who work with thoroughbred horses–grooms, exercise riders, and race jockeys. The work is very, very dangerous.
In the WC business we measure hazard as claim $ per 100 of payroll. This is an imperfect measure, since low-wage work will seem more hazardous, but it's the best I have. Horse employees have roughly ten times the claim per $100 of payroll versus other jobs that you might consider hazardous such as heavy construction work.
And, it isn’t just jockeys. Grooms get kicked. Exercise riders get thrown while riding. Thoroughbred horses are nasty. Mostly, the submission made me glad I don’t work with horses.
Wow, what a spectacularly bad idea!
Pretty damned dangerous:
A MEDICAL Journal of Australia study has found that being a jockey is more dangerous than being a boxer, with only the job of an offshore fisherman having more risk to lives.
From: Being a jockey: the most dangerous job on land
Also:
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/sports/2001902757_jockeys14.html Quote: Bryson Cooper can’t remember how many bones he has broken.
He figures at least 30. He is sure about the 19 operations, and just as sure he would do it all over again.
Imagine perching on top of a horse- not astride like NORMAL people riide, but ON TOP OF- galloping 30 MPH or more. Now, add another 10 horses all racing together, bumping, jostling. If you fall, you will fall into a sea of hard, thundering hooves. If your mount stumbles and falls, you might well be unferneath 1100 lbs of struggling equine.
So yeah… pretty damned dangerous.
They may be tough, but they break easily. A jockey I knew couldn’t stand up straight, and walked with a limp, and he would say he’d never been a really bad fall. There’s another thread about bareback stunt riding, another really dangerous job. It seems like trainers, jumpers, and even guys who just rake out stables have tales of the danger of horses. Getting stepped on, kicked, thrown, trampled.
Jockeys are in great physical shape, but that doesn’t help if you fall and a galloping horse kicks you.
Jockeys just take it for granted that they’re going to break bones semi-regularly. If you ride long enough, it’s going to happen, and every jockey knows it.
Even football players aren’t that non-chalant about broken bones.
Probably tough to find a veteran jockey who hasn’t spent some time in the hospital following a wreck.
Not to mention riding those horses in all kinds of weather while wearing thin clothing. Brrr!
Other than a helmet those guys don’t really wear any protective gear do they?
No, because everything adds weight, and the more weight you put on the horse the slower it’s likely to go. Some races have a minimum weight requirement that the horse has to carry, others have a set weight; saddle, bridle, any bandages, blinkers, jockey and clothing/gear are weighed before and after the race. IIRC the Kentucky Derby has a set weight of 126lbs for colts and 121lbs for fillies… explains the small stature of the jockeys, as well as the high prevalence of eating disorders among them. 
This reminds me of a question I keep meaning to post - why weren’t/aren’t there more female jockeys?
I read Seabiscuit a while back and a lot of the book talks about how the male jockeys had to starve themselves, often to the point of being too weak and dizzy to ride. I kept thinking “why not hire women to ride, instead of forcing men to diet themselves down to 110 pounds”? Finding strong, healthy women in the 100 to 110 pound range is easy.
Yes, I understand that it’s a tough job, but I find it hard to believe that no women could be found to do it. Were they simply not allowed, by some regulations or something?
No, most owners won’t hire a women just for sexist reasons. They’de argue that women weren’t strong enough, too fragile, couldn’t hack the competition. There have been a few women jockeys, most notably Julie Krone. She didn’t have an easy time of it – and not because of the horses. Although she has also been in her fair share of almost-fatal racing accidents
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/horses/2004-02-08-krone-10-toughest_x.htm
Which leads me to ask, why were the weight requirements ever set so low? And why aren’t they ever raised? Wouldn’t heavier, stronger, at least slightly padded, and less starvation-prone jockeys be less prone to injury? Even if the owners are heartless plutocrats who don’t care if their employees are injured, their workers comp premiums sort of force them to care.
The racing authorities set limits on the weights the horses are permitted to carry in the race. For example, every horse in the Kentucky Derby can carry no more than 126 lbs including the jockey, the jockey’s gear (helmet, mud goggles, etc) and saddle. If the Jockey is too heavy they are disqualified from the race. This article talks about the severely disordered eating jockeys have, and mentions that the weight limit rules are unchanged from a time when people were smaller in general. Some jockeys want the weight limits raised.
Although the weight limits are clearly a huge health issue, being slightly heavier is no protection against injuries in the high impact crashes that occur in racing. You know intuitively there’s no notable difference between being 115 and 125 if you’re in a car crash and a racehorse crash isn’t much different. Racehorses are running about 35-40 miles an hour in a pack. If you are already on the ground, they will leap you if they can, stomple you if they can’t. Doctors told Julie Krone her kevlar crash vest saved her life once. Her heart was only severely bruised, instead of crushed, by a horse’s hoof.
No, there’s no penalty for being over weight, though it needs to be noted and announced to the bettors. It puts the horse at a disadvantage, though, since the more weight, the more a horse tires. A jockey who can’t make weight will find it hard to get riding assignments.
If you’re underweight, you can be disqualified, though usually the jockey is given a chance to add weight to the saddle to make the right weight before the race goes off.
The winning jockey, at least, is weighed after the race. If there’s a discrepancy, there could be a disqualification, but being over weight is not a problem (and happens often on a muddy track as the jockey is covered in mud). Even being under weight is accepted in some cases (e.g., the jockey drops his whip, or a weight falls out of the saddle).
The Journal of Sports Medicine reports that jockeys can be fined or suspended for failure to make weight before the race.
Stewards report from last week indicates that in Australia, jockeys are fined and disqualified for being over-weight prior to the race:
http://www.racingqueensland.com.au/reports/Fields/str_ROCK_20120112.html
In West Virginia, Jockeys are fined $50 for being overweight before the race, and dispute suspensions:
http://www.wvrecord.com/news/218603-jockeys-fighting-suspensions-fines
There absolutely are penalties for being over the stated weight limit.
Watching this, one gains a whole new level of respect for these athletes. A bit terrifying.
What an awesome video Laggard!
All I know about racing, I learned from Dick Francis… He emphasizes the hazards in pretty much all of his books…including his autobiography… He did it for a living for years, so ought to know…
I never raced horses, just worked at a riding stable for a few years with horses notably less high strung than young thoroughbreds, in fact, most of 'em were over 10 years old and about 1/4 over 15, about a half dozen over 20. Sedate, even elderly horses, most of very calm temperament.
Let’s see…
Kicked bodily across a corrall? Check. Twice. One of those time impacting the side of the barn at the end of the trajectory. I have a permanent lump on the side of my right buttock from one of those incidents. Still there after 30 years.
Fallen off? Check. Several times. Not including -
Bucked off? Check. At the end of that flight I hit my head on the side of the barn, thank goodness for my crash helmet.
Kicked without being knocked off my feet? Check, several times.
Bit? Yes, at least a half dozen times.
Knocked into the side of a stall/against a wall/against a fence? Check. Several times.
In addition, I saw three people get broken feet when one of the larger horses stepped on them, despite wearing heavy boots. Saw a horse kick her way through the side of the barn in a panic (I actually ducked into the oat bin for protection on that one for that one as I did not want to get in her way). Had to get out of the way of two horses standing next to each other that spontaneously decided to have a kick-fight during a hoof cleaning session.
Also, had horses rear up on me about a half dozen times but, being somewhat competent, I did manage to keep my seat and regain control.
These are friendly horses. Calm horses. Gentle horses. Senior citizens. Horses are big, strong animals that are easily startled or frightened. There is a certain inherent danger in working with them. They can easily hurt or accidentally kill a human.
Race horses are young, tend to be high-strung, the males are full stallions rather than the more docile geldings, they’re athletes so they’re very strong, and in strange surroundings, before a race, or at many other times might be quite excitable.
Yes, it’s risky business.