Horse race is an informal term in business parlance used to refer to an overt competition among multiple qualified candidates for a top executive role within an established timeframe. Some governance observers fear that using such strategies as succession strategies may create unintended disruption within an organization; however, companies that have successfully employed this strategy credit this approach with producing exceptional leaders.
A classic succession “horse race” pits several senior-level executives against each other in a battle over performance, with the victor becoming CEO. Although boards may hesitate to utilize such an approach for fear it will disrupt their organization, companies that find success with this method cultivate an environment in which people embrace competition among leadership candidates and have faith that an ideal leader will emerge through this process.
Horse races are competitive events in which horses are forced to run at extremely fast speeds. To ensure they can keep pace, horses must be trained hard, their bodies exposed to incredible levels of stress, leading to injuries, heart attacks, and even deaths as a result of training practices that defy nature. It is not uncommon for these animals to bleed from their lungs due to intense pressure put upon them during races; this may eventually result in debilitating medical conditions like exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH).
At its core, horses love running freely through nature; this natural instinct has cemented them as an iconic part of American culture. Yet horse racing remains a multimillion-dollar industry which causes enormous suffering to its animals; not uncommon are fatal accidents on tracks or while training, or having crippling injuries necessitating their euthanization; some horses are even shipped overseas to slaughterhouses for torture and eventual slaughterhouse slaughtering.
Even with these challenges, many still enjoy watching horse races and betting on their chosen horse to win. Additionally, several anti-horse racing groups work tirelessly to stop this cruel industry. These organizations investigate abusive training practices for young horses, drug use in sport and animal cruelty such as cribbing (biting their gate and contracting neck muscles while pulling backward and grunting), overbreeding, overfeeding and other factors. These groups have been instrumental in pressuring the industry to change its practices, organizing protests at major horse-racing venues like Laurel and Pimlico in Maryland to raise public awareness of horse racing’s cruelty. Thanks to them, improvements are gradually being made within the industry with regard to responsible practices; yet this issue still needs resolving fully.