Nailed it

1) a catastrophic injury is hard to recover from. 2)some rare cases horses have prosthetics 3) it is kinder than the he!! Barbero was subjected to.

Those horses only get to that level if they have a real mental and physical affinity for the activity and a lot of trust in their rider. I love to see an enthusiastic jumper displaying signs of pride in their accomplishment. I guess we could never teach horses to do athletic activities and have the ones that remain in the world stay in fields all the time (although there is risk there as well), but I would find that very sad to see.

There is a hell of a lot more outgo than income where horses are concerned.

Most people are free.

Most horses aren't humans

Check out the story of Monty Robert's Shy Boy. Shy Boy was born in a herd of wild mustangs. Roberts "started" (he doesn't like the term "broke") him and taught him to do what ranch horses do. Roberts then decided he'd let Shy Boy decide for himself whether he'd prefer to live with the wild mustangs or with Roberts. He let him go, Shy Boy spent one evening with the herd, and he came back to Roberts. Just because an animal isn't free does not mean the animal is unhappy. The wild is difficult. A relationship with a human being who cares for the animal's physical and mental well-being is a beautiful thing.

Monty Roberts is highly problematic. Look to Buck Brannaman for an ethical, integrated, excellent approach to natural horsemanship.

I don't know why he's "highly problematic," and maybe there's something awful about the man that negates all of the good he's done, but here's what I do know, having met him, watched him work, and read his writings. He grew up with a horse trainer father who was abusive to horses and to him, he studied the wild mustang herds and learned some of their language, and he can, using nothing but their own language, get a completely green horse to accept tack and rider with no force and while keeping their heart rate down, in less than an hour - a method superior to what came before, which was tack up the frightened horse and jump on, letting the horse explode in fear until they exhausted themselves and submitted. He then made it his mission to spread this better way of "starting" a horse out of the desire to make lives better for horses and with no interest in any fame that came with spreading his method.

You insist they're forced when they are taught and they are asked. I disagree that there's "quite a chance" they will break something attempting any jump. I've certainly never personally seen it and have seen a whole lot of jumping, and they are certainly not likely to be euthanized due to injury from jumping, as euthanasia is for catastrophic injuries. There is no need to exaggerate. If you feel horses shouldn't do athletic sports, that's fine and we can disagree about that, but these horses are not "forced" to do things that are "too scary" (if they get scared, they stop), resulting in "quite a chance of breaking something" after which "we kill them." Not that there aren't bad people everywhere, but those involved with these activities largely love and revere these horses, and the bonds between them and their trainers and riders are strong.