While a welsh pony isn't bred to run for example, thoroughbreds and standardbreds are. So I would say that racing IS a typical activity for them. That is what they are bred to do. Heck, we have a foal out the back that as a 3 day old free-legged paced and kept up with his galloping mother. It's like saying greyhounds are fundamentally lazy (which they are) which means it is not a typical activity for them to run. But it is. You can have the whole predator-prey debate, but I don't think that that is what at point here. [/quote[
I suppose that's reasonable, though what I meant was that put a horse in a field (and mine was a Thoroughred gelding) they generally
don't run around racing one another. Heads down is the predominant activity as I recall! Breeding them for being good at something doesn't necessarily make that thing they're good at
natural, it just makes them good at it.
You also said that eventing is much harder on a horse than a flat 3 mile gallop in your first post, to which I disagreed because an eventing horse is a lot fitter and copes a lot better (even over a harder workout) than a steeplechase horse because they are no-where near as fit. But then yiu agreed with me lol. I am confused.
Me too....

I think it
is harder on a eventer than a steeplechaser, that's why the training and fitness standards are higher, or rather, different in order to minimise injury and maximise performance. In other words because an eventer will be pushed harder it
needs to be fitter. Being fitter doesn't make it less hard on the animal, just makes the animal better able to cope with a harder workload. I suppose it depends on how you define 'hard'. Maybe I worded what I said badly. If so, sorry!
The only cruel thing I see about the National is that trainers don't have their horses fit enough for it. And if none of the horses had riders on their backs there probably wouldn't be any falls either, 90% of the time if you watch it closely horses come down due to rider error, whether they were unbalanced or reefed the in the mouth. They should take note on how the Japanese jumps jockeys ride, they rarely interfere at all with the horse and look -shock horror- they hardly have any falls either.
I agree with the underlying cause of injuries but that doesn't remove the cause being people asking horses to do something they generally wouldn't do if left to their own devices. Cruelty is somewhat subjective though, I'll grant you, and I simply don't support the race any more. Until animals can tell us if they enjoy it, I doubt it will stop any time soon based on a balance of probabilities and it remains a moneyspinner!