The problem is not the isolated photographic evidence of the exploitation of animals in the racing industry, or any form of animal-using entertainment, or the animals who are farmed and killed. The problem is that our unexamined, thoughtless, non-vegan habits, and our money, facilitates them being bred, owned, controlled, exploited and killed.
Trainer Gordon Elliot, sitting on a horse who had just died.
Elliott is being investigated by the Irish authorities,
The photograph of horse trainer, Gordon Elliot, sitting on a horse
who had just died has prompted much discussion about our use of
other animals. Within days a video was released showing jockey Rob
James, also sitting on a dead horse who had suffered a heart attack
while being trained.
Media reports describe the incidents as “crass, distasteful,
insensitive, indefensible and hugely stupid” (e.g. Mark Costello,
The Irish Field, 02.03.2021 and Brian O’Connor, Irish Times,
03.03.2021). Stupid? Because they were caught in acts that are
emblematic of the disrespect with which we regard the animals we
routinely exploit. Or because of the potential damage to their
careers and the industry?
It is interesting to note the public reaction to these events. Most
people are outraged and upset. Members of the public have telephoned
radio stations and commented on social media about their sleep
disturbance, tears, and anger at seeing another animal so
disrespected. The conversation has prompted discussion of other very
obvious concerns such as using whips to urge horses to run faster.
This is very obvious to anyone who has ever watched a race. Less
obvious to those who are not familiar with how horses are exploited,
are the spurs and the use of human heels on a very sensitive part of
the horses’ bodies, or the bit in their mouth that presses painfully
so that the rider can control their every move. It is that control
and domination that takes place in plain sight that is the most
obnoxious and yet is socially and culturally sanctioned. It is
understandable that people are outraged at the disrespect shown to
horses who have died but it is not rational. Surely the outrage
should be about the fact that while they were alive and capable of
feeling they were trained and raced until their legs broke or they
suffered a heart attack. We should be outraged that they were
exploited, injured and died as a result of being forced to entertain
humans and profit the horse racing industry.
Few people ever think about the term ‘breaking a horse’ even though
everyone knows that it is a terrible thing to break the spirit of
another being, regardless of species. Breaking a horse means that
humans use their power, by whatever means, to dismantle and
eradicate both the horses’ natural instinct of fear that preserves
life, as well as their personality, in order that they submit to a
human climbing onto them to dictate their every move. Few people are
outraged that a human is sitting on the back of another being in the
first place, although everyone should be. Many people recall the
horror of the annual Grand National from the time they first
witnessed it as small children. It is the epitome of violence to see
horses being raced in such a hyperaroused atmosphere. Witnessing
them being hurt is utterly sickening to anyone with a shred of moral
decency. This is an innate repugnance for violence, a part of our
conscience, our moral development, that we have forgotten.
If you listen to the conversation about these incidents you will
hear phrases and sentiments such as ‘most people are upset when an
animal dies’, ‘animals deserve respect’, ‘I was crying when I saw
the photo’, ‘I am outraged to see someone do this to an animal’. If
people are as outraged as they claim, they should boycott the horse
racing industry. Much of the outrage is an example of speciesism.
Discrete acts of animal cruelty or disrespect against individual
members of one species (horses) are regarded as being more
significant that the standard, legal practices that we routinely use
on the billions of other animals we exploit and kill so that we can
use their bodies as food and clothing, or experimentation. Horses do
not feel any different to chickens, cows, sheep, fishes, and pigs.
They do not value their lives any more than any other animal.
Let’s extrapolate from these statements about individual horses to
our use of all animals. People are narrating their reaction because
these incidents that represent a reprehensible and violent industry
have been made public. So, we wonder what the reaction would be if
the media carried photos of the standard legal practices that are
perpetrated on billions of animals from their conception throughout
their short lives to their deaths in slaughterhouses, practices that
are paid for, sanctioned and supported by non-vegans every time they
take out their money and pay for eggs, dairy, flesh, fish, leather,
silk, down, or cosmetics and cleaning products that contain animal
products or were tested on them? We have some idea about public
reaction from peoples’ responses to our Go Vegan World ads and
information.
Many people are horrified to see what they have been paying for,
they do the research for themselves and decide that they no longer
want to participate in the horror of animal use and go vegan. Others
defend it, clinging desperately to the myth that there is a morally
acceptable way to breed other animals into this world so that they
can be killed to cater for our taste, convenience, tradition and
profit. The media, in particular, likes to sensationalise the issue
pointing the finger at the messenger who dared to give us a glimpse
of our victims. The problem is not the isolated photographic
evidence of the exploitation of animals in the racing industry, or
any form of animal-using entertainment, or the animals who are
farmed and killed. The problem is that our unexamined, thoughtless,
non-vegan habits, and our money, facilitates them being bred, owned,
controlled, exploited and killed. We don’t like ourselves when the
consequences of our actions are reflected back at us. We hear the
hypocrisy of being outraged at the disrespect shown to a horse who
is already dead, but defending the use of torture to make them run
faster for our entertainment. We realise how ludicrous it is to cry
over these two horses yet pay for their entire lives to be used for
the purpose of our entertainment when we support the horse racing
and breeding industry.
Think about it. The real problem is not ‘cruelty’ to these
individual horses; it is the use of all animals by humans when it is
entirely unnecessary for our health or happiness. The real problem
is our belief that we are better than them when there is no factual
evidence to back this up and even if there were it would not entitle
us to do what we do to them or regard their lives as being of no
value to them. The real problem is the myth that because they are
different to us, we are entitled to own them and use them, profit
from them, do as we wish to them, and kill them as if their lives
only matter when they are of value to us. We all know this is wrong.