UKH

So Gordon Elliott has been suspended from racing until the Irish racing authorities have investigated the now-infamous photo of him sitting on a dead horse.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/horse-racing/56246444

However, it seems universally accepted that he's an excellent trainer and the horses in his yard are treated with the utmost care - apart from anything else they are extremely valuable.  Nevertheless, one photograph of a dead horse and he's obviously a monster:  

https://www.google.com/search?q=Elliott+dead+horse&rlz=1C1GCEB_enGB924G...

What's this all about?  It seem to me that there's two things happening here.  The first is the predictable outpouring of acontextual sentimentality that happens any time a picture of a sad donkey is posted.  People who've never actually seen a dead horse (or a dead anything probably) and just don't like to think about the practicalities of dealing with half a tonne of dead horse even when (as in this case) they die of completely natural causes, dissolving into tears over the 'lack of respect' being shown.

The second is people in the industry frantically virtue signalling.  Peter Scudamore, for instance:

 "There are people out there who don't like the sport and I can't argue with them when I see a picture like that." 

So, Elliott's story is that (some time ago) the horse dropped dead on the gallops, after apparently having a heart attack.  Horses run about quite a lot, whether or not there's anyone sitting on them, so there's nothing to indicate the animal was in any way being mistreated.  I know for a fact that horses do, indeed, occasionally just drop dead in the field.

Out of shot, there's a team ready to move the horse, presumably with a telehandler or something and, to do that you need get some strops round it.  Elliott straddles the horse to figure out exactly how to do this, when his mobile rings.  Apparently it's important and so he mouths something like 'give me two minutes' and signals with two fingers.  It's bloody awkward standing in that position, so he sits back on the horse.  He's a man who's spent his life sitting on horses, and has probably seen his share of dead ones, so I don't think there's anything weird or disrespectful about it.  There's nothing particularly dignified about being hoisted into the air and dropped in a trailer but I'm not sure I see a more respectful alternative.  In the photo he seems to be smiling, but I read that as part of the body language asking the other guys to hang on.  Maybe there's a touch of gallows humour but that wouldn't make him a bad person - I've seen and heard worse in operating theatres.  Either way, for sure the horse doesn't care.

Person unknown takes a picture on their phone and, for whatever reason, makes it public months/years later (not clear exactly).  Cue general outcry and hysteria.  A man may lose his career, the 80 staff working on his yard may lose their jobs, and lots of people on the internet get to vent their love for the horses many of them feed to the dogs whose videos they post on their social media.

I've no idea whether Gordon Elliott is a nice man or not, but I sure as hell can't tell from one photograph shorn of all context. 

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I agree.  It's a mawkish sentimental over reaction.  

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Indeed. Why should sitting on a dead horse be any worse than sitting on a live one?

In reply to marsbar:

That's what I thought until I saw the picture. Then what struck me was the indifference he was displaying to the situation, probably borne of being used to seeing his fair share of dead horses, as the OP mentioned. 

The real issue for me is the number of horses that die in the pursuit of "entertainment"- 68 at the Gold Cup alone since 2000. We all know where these peoples' priorities lie and it isn't animal welfare. 

In reply to nikoid:

I agree.  

I suppose that's why the fuss over the photo is hypocrisy.  

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I don't think the Irish Racing Authority had any choice. In common with other national governing bodies in sports like shooting, green lane-ing and even cycle racing, they have to be mindful of the existential threat posed by 'non supporters' of their sport. 

Human welfare (running the Cheltenham festival 2020 and treatment of stable hands) as well as horse welfare at events like The National are all seen to come second to profit in the horse racing world. It's hard to imagine any image that gives grist to their critic's mill, than using a dead horse as a sofa.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

It is a pretty weird photo, I can see why it's caught people's attention.

It seems he delivers results for his owners so while he'll be having a horrible time right now as the press and social media's bete noire it'll be chip wrappers next week.

jk

In reply to Robert Durran:

Quite.  I'm all for treating live animals with the utmost respect and, more importantly, practical consideration, but even if this was a bit of tasteless larking about (which Elliott says it wasn't) that kind of gallows humour happens sometimes.  The two are far from being mutually exclusive.

I was going to say that I recall a book called 101 Uses for  Dead Cat being considered quite amusing by enough people to make it a best seller, but apparently Michael Bond did receive hate mail accusing him of obscenity and sadism - and that was for drawing cartoons.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/101_Uses_for_a_Dead_Cat

In reply to Jim Lancs:

I think there are plenty of questionable practices in horse racing, but I don't think this photograph is any indication of whether or not Elliott is involved in any of them. 

Obviously I understand the PR problem but I find the hypocrisy and sentimentality as depressing as it is predictable.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I remember a story of mountain rescuers having a break during an arduous stretcher carry sitting on the corpse to eat their sandwiches. Is this any different?

In reply to Dave Garnett:

That's not what he said happened though.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

That may be true, but the Irish Horse Racing authorities can't ignore the bad PR.

So they've taken a page from the 'Yes Prime Minister' script and have suspended him while "a far reaching, independent inquiry takes its time to unearth all the facts and submits a detailed report to help Irish Horse Racing make a balanced and well considered decision in the fulness of time. It's imperative that they are given the space and opportunity to act in the best interest of everyone going forward. A full communiqué will be issued in due course. Until then no further comment will be made in order to not impact the independence of the inquiry run by renown experts in the field, being as they are an ex-trainer, head of a betting company and a stable owner".

In reply to Robert Durran:

It being pre-social media might be the biggest difference.

In reply to Robert Durran:

I remember how we used to joke about how human dissection used to give us an appetite.  Partly a defence mechanism.  Partly the strangely pizzary anchovy textures and smells.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

He could have said something funnier like: #good-glue-day!

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I see another similar picture has surfaced with a different jockey. 

In reply to Dave Garnett:

It is actually a pity the photo doesn't show him.flogging it. Bad missed selfie opportunity.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

He ought to mention that he was actually training Dead Rum, at the time that the photo was taken, and defuse the whole outcry. 

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Even without the smells, and just as a one-off, when I went to the first London exhibition of Gunther von Hagens' "Bodyworks", it unexpectedly gave me a craving for a curry. Which was mildly perturbing and guilt-inducing. 

In reply to Clauso:

In reply to Dave Garnett:

You mean Simon Bond. 

Michael Bond was the creator of Paddington Bear, and had nothing to do with 101 Uses For A Dead Cat. 

In reply to Dave Garnett:

That came out when we went on an ill-advised Alpine trip to Switzerland, so we amused ourselves by rewriting it as '101 Reasons to hate the Swiss.' These ranged from 'Having more money than us' to 'having a 'Men Working sign' that shows a pictogram of a worker shovelling one pile of Nazi gold on top of another.'

In reply to Dave Garnett:

It's a disgustingly disrespectful way to treat a dead animal.

Put me right off my meat feast pizza.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Totally agree.

We should be talking about whether pushing animals to their limit for entertainment is acceptable, we shouldn't be talking about whether a dead animal needs "dignity". They don't. Once it's dead is just a piece of meat.

Imagine the absurdity of complaining about sitting on top of a box of dog food being disrespectful.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

It was his story yesterday.  I did note that today it's all about it being completely unacceptable, moment of madness, no excuses, accepting full responsibility etc, which I suspect is what he's being advised as damage limitation.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

My mistake.  One was a dead cat, one was a stuffed bear.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

Has the Grauniad run an opinion piece on it yet?

Explaining that the horrendous cruelty and disrespect on show is directly attributable to neo liberalism and the disgraceful absence of LBTQ+ trainers in the racing industry?

(written by someone who's never been within six feet of a horse in their lives)

In reply to Ciro:

But would you sit on your dead dog?! The industry line is that they care for their horses better than other domesticated animals, and the horses love to race. 

In reply to Removed User:

No point now, they've already got you spitting feathers about the article before they've even written it!

In reply to Blue Straggler:

Wasn't it on Brick Lane though? The curry craving might have been implanted before you even went in

In reply to Jim Hamilton:

Probably not, as I'd be in a state of grief at the time and therefore not thinking very rationally.

When I briefly worked in food processing howeve, animal carcasses were just animal carcasses, so I was much more rational about those.

That's their line, but it's bollocks - they're working animals, and anyone who works with animals sees them primarily as tools. Overly sentimental attachment affects your bottom line, which tends to result in going out of business to those who don't have it and can stick closer to the minimum required standards.

In reply to Jim Lancs:

With Matt Hancock being a jockey and the Minivax being a racehorse owner it's not really surprising is it?  They must have planned the pandemic response while having a racing beer with Dido and some pub owning neighbours

In reply to EddInaBox:

No no, I never read that shite so it doesn't bother me. I was just taking the piss.

In reply to wercat:

Surely you're confusing the 'home of democracy' with some foreign, third rate, fly blown plutocracy?

In reply to Removed User:

If you never read it how can you expect other people to take your opinion as anything more than prejudice?

In reply to nufkin:

Absolutely correct, well remembered, and a good point. However it was a scorching hot early afternoon, not my usual conditions for fancying a nice filling hot curry! I guess we'll never really know. 

In reply to Robert Durran:

Or the mountain safety advice about coming across a badly injured or dead climber where the first item on the "to do" checklist was to check the victim's boot size.

In reply to Removed User:

Do you have a trusted news source you can recommend?

In reply to EddInaBox:

I used to read it then realised why I was feeling dismayed about the human condition. 

In reply to Andy Clarke:

I read the news articles in Grauniad I just avoid reading the shite written by middle class, middle brow metropolitans with more talent for writing entertaining prose than for critical thinking.

The FT isn't bad, Al Jazeera, NYT. Every news source has its bias of course but I wasn't talking about news just the appalling opinion pieces in the Grauniad.

In reply to Removed User:

Is it still considered witty and sophisticated to repeatedly refer to The Guardian as "Grauniad", in 2021?

In reply to Removed User:

No opinion piece as yet, but they are reporting the emergence of a video of jockey Rob James indulging in similar carcass riding antics to accompanying laughter. Of course, it was "stupidity" and he's now "heartbroken." My vegetarianism is long lapsed, but I don't feel hypocritical for finding it distasteful.

In reply to Dave Garnett:

I once had my lunch sitting on a dead climber on Creag Meaghaidh back in the day.

Having said that we were looking for him after meeting his distraught partner. We didn't know he had been avalanched and was actually underneath us.

In reply to Andy Clarke:

A bit naff but hardly newsworthy.

In reply to Removed User:

I assume the newsworthiness derives from the fact that Elliott's carcass-riding turns out not to be unique in the fun-loving world of racing.

In reply to Blue Straggler:

NB this was slightly rhetorical and not particularly aimed at Eric9points. I looked into this last year and it seems that it does remain widespread and has widespread acceptance or at least begrudging tolerance, despite its origins (and, therefore, meaning and relevance) having faded in the 1960s ...

In reply to Blue Straggler:

I use it. Grauniad spelling is infamous and often funny... something I feel comfortable with as a STEM academic with some degree of word blindness. BBC live subtitles can be more like BBC mixed its vile sublet.