9/21/2005: Fighting horses

In a WaPo image not found by xoB (I look through there occasionally), here we have "the Miao people in Rongshui celebrating the mid-autumn festival". Apparently halfway through a season is reason enough to get two hosses to battle it out. I didn't know they would do this on cue.

It's sad, and a waste. And these shots always give me pause - am I part of the problem, in a sense, by promoting this image because it's so wild? Is the photographer part of the problem, in a sense, by capturing the perfect shot while the one horse's mane is flying in the air like some sort of Trojan?

Either way, there are a few such fighting animal shots in the archive. The last time, it was sheep.

I want to see these horses put in boxing gloves and maybe some little horsey boxing trunks; Let's make this a little more civilized.


I realize that in the U.S., we have our problems with cockfights (that one was for lumberjim) and dog fights, but I am always amazed at how most of the images that show animals ripping eachother up while a happy crowd looks on appears to be from the Asian region. Different sensibility, different sense of what is entertaining. And we think we have it bad here in the U.S. with Jerry Springer and reality T.V.

This just makes me sad.

Stallions fight anyway.

wolf wrote:

Stallions fight anyway.

There's a difference between fighting for territory or females,and fighting for the entertainment of others. Yeah, they fight and sometimes to the death, but only when the situation dictates it's necessity.

Actually they fight whenever they get a chance. Allthough the arena and opportunity was staged, they'd be acting the same way even if no one was watching.

Not excusing the spectacle, but horses do it for the same reason as the guys on Ultimate Fighting Championship -- to show who's got the biggest huevos.

it's not just for entertainment -- I'm sure that there is some serious wagering going on.

I considered sending this picture because of the beauty of the horses in motion. After downloading it, I had second thoughts..... people complaining about depressing animal pictures, lately.
Noodle and Wolf are right.....this is what stallions do. :boxers:

damn.. these animals are acting like......PEOPLE.

capnhowdy wrote:

damn.. these animals are acting like......PEOPLE.

Ok. Now you're just being insulting.

no.... I was tuned to 440......

Hobbs wrote:

Yeah, they fight and sometimes to the death, but only when the situation dictates it's necessity.

As I recall, stallions don't fight to the death. They do fight to defeat, and whatever the horse equivalent of humiliation is, but rarely, if ever, to the death.

dar512 wrote:

Ok. Now you're just being insulting.

To the horses. :)

xoxoxoBruce wrote:

To the horses. :)

Exactly. :thumb:

dar512 wrote:

Exactly. :thumb:

ok.... my bad. ;)

Undertoad wrote:

there are a few such fighting animal shots in the archive.

I find it odd that you're quoting precedent. Has The Cellar grown so powerful that even it's creator has lost control? :worried:

Of course not silly....that was an assignment...a quest. How many fighting critter pictures can you find in the IOtD archives?
Gives the newbies a history lesson and a better appreciation for all the hard work UT has done for them. :D

Bitman wrote:

I find it odd that you're quoting precedent. Has The Cellar grown so powerful that even it's creator has lost control? :worried:

Think of UT as more of a Mentor, shepherd, and general dogsbody.

(I do not know what a general dogsbody actually does, but it sounded good.)

Am. Heritage Dictionary sez Dogsbody: Chiefly British Slang One who does menial work; a drudge.

Yah

I actually prefer to think of you as a "man of all work."