Prince Harry's Injured Horse Spurs Cruelty Accusation

Britain's Prince Harry is coming under scrutiny from animal advocates in the United Kingdom for allegedly mistreating a horse during a polo match. Photos have recently come out showing the prince astride a horse with a visibly bleeding wound on its flank, probably caused by one of the riders' spurs. Although the incident occurred in July, the photos have just come to light.

Of course, there are two sides to every story, and while the horse's injury is clearly documented, what happened after is less clear. An anonymous onlooker tells the Daily Mail that Harry continued the game astride his injured mount. Harry's people say that, in accordance with the rules, the prince left the field, had the horse treated, and both returned to the game.

The Hurlingham Polo Association is investigating, but just because the investigation isn't complete doesn't mean that they're not going to speculate. In fact, to listen to Hurlingham's Chairman of Welfare, David Morley, they've got this thing all figured out. Nothing to see here, please move along. According to Morley, "The nature of the injury suggests to me that it was as a result of an accident rather than exuberance. Sometimes somebody bumps into another rider and nudges his spurs in."

Right-o. Still, they do at least acknowledge that the injury exists. After all there's incontrovertible photo evidence. The question that needs an answer, as far as this particular incident is concerned, is: What did Harry do after his horse got injured? Notice that Morley's answer doesn't speak to that.

But really, there's a bigger question here. Why use spurs in polo at all?

Back to the rule book for a second. Section 3B of the HPA's rulebook says, "Any spur likely to wound a horse is forbidden." (That rule, by the way, is located right before the one that requires players to wear white pants and brown boots. With important stuff like boot color to think about, I suppose you have to be thankful they remembered the horses at all.) I don't pretend to be much of a polo expert — I guess my selection of ESPN channels doesn't go that deep — but as near as I can tell, the purpose of a spur is to poke a horse in the side. It may not be a wound, per se, but I can't imagine it's exactly comfortable for the animal either. Andrew Tyler, who runs the U.K.-based charity Animal Aid, says: "Spurs are unnecessary for a competent rider and should not be used to punish a horse for the rider’s failure to gain advantage."

This isn't Harry's first run-in with the animal protection community, nor is it the first polo-related animal incident with which he's been associated. Earlier this year, one of his polo ponies died after suffering a heart attack. In 2007, Harry was questioned as a suspect in the shooting of two protected hen harriers near the family estate in Norfolk.

And just in case you're wondering about the July polo match, Harry's team lost, five-and-a-half goals to five.

Photo credit: informatique