The Suffering of the Wealthy--and Oh Yeah, Horses--in "Sport"

There's a blog post over at Vanity Fair that's really testing my gag reflex. It could have had nothing to do with horses, and I still would have rolled my eyes because of the focus on the "sensitivities" of the insulated wealthy. Did you know that when all those polo horses died a couple weeks ago, it was an even more horrid experience for the people involved because they were filthy rich? Rich people just aren't prepared for these sorts of surprises and tragedies! How much can we expect their sheltered ranks to handle? Yes, cue the eye rolls. Poor effing rich people who had to witness the deaths of the animals to whom they'd affixed price tags and whom they were preparing to expose to risk of serious injury for their amusement. The blogger explains,

Horse accidents are always upsetting, but especially when they shatter the sense of imperviousness and insulation of high society.

Not especially when the accidents were preventable, not especially when the horses suffer, not especially when the horses' last moments were filled with great fear--just especially when they rattle rich people. You can understand my inclination to gag, yes? But it doesn't stop there.

Near the start of the article, the blogger writes this: "Over the years, I’ve witnessed a number of tragic accidents at horseshows, where animals were severely injured and, in some cases, lost their lives." Did you catch that, horse-event aficionados? A number of tragic accidents. Forcing horses into dangerous acts for your amusement involves the inherent risk of seriously harming or killing them. The catch is that most people who support and frequent these events won't acknowledge that; they downplay the risk and act as if they've hardly ever witnessed an injury. So at least the blogger is honest on this front. But he also doesn't really care:

I’m certain animal-rights activists [think] the risks of equestrian sports outweigh the benefits, but I can’t say I entirely agree. Personally, I’m not overly concerned with the safety of competition horses or riders. Of course, it would be to nice minimize the injuries horses suffer, but accidents are part of all fast paced sports at the highest levels.

Yeah, he's serious. My dear privileged Jamie, please try using some of those elite rich brain cells of yours for critical thinking. Consider a football player (or a human participant in polo) and how that person came into the sport. Now consider a horse and how he came into the sport. What differences do you see? Does it occur to you that one of these chooses to play a dangerous sport, and the other is forced into a dangerous sport? It's not the same thing. Humans' comfort with risking their own well-being or even life doesn't give them the right to risk another animal's well-being and life for human entertainment, not even when the humans are wealthy.

(And for the record, no, I do not read Vanity Fair, least of all its Society & Style blog. Google Alerts, baby. Google Alerts.)

AFP Photo/Carl De Souza (top); KADENAPIX (bottom)