Here, sitting on a dead horse can turn your life upside down

There was a dead horse.

Now. Each country on earth has its own mentality regarding animals. I know when I was growing up in Kilimanjaro, owls were a big deal. Hearing them on your rooftop at night spelt disaster. We children were so, so, so scared. To this day that eerie howl and hooting of owls sends chills up my spine. Yes, indeed. For most of us Africans, an owl is an omen of death. Bundi in Swahili. Big unblinking, ball-shaped eyes. Owl, the fearless, cat-faced hunting bird.

“On this continent, owls are considered symbols of wisdom,” I was told many years later. I would be in someone’s living room somewhere in Scandinavia, London or Frankfurt, and bingo! …. see a statue of a bundi decorating the table, window, cupboard, kitchen... staring at me like an angel from Kilombero, and feel like pissing on myself. Different mentality, culture and values.

What about donkeys?

A media colleague visited Ethiopia. Upon returning he quipped: “If you want to know the meaning of a donkey please visit Ethiopia.”

What did he mean?

“Donkeys really work in Ethiopia. Very shocking,” he explained. Adding, “No wonder the phrase ‘donkey work’ is so relevant in some places.”

And dogs?

This column has discussed dogs a trillion times. At the beginning of the Covid-19 madness, a very cruel video was circulating around the internet. It beamed an alleged group of Asians surrounding a big pot of boiling water. Thrown into the pot was a dog that whimpered and shrieked as the water turned hotter and hotter. The people around the animal seemed to enjoy and were laughing hilariously and openly. Later, the clip showed them apparently enjoying a meal made of the dog’s meat.

Terrible. Eat the animal, but why torture it that way?

While some cultures treat dog meat like how we relish beef, in most parts of the developed globe, dogs are pets , guards, as well as friends. As sacred as horses.

Yes, horses.

I first noted horses in movies.

We have watched all those famous Westerns, correct?

John Wayne. Clint Eastwood. The Good the Bad and The Ugly. In this film genre, horses (like donkeys in various parts of the earth) are a means of transport, action and motion. In the English speaking world, (i.e. northern hemisphere), horses are “darlings,” and “sweethearts...”...

Any conversation about horse meat being delicious would be taboo just like dog, rat, hyena or cat steak for you and me.

So then folks...what happened last week?

Last week...

Last week ?

A well known horse trainer was banned from the sport for a year. Why?

Horse racing is a very popular event alongside football, athletics and motor racing. Right?

It has also been described as a “sport for kings” and the wealthy. In 2019 records put revenues at $5 billion in the US alone. The other popular aspect of horse racing is betting. Some black people in the UK, especially male, have even been accused of “not working” and just living on betting through various sports, including horse racing. And these horses are trained to compete.

So then...

A well known horse trainer was in the news. Gordon Elliot was condemned and chided and caused much fury. On his Instagram page, for example, extreme words like “scum” described the 40-year-old. One female openly asked on Monday: “Why respect someone who doesn’t respect their own horse? Disgusting.”

The instructor was forced apologise and apart from a six-month ban, will lose a lot of money through sponsors and other well wishers. Capitalism does not operate like, say, half a century ago. Money as dirt as vicious as it is made, these days leans towards good morals and social conscience. When celebrated golfer Tiger Woods was charged with infidelity in 2009, some sponsors withdrew his name from their brands.

If any sports celebrity does something awful, money is lost (not just from the fine and tournaments) from a demanding social morality angle.

All Mr Elliot did was have his photograph taken seated on a dead horse. The image had three strands.

First, he was smiling as if this was fun (and funny). Secondly, he held a phone and thirdly, the dead horse had been popular. Horses are sacred in this culture.

Quoted by the media, Gordon Elliot was quite remorseful at least.

“I was disrespectful to a dead horse, an animal that had been a loyal servant to me and was loved by my staff...I will never again disrespect a horse, living or dead, and I will not tolerate it on others.”