Eric Hitchhikes to Hokkaido | Part 20 - Ban'ei Horse Races in Obihiro!!
Added 2017-04-11 04:35:06 +0000 UTCThe only place in the world still holding Ban'ei Horse Races happened to fall right into my path so I had to check it out!
Comments
You know, I agree with you but I'm not sure if that is why it's unpopular. I've never talked with a Japanese person who found it to be cruel, haha. -E
Kyde & Eric
2017-04-18 08:10:53 +0000 UTCThere must be a reason why its unpopular, it's not exciting watching a horse get whipped so hard to the point of passing out due to exhaustion. It's down right cruel.
Elton
2017-04-15 08:15:27 +0000 UTCHaha, these are all thoughts I have had as well. I'm still not sure exactly how I feel. I guess I know I'm glad I'm not one of those horses, and perhaps that's the answer. Or at least the answer I'm writing at this very minute, which may change one minute from now. -E
Kyde & Eric
2017-04-12 02:03:20 +0000 UTCI've argued with myself in this post for 45 minutes now, so hopefully this will be helpful rather than just making someone angry. ANYWAY, I immediately noticed the fervor with which one jockey was just laying into the horse. That was unsettling for sure and just looked just excessive. I'd like to think that's a minority and/or maybe those reins aren't stiff enough for any real pain, but that'd probably be naive. That said, I'll try to rationalize the "general using them for sport" issue: this is what they do, the kind of work these animals were originally bred for, which, judging from their size, seems to be plowing down medium-sized mountains. They wouldn't exist in this form without a lot of hard work, hard riding and breeding, so do "we" just stop training and/or breeding more since they no longer have a practical use for humans? Or, do "we" try to preserve part of our past symbiosis, with the understanding that some of those (hugely enormous) horses' lives may involve pain? (How many people have kids while assuming a child will never know pain, eh?) Selling them off for slaughter at retirement seems a bit like an ultimate F-you, but hey, it's not wasteful and they literally become part of the people that eat them (which I probably would do, reverently, given the chance), so maybe that's some semblance of a silver lining, taking part of the great animal as part of yourself. Like communion! But with horses. And sake. But really, when situations like these come up, I try to remember the words of dear Reverend Maynard: "Damn you! Let the rabbits wear glasses!" No one in the food chain is innocent; life feeds on life, literally and figuratively, regardless of its form. We certainly hear the cries of the carrots, but we know it's a necessary part of the cycle of life.
Brandon R.
2017-04-12 01:18:04 +0000 UTC
