Nevermind Zidane

July 26, 2006 6:30 AM

Nevermind Zidane:jockey Paul O'Neill puts the head on his horse.
posted by ninebelow (10 comments total)

Video link.
posted by handee at 6:48 AM on July 26, 2006

if I were the horse, this guy would end up like Christopher Reeve pretty soon. it's very dumb to fuck with animals 5 times as big as you are
posted by matteo at 7:24 AM on July 26, 2006

Well, a high five would've been impractical, I guess.
posted by jonmc at 7:31 AM on July 26, 2006

There are entirely too many Pauls O'Neill. I get too confused trying to decide if we're talking about the retired baseball player, the retired cabinet secretary, or some other random yahoo of Irish descent.
posted by grubi at 8:13 AM on July 26, 2006

It should never have said that about his mother.
posted by tannhauser at 9:27 AM on July 26, 2006

"My turning-point came when a horse of mine — difficult, strong-minded, worry-prone — had his trust in humans shattered by a vengeful beating performed behind my back by a female groom at a livery stable."

I'm just marvelling at how different this person's world is to mine.
posted by randomination at 9:58 AM on July 26, 2006

But, Wilbur...!
posted by darkstar at 11:14 AM on July 26, 2006

Oh, jesus christ. He barely touched the damned horse. And the horse obviously barely noticed.

People who complain about this sort of thing don't know horses. When a horse throws you, you want to hit it, and, being as how you should communicate your anger, the only productive thing is to hit it. Since horses are (literally) very big, thick-skinned animals, they usually don't feel the pain so much as realize you're angry at them. If this horse was hurt in any way by this, I'm a fucking goat.

After reading the links in the FPP, I was expecting a full-on, bone-cracking headbutt. The video reveals nothing of the kind. The fact that there was any controversy at all is testimony that people no longer know a damned thing about animals. People sometimes beat horses; I've seen it, and it's disgusting. Yes, it ruins horses. But it's not the common problem. Nowadays, the real problem is the lives of horses being ruined by idiots who baby them rather than respect and discipline them. I've seen plenty of horses who don't get hit after they throw a rider. They do the same thing, over and over, and they get very tempermental. In short, they become useless, and, what's worse, very unhappy and unhealthy.
posted by koeselitz at 11:44 AM on July 26, 2006

I've seen plenty of horses who don't get hit after they throw a rider. They do the same thing, over and over, and they get very tempermental. In short, they become useless, and, what's worse, very unhappy and unhealthy.

Sorry. What a load of shite. Hitting horses for throwing people accomplishes nothing (they have no idea what you're doing), and anger has no place whatsoever in training any animal. Horses are not thick-skinned, their skin is so sensitive they can feel a single fly standing on them, and a horse's muzzle is especially tender and nerve-rich. Hitting is not training, taking out your anger through violence is not training, and head-butting isn't training either. Horses who habitually throw people are either in physical pain or have not been trained properly (in other words, they have been forced into being ridden without appropriate, gradual desensitization). Hitting a horse for throwing a person accomplishes all kinds of things like making them headshy and fearful of humans, but it doesn't train them not to throw people. These views on horse training are even more outdated than most of the more barbaric ways to train dogs.

That said, this "head butt" is pretty minor, especially given the amount of uproar about it, it's substantially less serious than the average amount of whip use there is in a given race (the jockey in question has also been disciplined for excessive use of the whip, so odds are his views on horse training are as outdated and useless as koeselitz's).
posted by biscotti at 7:55 PM on July 26, 2006

biscotti: "That said, this "head butt" is pretty minor, especially given the amount of uproar about it, it's substantially less serious than the average amount of whip use there is in a given race..."

That's really all I meant. You make good points. The only thing I wanted to communicate was this: there's a world of difference between really hitting a horse, which takes strength, but is often done, and is easy, especially with a fist / other implement, and slapping a horse, which is a routine bit of communication between horse and human, and is often a reward rather than a punishment. Hell, I've slapped my horse on the ass as hard as this guy head-butted his horse, and my horse liked it.

My experiences with english hunter/jumper grooming has led me to my conclusions about 'modern' horse techniques. (YMMV) There really are a hell of a lot of horses out there who are miserable because they aren't respected. Respect really is key. If you respect a horse, you won't baby it, and you won't abuse it; you'll find the difficult intermediate space called 'good discipline.'
posted by koeselitz at 10:00 PM on July 26, 2006