Everyone loves a champion. Maybe not the same champion, but everybody, at some time in their lives, will latch onto a wonder horse and delight in extolling it's virtues. Even in this day and age, when we are up to our armpits in all manner of entertaining attractions, we can still find the time to drag ourselves away from all the modern day whizbangery that can haunt us, and take great pleasure in such simple exercises, as seeing a great champion, flat to the boards, being flogged to the line. How can we not fail to be impressed by the noble animal, who while giving great lumps of weight away to its competitors, delves deep, to the very limits of exhaustion, to stave off a fellow creature. The photo sign goes up, the anxious onlookers, unsure of the outcome, hold their collective breath and look at their tickets. After a short but agonising wait, the verdict is semaphored. The champion has just prevailed in a driving finish. Then, as though some all powerful, unseen hand had pushed an adulation button, wild euphoria suddenly erupts and sweeps through the massed gathering of the faithful. The air becomes chokingly thick with superlatives of every type. Herculean, brave, strong, lion hearted, on and on it goes. The race is run and re-run by excited, but knowledgeable voices, by those who were lucky enough to have been there to witness the spectacle. It's torn apart and studied piece by piece, by everyone and anyone who knows anything at all about the sport of Thoroughbred racing. Everybody is an expert. Everybody has a point of view that needs to be rammed home to anyone unfortunate enough to have two ears pinned to the side of their head. In a sense, the adulation that the event has invoked, is well deserved. The animal has indeed gone beyond the usual limits of most other top class racehorses. In reaching new heights, it has exhibited an ability, the like of which, elicits awe and wonderment in the most hardened of gamblers. The humble but well meaning, non-betting race fan too, is not immune to the reverie, for he/she will innocently, find themselves giving way to the alluring succour of the wanton siren. There are none so pitiful as those who are seduced by the beguiling song, only to then find themselves being dashed against the treacherous rocks of deception. Racing is a farce. It's a so called sport that couches itself in the highest of ideals, while dealing in the rampant exploitation of a creature with next to no say in the leading of it's own life. This is an essay dealing on the rights of an animal, and as such, it stands well clear of that stalwart argument of the supporter, the claim of economic rationalism. While that is an issue that warrants great respect, it is not part of this exercise. No matter how important it is, no matter how many jobs it supplies, economic rationalism in this debate is a non starter. It falls outside the parameters of the discussion. As a living creature, the horse has intrinsic value and as such, merits respect. If respect is to be a practical concern, then the animal can't be used as a vehicle to advance the lot of others, at it's expense. To do so is to lessen the moral grounds upon which respect rests. It's easy to say that an animal does not have the same inherent property values of the human being. Just because a human being can claim to be in pursuit of a general direction in life, while a horse can't, these are not sufficient grounds to strip away it's rights. For to do so, is to fall back on the age old premise that only the more rational of us, have the right to command the higher orders of respect. It's long been held that the less fortunate among the human race, are to be respected and cared for. There are those in society who lack the ability to take care of themselves, or even perceive that they need looking after. Yet we quite rightly accord these poor souls every and all rights that the able bodied and healthy demand for themselves. It can not be cognitive thought that underpins a moral limitation. We have to find another basis for defining commonality among all living creatures, if we are to take a step away from the victimisation of those who are subjugated while in the care of the of the human being. If a moral principle decrees that all people have a common property that assures them equality in the eyes of not just the law, but from an ethical stand point, irrespective of their cognitive skills, or lack their of, then it would seem that maybe all that is needed is to be a sentient creature. To be able to experience either happiness or pain. These of course are qualities common to all living animals. To restrict the moral status to just the human being, is to subject the animal to speciesism. As already stated, this essay is not concerned with the livelihoods of the countless good folk who toil to pay mortgages and put food on the table. It is solely aimed at defining a horse's place in the theory of moral ethics.
