The Dead Horse
No, not of the sexual kind (although sometimes, I do wonder). The passion of which I write is the love of horses.
In my line of work as a press photographer, I face a wide variety of subjects, stories and people on a daily basis. This is one of the main reasons why I love the job so much but, as you would expect, sometimes you shoot happy stories and sometimes you cover the darker sides of life.
In September, I visited Brighton to cover the annual Labour Party Conference. Normally a mixture of dry speeches and photo-calls mixed with the occasional bit of interest, the 2004 conference proved no different with lots of Blair-based handshakes and the odd "down with this sort of thing" placard-waving protester.
However, that changed when the pro-fox hunt groups galloped into town and decided to share their thoughts.
Now as it happened, I was shooting for The Times newspaper that day and was the only press photographer who got the shot which is a shame as The Times used it once, buried in a supplement and it's never been printed since but that's a separate story.
The pro-hunt group pulled up in a busy shopping street, opened the rear doors of their van, tied a rope to a lamp post then edged the van away, dragging the corpse onto the road. A man got out of the van and wedged the placard through the horses ribcage and drove off. The ensuing upset saw pro-hunt supporters (to rear of frame) smiling and clapping with local residents looking on shocked and disturbed with a group of girls near me, crying uncontrollably.
The image is certainly a shocking one, but I wasn’t expecting the flow of emails that I would receive for literally years after it was published. If anyone ever wonders why a comments section isn’t the best idea on a site, here are a few of those choice communications;
message: I myself are a horse lover and do not appreicate the picture of a dead horse that was stabbed and choked to death. In my vision you all should be arrested!
Now, what if some little 5 year old kid had a horse and it ran away or was killed would you want them to think that you stole their horse and killed it? "Come On" grow up! You may think it is funny and fun to do but I for one will not stand for this I may be a kid but, I still have feelings and rights.
Sincerely,
JH
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message: please explain why there is a photo of a horse dead in the street with a stake and sign stabbed through is stomach?! i am absolutley disgusted as a horse owner and lover (they are stunning creatures) i am affended and its brought back nightmares about when i walked out the back door at my farm to find my best friend (my horse) dead on the ground. i demand that you remove this photo from your site.
stc
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You Sick Sick Person
a
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subject - UR STUPID
message: WHY WOULD YOU KILL A HORSE AND STICK A SIGN IN ITS SIDE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOU STUPID IDIOT
e
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message: why do you do this crap people love horses like me and my sister.We had two horses but one died because he was old and could not get up.When you keep killing horses then someday they will come extinct
s
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message: why did you kill that horse???????????? you had no right to kill that horse just because they banned hunting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! hunting isnt even right no dont do that again
t
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message: i think this is utterly disgusting and i cant understanyd why you would want to put a dead horse in the middle of a street
lf
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message: I have no idea who you are but i think you are a disgrace to human kind. I am 15 years old and in school researching for a speech on horses. I was horrified to see this picture, there is no reason why it should be on the internet. The ban on was hunting was ages ago so get over it!!!!!!!!!!!!
j
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message: THE PHOTO OF THE MURDERED HORSE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD IS DISGUSTING AND SHOULD NOT BE GLORIFED ON ANY WEB SITE, THE PEOPLE WHO DID THIS SHOULD BE IMPALED THEMSELVES!!! THIS BEAUTIFUL CREATURE DOES NOT DESERVE THIS TREATMENT NOT EVEN IN DEATH!!! TAKE IT OFF YOUR WEBSITE, THIS SHOULD NOT BE CONDONED
You are obviously condoning cruelty to animals. For this you should not be supported I will ensure no one in my group of friends will support you in any way. This is just as wrong as if you had done it yourself!!!
CW
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message: I and my friends are here to request you to delete the image on the dead horse on the site.
Reasons:
1. Threat against our coat of arms.
2. Against queens coat of arms.
3. Very ill looking.
4. Teasing. (On us)
5. Very bad for children.
Partition:
James Ding
Victor Jong
John Liu
Susan Zhou
Professor Meque
Gary Matthew
Jessica Yang
Alpha Bi
Leo Liu
Tiger LIu
Emily Liu
Payal Prettaki
Mythri Mula
Adithy Mula
Shuaib Doroni
Ajay Matti
Threats will be sent.
PLEASE, I BEG YOU!!!!
Your sincerely,
Tiger Liu
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So there you go. That's what it feels like to be Shell or Nestle. Now let me find some more animals to personally kill.