My inbox and voicemail have been full with comments from readers on the publication of photos on the front page Tuesday of an accident at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event. (Here is the story.)
On Saturday, the fall on the cross-country course at the Kentucky Horse Park left rider Laine Ashker in critical condition and resulted in the death of her horse, Frodo Baggins. The two photographs, at right, by freelance photographer Ron Curtis, showed the two just as they encountered the Flower Basket jump and then as they began to tumble over it.
Of the more than 70 responses to my editor’s note with the photos requesting comments, more objected to than supported my decision to print them. Those who disagreed described them as in poor taste, too graphic, insensitive to the rider and her family, and insufficiently supportive of eventing and the horse industry.
Gwen Starstrom of Georgetown said such horrific photos should not be printed. “We can all well imagine what transpired from the descriptions in the newspaper. Shame on you,” she wrote.
Ladd Bovey of Lexington agreed, writing: “Publishing a photo of horse and rider plunging to the death of the horse had all of the subtlety of showing a picture of someone’s pet dog being run over.”
On the other hand, Marsha Dance of Berry, Ky., wrote: “You were right in showing pictures of the horses falling at the Rolex cross-country….It is past time for everyone involved in horse competitions to wake up and quit making excuses and start thinking about safety first….They keep trying to make the jumps harder and harder all the time, with no thought to the fact that there are limits to what a horse can do. …I think if all these riders, trainers and officials really, REALLY cared about horses as they should they would not push them into such dangers. I feel the cross-country event should be stopped or else taken back to what it was in the beginning.”
Dan Weldy of Lexington, who witnessed the accident, wrote: “Laine Ashker lay motionless on the ground, and I believed at that moment that I just witnessed someone losing her life. Many of us at the scene were in tears. As Frodo Baggins struggled to get to his feet, I think we all knew that he would not survive this accident. This photo brings to light the incredible dangers inherent to the sport. Perhaps it will lead to changes that will make cross-country eventing safer for horse and rider and less frightening for spectators.”
On Tuesday afternoon, two leaders of the eventing world called for a safety summit on the sport on June 7-8 in Lexington. You can read the letter from David O’Connor, president of the United States Equestrian Federation, and Kevin Baumgardner, president of the United States Eventing Association, here.
If you’d like to comment, please e-mail me or call 859-231-3221. Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate your taking the time to share your views.
Linda Austin, Editor
It’s funny the same people who allow their children to watch shows depicting sexual acts and using vulgar language and think that’s ok, are ticked off at reality. Show the picture, it’s better than the tv shows on tonight.
As an Equine Photographer for over 25 years I have witness and photographed all types of falls in all types of disciplines. I can relate to Linda’s dilemma on running the images of Laine’s fall. I receive a lot of grief from several people on my licensing of the Andreas Zehrer’s crash at the 2004 Olympics to the NY Times. In this case the image looks far worst then the actual out come.
I have Sarah Hansel’s fall and have selected several images to release, if I had Laine’s I would do the same thing. As a photo-journalist it is our job to document the good, the bad and the ugly of whatever event we are covering. The line here I do not think has been crossed. We do not see the rider or horse on the ground in distress. (I left those out of my selection of Sarah’s fall). So I applaud Linda’s choice of images and knowing that these images would elicit a wide variety feedback and she commented to that when she ran the photos.
I have read various comments on several bulletin boards about these photos, my photo and the YouTube videos, to which I keep hearing a double standard out there. It is ok to run a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald being shot on the cover of almost every newspaper in the country, or the Viet Cong prisoner being shot in the head and the Marlborough Street Fire as a mother and daughter fall from a fire escape. But we can’t run a photo of a horses falling?
Someone made a comment about showing a pet being run over. I have a 9 year old Golden Retriever and would be devastated by his passing no matter how it happened. But I think most newspaper editors would show a closely edited image if they felt it necessary to do so. What if the image is of the owner embracing the wounded animal, or the moment just before impact? Would they be ok? Remember the examples I mentioned above are graphic moments just before or at the moment a HUMAN life is taken. They all must have had family and friends that loved them.
Just as we have an on-off switch on the TV and Radio, we have the same thing on our computers. If something disturbs you then don’t look at it, in addition don’t sensor the rest of us that think it is important to allow these types of images to run. I have covered many international events and the news agencies in other countries show much more graphic images every day and I am not talking just equine related.
I would like to end with a send out of major kudos to the all the veterinary staff, fence judges, stewards and volunteers whose quick reaction to these incidents, quite possibly preventing a much uglier scene from happening.
Charles Mann
Charles Mann Photography
I am proud of the news for doing it’s job and putting this out there for the public.
As the owner of a picture stock agency, one of my photographers was at that jump. While I’m extremely sad about a horse being destroyed and a rider injured, I cannot turn away from the fact that my contributor was there to document the news. She did her job.
Charles Mann, a respected media photographer himself, was correct that if this had been any other sport, the images would have been on the web within seconds practically. But this is the world of equestrians who do tend to live in a bubble. It’s a closed, select world that is use to doing things their own way.
Well, this is a new age and no one has the privacy that once was. Things don’t get changed without being brought to light. So I say, good for these images because now the sport organizers have concrete data to review and perhaps will have the difficult task of either trying to find a way to make their sport safer or do away with it all together.
In closing, anyone who thinks getting on top of a one thousand pound animal with only small pieces of leather and metal for control is safe, is just fooling themselves. Dealing with horses in general will always have an element of danger to it.
As a Canadian following the event I support your choice to share the photographs of this horrific accident. When eventing fanatics such as myself hear of these accidents, we’re saddened but the blow is softened when we simply read the details in our home so far away.
Those photographs bring the incident up close, in a way that we can feel it could be our horse, and it could be our face of horror as we realised we’d hit that big solid fence devastatingly wrong.
It has to hit home in that personal way, even if necessary bring tears to our eyes, for us to realise that our favourite sport simply has to change.
It was a tough decision to share those photographs. But it was the right one.
Sincerely.
I applaud the Herald for running these photographs, this is truth in reporting. Newspapers are supposed to record realities and help be a change for good. They have to cover the gritty realities of life, whether it makes some people uncomfortable or not. If death and injuries are resulting in a sporting venue, this is a news story. I’m sorry for those people who find this reality too much to bear, but censorship is not the answer.
These ‘elite horse people’ could not possibly think much of their horses to put them through such difficult stress and actions. Sorry for the injuries to the young ladies, but the need for euthanization of two fine, beautiful horses would not have been the case if humans had not pushed them beyond their limits. Does self-glory mean this much to riders? Do they not think of their horse?
Although I am brought to tears by the image, as a journalist, I think you made the right decision. If anything, as some pointed out here, maybe it will make those IDIOTS who force these poor, beautiful animals to do stupid stunts. There are, as someone wrote, physical limits. I feel so sad for the rider, but she is just as guilty for putting her horse into such a compromised position that cost it its life. Shame should be directed at the participants, not the Herald Leader for truth in reporting.
The photos provided some closure for me as I could not imagine how this could have happened…as tho they, horse and rider, were distracted and not focused. Yes, the photos are tough to look at but again, they did provide closure and I feel so very badly about Frodo and his rider…makes me just sick.
As an eventer, I am saddened that the sport has come to what it has. Generally speaking, we(eventers) are not IDIOTS and love our horses very much. The truth is that the change to the short format for cross country is the root of the problem. The long format not only ensured that the horse was ready for the event, but the course designer COULDN’T place such lofty and complicated jump combinations after two sets of roads and tracks and a steeplechase.
The purpose of cross country day was to test the ENDRANCE of the horse, not if he was quick on his feet and could go from gallop gallop gallop to teensy tiny canter. This fast then slow that riders have to do in orer to stay within the time is dangerous. It sets horses and riders off balance which is WHY spectators are seeing so many falls. Cross country is about jumping solid jumps out of a free galloping stride, not a show-jumping canter.
Before people accuse riders of being selfish, they should look into the facts.
This was a freak accident involving a slight miscalculation. But at the level this pair was competing, a small fault in judgement and a split-second of hesitation can easily result in disaster. The competitors in the sport of eventing should not be blamed for their love of competing in eventing; instead eventing should be changed back to the sport they all originally fell in love with- the safer long format with a good gallop to get them ready for the task at hand. Anyone seeing the correlation between the sudden deaths and injuries of even the most elite riders in the sport and the sudden change from long format to short format?
Of course the picture is scary and a tear jerker, but the photographer has a right to share the pictures due to freedom of press. Hopefully the documentation of this accident can be better used to show what happens at a seemingly straight-forward jump when the horses have no chance to warm up, and make mistakes, over cross country-type fences beforehand in the steeplechase phase.
With all due respect, especially to Charles Mann, whose work I am familiar with and really enjoying viewing, I totally disagree that the paper should have published that photo of the horse doing the flip. (The first one was enough.)
I really respected the Lexington Herald-Journal as a newspaper until they ran that photo. To me, that was nothing short of tabloid journalism, pure and simple. They joined the ranks of the Enquirer and the Star by running that in my opinion.
While I do agree with the idea that the more people talk about this, the better chance that the powers that be might make changes in the sport to try and stop this in the future (maybe a breakaway fence might have saved the horses from euthinization and the rider from the hospital), I believe the paper could have done it with words and not that photo.
In fact, I found it ironic that the editor said that the photo did more to explain the situation. To me, that was also a disservice to her writing staff. Her writer’s could not have explained what happened?
Again, though, the one good thing that has come out of this is that it has really brought this debate to the forefront. Maybe that “summit” they are going to have in Lexington in June might bring about changes that will help save other horses and riders from getting hurt in the future. Let’s hope that Frodo’s and Quiet Man’s death, and Laine Ashker’s injuires were not in vain.
It is still my opinion, however, that photo should never have seen the light of day and I am really disappointed in the paper for running it.
Thanks for reading -
Rick Capone
I am saddened by the recent accidents both at Rolex and previous events. The fact that several top riders have been injured and two horses put down is terrible. I do not fault the photographers or the newspapers for showing the pictures. They are horrifying, but not gruesome. In fact, luckily many times the end result of photos that look like these is not a tragedy.
As for this statement: “If anything, as some pointed out here, maybe it will make those IDIOTS who force these poor, beautiful animals to do stupid stunts.” I can only say that the author must never have ridden a horse. You cannot make a horse jump these obstacles; it is the result of a partnership between the rider and his or her horse.
Given that that every newspaper and TV station showed images and video of Barbaro’s breakdown in the Preakness, I find the current hysteria to be unwarranted. I also did not see jockeys, trainers and owners being vilified as “idiots” in the press.
Yes, eventing is a dangerous sport. But not more dangerous than racing, not by a long shot.
I think some proponents are forgetting that one can filter the TV channels we watch, but not our newspaper…other than choosing the Herald-Leader over the New York Post. TV, especially news stations, would also give a mature content warning, newspaper can’t do that. With that in mind, I think there is a responsibility for newspaper editors to use greater discrepancy.
Additionally, CONTEXT should be a guide to appropriateness when it comes to editing decisions. These pictures do not seem necessary unless the story is in the context of an investigative article on the topic of horse/rider safety.
Looking at the context these pictures were presented shows the real motives to publish these pictures.
My husband witnessed the first horse fall that day. He was terribly upset. I am glad to have seen the photos, however awful, because it’s too easy to mentally whitewash the fall. Quiet Man fell earlier in the day and the animal panicked and suffered and strugged as we watched. It is WHAT HAPPENS when we structure events like this, and nothing will change until we see things as they really are. Having said that, I am terribly sorry that Laine or her family will likely encounter these photos at some point.
Of course this was a tragic accident, and like all catastrophes, it could (possibly) have been prevented, I think it is foolish to write off the sport of eventing as a pointless endeavor in which wealthy “elitists” crash around on abused, defenseless ponies. I am a trail rider and barrel racer, but I am a horse person with many friends who event. I know first hand the deep bond these riders develop with their mounts, and the pain we all suffer when animals are lost.
True, eventing does put horses and people at considerable risk, but the equines competing in this sport are finely tuned athletes, most of which carry impressive pedigrees designed to create the ultimate sport horse. These animals are bred for, trained for, and live for their sport, and riders and trainers pour incredible amounts of time and money into their charges to make their careers succesful and lives comfortable. Accidents like these could just as easily occur on a leisurely trail ride through difficult terrain when something something spooks a horse, or on a pleasurable road ride when a careless driver makes a wrong move. Yet you don’t see the ignorant PETA fanatics condemning trail riding. So please, let’s give this sport a little more respect.
With all the arguments aside and very good arguments they are…. Photos are taking to capture the moment that will be forever lost otherwise like birthdays, weddings, and vacations. Newspapers and the media take photos for the same reason with the added task of showing others the moment and emotions as if they were there. Seeing the photo with the horses legs up in the air was a once in a lifetime photo. It was shot just at the right time. I can now feel the pain of the horse and rider more clearly than just reading about it in print or hearing about it on the news. My heart goes out to the rider and family. My heart also goes out to those who were involved in the training and caring of the horse. I know the argument of sensitivity to the family but the photo speaks volumes to me just like it was suppose to do.
I am glad that you have decided to post the pictures. I am an eventer, and it has made me that much more aware of the risk of eventing. But please let me say to the people out there that believe this is an inhumane sport, that the care that is given to these horses is unbeatable. I can say with certainty that my horse enjoys the sport just as much as I do, because if he didn’t, there is no way I would be able make him take those fences. It is a terrible thing when accidents happen, and we all regret them. But, please do not insult the eventers by telling them they do not love or care for the horses. The bond and trust between horse and rider that is required in this sport is undescribable. So please the least everyone could do is respect the sport for all of the work, passion, and dedication it takes. And hopefully all eventers out there will learn from the tragedy, and do everything in their power to make the sport as safe as it can be.