Archive for the 'Visuals' Category

Another horse is fatally injured; should you see it?

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on May 5, 2008
in Visuals
. 7 Comments

For the second time in a week, photos of a horse fatally injured in a sporting event have presented themselves for publication. And as before, again after much discussion, I have decided to share them with you.

On Saturday, Eight Belles collapsed with two broken ankles after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby and was euthanized on the spot.0506a1eightbelles
The previous Saturday, two horses fell while jumping on the cross-country course at the Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event and were put down.

While the initial response was more negative, readers who have contacted me in recent days have generally been supportive of the decision to publish the photos of the accidents at Rolex.

Horse lover Jack Martin of Lexington wrote: “The safety of the sport is a clear and present issue. Perhaps seeing the horror on the front page will somehow cause an outcry that will create a mandate to make it safer.”

Comments such as Martin’s influenced my choice to publish photos of the breakdown of Eight Belles. Her death follows the ultimately fatal injury of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro in the Preakness almost two years ago. Early results from an ongoing survey for The Jockey Club found that about 2 horses die for every 1,000 starts on dirt tracks and about 1.5 die per 1,000 starts on synthetic tracks.

Some readers commented that they didn’t need to see the images to know that equine sports can be dangerous. Action News 36 photographer Lauren Ashe wrote: “I feel, as a fellow photojournalist and horse enthusiast, that showing a picture of an animal fatally injuring itself is about the same as showing a picture of a bullet entering someone’s head. What exactly does printing this accomplish?”

Ashe’s comment reminded me of Eddie Adams’ photo of a South Vietnamese colonel executing a Communist Viet Cong prisoner. The picture, which shows the exact moment the bullet enters the prisoner’s head, earned Adams a Pulitzer Prize in 1969 and is credited with helping turn American public opinion against the Vietnam War.

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, and images can move people more readily than words alone. So, again on the front page Tuesday, there are photos of horses injured at sporting events. More graphic photos of Eight Belles are inside the paper and in a slide show online; both carry a warning that the content may be upsetting.

As before, I invite your comments on the publication of these images.

Linda Austin
Editor

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Reaction mixed to photos of eventing accident

Published
by
Peter Baniak
on April 29, 2008
in Visuals
. 17 Comments

080426laineashker02_3080426laineashker01_2My 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

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