Eh, I’m out of it today. Hope you can follow…
I know the vast majority of the population here won’t know much about horseracing (it’s not exactly a ‘popular sport’ and, after all, this is a writing forum) but I wanted to ask this question here (as opposed to on a racing site) because I want the opinion of someone who isn’t completely in love with the horse this question is about.
Some background:
The 2005 Preakness Stakes was won by Afleet Alex, a horse who clipped heels with Scrappy T and stumbled. Scrappy T lugged out, however (losing both ground and momentum) and while Afleet Alex went down on one foreleg and lost his momentum, he didn’t lose any ground. Of course, Afleet Alex picked himself back up within an instant and went on to win the race.
The problem I have comes here. Following the Preakness, Afleet Alex was dubbed “Iron Horse” (A name given to only one other horse….Citation, the greatest horse of all time) as well as “brave” and “full of heart.” This may all be true but doesn’t it seem normal for a horse to do this?
By this a mean, say you, yourself, happened to be running a race. (Against humans, that is). If you tripped, went down onto a knee, then stood up…..would you keep going? Would you stop just because you tripped? Is it incorrect to say anyone trying to win a race would continue running if they were uninjured in a little stumble? Does this person deserve to be called “brave” and “made of iron” because they accidentally tripped and continued the race?
I’ve also seen people call him “brave” for trying to pick himself up from the stumble in the first place. Would it make any sense for him to decide to just fall flat on his face? The horse was trying to save his life…did he have a real choice?
Am I being biased because I obviously don’t like this horse? If this is the case, then I will just stand back and be impressed by what is ‘impressive’. Or is it, by a chance, possible that this actually makes sense…?
I know the vast majority of the population here won’t know much about horseracing (it’s not exactly a ‘popular sport’ and, after all, this is a writing forum) but I wanted to ask this question here (as opposed to on a racing site) because I want the opinion of someone who isn’t completely in love with the horse this question is about.
Some background:
The 2005 Preakness Stakes was won by Afleet Alex, a horse who clipped heels with Scrappy T and stumbled. Scrappy T lugged out, however (losing both ground and momentum) and while Afleet Alex went down on one foreleg and lost his momentum, he didn’t lose any ground. Of course, Afleet Alex picked himself back up within an instant and went on to win the race.
The problem I have comes here. Following the Preakness, Afleet Alex was dubbed “Iron Horse” (A name given to only one other horse….Citation, the greatest horse of all time) as well as “brave” and “full of heart.” This may all be true but doesn’t it seem normal for a horse to do this?
By this a mean, say you, yourself, happened to be running a race. (Against humans, that is). If you tripped, went down onto a knee, then stood up…..would you keep going? Would you stop just because you tripped? Is it incorrect to say anyone trying to win a race would continue running if they were uninjured in a little stumble? Does this person deserve to be called “brave” and “made of iron” because they accidentally tripped and continued the race?
I’ve also seen people call him “brave” for trying to pick himself up from the stumble in the first place. Would it make any sense for him to decide to just fall flat on his face? The horse was trying to save his life…did he have a real choice?
Am I being biased because I obviously don’t like this horse? If this is the case, then I will just stand back and be impressed by what is ‘impressive’. Or is it, by a chance, possible that this actually makes sense…?
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