To know how non-violent, cultured, tolerant and accommodating a society is, see how it treats its animals. Although history is not on the side of Europe because of bloody wars it has scarred the world with, the continent has definitely raised the bar for animal love. Barring bullfighting, the Westerners have shown the utmost affection for animals.
Ahead of Cheltenham Festival in the UK, Morestead, a veteran racehorse, has broken the Internet with its tweed suit, especially designed by former Alexander McQueen apprentice and stylist to the celebrities, Emma Sandham-King. She took four weeks to create it using 18 meters of fabric. Morestead and his jockey posing for cameras wearing matching skyblue ties, hats and suits was a sight to behold.
“Creating the world’s first tweed suit for a horse has been one of the biggest challenges that I have faced in my career as a designer,” said Sandham-King, adding that Morestead was calm and “a pleasure to work with.”
Such an unprecedented and extraordinary gesture to treat the loveable beast symbolizes the great regard the Western society has for its four-legged creatures.
While Morestead was stealing the show and fashionistas’ hearts, his unfortunate cousin in India was bleeding after being bludgeoned by a Hindu supremacist from the ruling BJP. The ultra nationalist party’s high-voltage protest in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand witnessed local MLA Ganesh Joshi launching a vile attack on a police horse deployed to control the unruly demo.
Videos being circulated on the social media show Joshi targeting the hapless animal with a huge stick. The repeated attacks by him and fellow protesters smashed the beast’s hind leg. First reports said the dangling limb would be amputated, as the metatarsal bone was broken.
The grotesque episode sparked national outrage and sympathies for the wronged animal poured in. To treat one of the most decorated horses of Uttarakhand Mounted Police, specialist doctors were flown in from as far away as Tamil Nadu. Prayers were answered and the vets fixed the leg in a four-hour surgical procedure, eliminating the threat of 13-year-old Shaktiman horse losing the leg.
His rider Ravindra Singh said Shaktiman is one of the best-behaved horses he has come across. It never loses its temper in tough situations and is as gentle as a cow.
Bought as a young 3-year-old colt from animal fare in Punjab in 2006, Shaktiman grew into a sturdy stallion and served with distinction in tough conditions. It took part in Republic Day and Independence Day parades every year. The equine, the cynosure of all eyes, is recuperating and the doctors have ruled out early recovery due to multiple fractures in the ghastly attack.
As bandaged Shaktiman tries to figure where it went wrong, Morestead, its lucky cousin in Great Britain, is galloping to glory, showing off its tweed suit.
Shaktiman’s prospects to get justice are bleak. Why? How? The current government only considers the cow a sacred animal. Not long ago, the Narendra Modi government preferred to look the other way when the armed zealots emanating from its saffron ideology bludgeoned to death Akhlaq, a Muslim, in his own house over the doubt he had kept cow meat in his fridge. Forensic tests proved his innocence but there is little hope his tormentors will be hanged.
When the ideology that killed Akhlaq is nursed and propagated by the government, Shaktiman should thank heavens he was allowed to live.
