Day 4 in Paris at Chantilly 6-2-22
Our tour of Chantilly was terrific, so let’s begin our journey. The day started with a time of the historic building. There was a lot to take in, but it was stunning. Saw many things, from paintings to royalty furniture. In the afternoon, it was all horses.
The second part of the day was watching a specialty horse show. The horses’ skills to do certain tricks well-guided by their jockeys impressed me the most from today's performance. However, today's show almost felt like a circus to me; nowadays, there’s a lot of controversy about using animals in show performances. Yes, the industries make a ton of money, but in my honest opinion, animals shouldn’t be doing all sorts of tricks like I saw in today’s show. It often felt like the horse was scared to even be near these people with some of the things they were doing, and they should not be put in that situation. At the end of the day, in these show-horse situations, you risk injury and the animal's longevity. No, I’m not trying to sound like PETA right now but think about it this way: if an animal gets hurt, it brings in no money. No money. No business. Today’s show was sometimes incredible, but it felt like I had a nightmare dream afterward. Today was an exciting experience because people would clap to be respectful, but at a certain point, I just felt my jaw drop in disgust at what I witnessed.
After watching this show, I thought a lot about horse racing in America. I think of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but I also think of how bad we treat our horses. We see reports of horses testing positive for substances that are not healthy for the animal. Don’t forget the basics, either. Racing is a cruel task on a horse’s body, risking several injuries to the horse. Like I said above: no horses, no money. In both Paris and the United States, horse racing seems to be very unethical across the board.
That puts a bow tie on Chantilly, a truly historic place. Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog discussing my experience at Roland-Garros, but until then, au revoir to you.
The second part of the day was watching a specialty horse show. The horses’ skills to do certain tricks well-guided by their jockeys impressed me the most from today's performance. However, today's show almost felt like a circus to me; nowadays, there’s a lot of controversy about using animals in show performances. Yes, the industries make a ton of money, but in my honest opinion, animals shouldn’t be doing all sorts of tricks like I saw in today’s show. It often felt like the horse was scared to even be near these people with some of the things they were doing, and they should not be put in that situation. At the end of the day, in these show-horse situations, you risk injury and the animal's longevity. No, I’m not trying to sound like PETA right now but think about it this way: if an animal gets hurt, it brings in no money. No money. No business. Today’s show was sometimes incredible, but it felt like I had a nightmare dream afterward. Today was an exciting experience because people would clap to be respectful, but at a certain point, I just felt my jaw drop in disgust at what I witnessed.
After watching this show, I thought a lot about horse racing in America. I think of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but I also think of how bad we treat our horses. We see reports of horses testing positive for substances that are not healthy for the animal. Don’t forget the basics, either. Racing is a cruel task on a horse’s body, risking several injuries to the horse. Like I said above: no horses, no money. In both Paris and the United States, horse racing seems to be very unethical across the board.
That puts a bow tie on Chantilly, a truly historic place. Stay tuned for tomorrow's blog discussing my experience at Roland-Garros, but until then, au revoir to you.
Here are some pictures from today:
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