i do not approve. it must be banned!

​We are living at a time when certain sections of society believe they have the right to demand that anything they disapprove of should be banned and further believe they have the right to disrupt and make difficult the lives of law-abiding people in aid of their ‘cause’.
What we witnessed at Aintree on Saturday we will doubtless witness again and again through Spring and Summer. I do not know the grudge of the people who disrupted the World Snooker yesterday as I was not watching on t.v., though it is easy to conclude that an animal rights group was behind it. My first reaction to events on Saturday were ‘no punishment would be too severe for these ignorant morons’, and part of me remains of the same persuasion. Would that mindset, though, change minds? Would that bring peace?
As much as I loathe the actions of animal rights activists, especially when the people they are attacking most likely contribute more money to animal charities than any other sector of the population. This is the rub, isn’t it. People involved in horse racing are animal lovers. You never see a trainer at home without at least one dog, usually with many running around their feet seeking attention. I wouldn’t think there are many trainers without retired racehorses around the place, living at his or her expense. It would be the same with grooms, jockeys and owners. In many aspects of animal welfare, the racing industry would legitimately stand shoulder-to-shoulder with animal activists. Though, perhaps, not the professional protesters, the ones that roam from ‘Stop Oil’ protests to ‘Migrants Rights’ protests, to whatever protest in next on the list of days-out.
Engaging with the middle ground, illustrating all the love and good connected to the racing industry, is 100% the right initiative and I commend those journalists prepared to stand above the parapet at times like these as the death of any horse, especially a high-profile death as with Hill Sixteen, makes for an easy bat to beat us with. But, as with any battle, any skirmish, we might be better served to engage with the enemy, perhaps even separate the weaker elements to educate them to the truth of the situation: horses are not forced to jump and gallop; though people earn a living from the sport, to the greater portion it is not all about betting and winning fortunes from the sweat and blood of horses; that horses actually enjoy the lives given to them; that though one must be mentally strong to work with horses, there is love-a-plenty for the horse, with any death keenly felt, small tragedies that cut at the heart on the occasion of any fatality. 
I would like to sit down with a couple of protesters and have them watch videos of Frodon and ask them what they see that makes them think he is being forced to race, forced to jump, what aspect of his demeanour suggests to them he is not enjoying what he is asked to do. I would also show them the race at Aintree, was it 4-years ago, when low sun forced the removal of six-fences (or was it eight?) from the Old Roan Chase and for the only time in his long and honourable career Frodon couldn’t see the point of it all, bemused by why he was being steered around fences, denied the opportunity of jumping them. Constitution Hill is another example of a horse completely at ease when racing. There will many, many, other examples to prove the point.
Our sport is dangerous to man and horse. To deny the fact is to encourage derision. We cannot defend the death of Hill Sixteen no matter how loved he was or how well-cared-for he was. And we shouldn’t make the mistake of laying all the blame on protesters. They obviously contributed to the circumstances of his demise, though there is a voice within me that suggests if he became ‘hyper’ due to the delay, it would have been wise to have withdrawn him. That, though, is with the wisdom of hindsight.
Horse racing and the Grand National are the pivot of my life. For the best part of my 69-years horse racing has seasoned my life and protected my mental health. Even now, entering my 70th year, I hanker to be around racehorses once more and am actively looking to earn some spending money as help to anyone in need of my limited use. 
Horse racing is a life to so many, not merely a job. It is a vocation that involves sacrifice. It is seven-days-a-week, twelve-months of the year. An ever-turning cycle of hard work, heartbreak and joy. At the hub of it all is the horse. Our worship of the horse.
We forget the dead equine too easily, perhaps. There was a time we paid no heed to the ex-racehorse, though the short-sightedness of convenience is now vanishing as trainers and owners must now live-up to their responsibilities. But we forget the equine dead too easily. Perhaps racecourses, especially National Hunt, should provide equine cemeteries for the fallen and deceased. Respect for the horse from birth to death should apply to the tragedies that occur when racing, I suggest.
Red Rum is buried at Aintree. One For Arthur’s ashes were scattered there, too. That is true respect for the horse. From birth to death, as it should be for all racehorses. Without them, we are nothing.