Horses in the media

I apologise in advance that this post only has a tenuous link with ridden horse behaviour, and is largely full of trivia!



The 'Britain's Got Talent' victory of Ashleigh and Pudsey over and above an operatic singer and a male voice choir got me thinking about our relationship with animals and how this is exploited in the media. If any of you missed their amazing winning performance you can view it here:



There are rumours that the winning duo are now Hollywood bound, and are likely to be offered a lucrative advertising contract. The use of animals in media campaigns has always fascinated me. I can understand when they are used to sell things like dog food, but they are often used to promote completely unrelated items. What is the psychology behind this? Why are horses good at selling beer?!

I am sure I'm not alone in wondering if one of my horses could learn some tricks in time for next year's program as £500,000 would fund a fair few sets of horse-shoes. Meanwhile you can see my own particular favourite 'horses in the media', including some brilliant cross-discipline ridden horse behaviour,  here.

I promise that the next post will be back on track!