Yoked Oxen: harsh reality / compassionate art
Themed week, Sept. 11 #1: Animals: Flesh / art
Top: Along with the gaudy carnival midway and greasy food, one of the pleasures I took in New England summer fairs was ox pulls, where animals are hitched to multi-ton weights on skids. On command, the muscle-corded oxen, massive and shiny, must lunge forward dragging a load of cement blocks straight ahead for a designated distance.
The competition at the Tunbridge World Fair had at first seemed a romantic collaboration of man (yes, almost all male humans) and beast. Only after getting home and seeing the resulting photos was the brutality evident. And I wondered how I’d missed it. While some drivers guided the teams with calls and encouragement, others slashed at the animals with “goat sticks,” sometimes lashing their faces while the oxen strained with bulging eyes, spraying glistening garlands of spittle. Yoked together, they could not turn away from the blows.
Drivers claim the strain and whip do not hurt the rock-tough animals. The Humane Society charges that owners sometimes administer drugs and electric shocks during training or deprive the oxen of water so that they can qualify for a lower weight class and thus pull fewer pounds to win. In addition to bragging rights and siring bounties, a successful team can earn $10-$20,000 over a season.
Below: For some 60 years, Peter Schumann has created compelling beasts and humans from papier mache, cloth, and sticks. Puppeteers bring them to mythical and ordinary life as they perform at Glover VT-based Bread and Puppet Theater and around the world. Here in a museum barn that stands near the company's house, Peter's oxen, while not romaticized, are representations of the gentle animals that aid farmers plowing rough rocky ground. They are peaceful and placid, and mistreating them seems beyond imagining.
A recent, deep unsentimental and lovely piece of reporting on Bread and Puppet takes an ungauzed look at Peter and the world he and his wife Elka built. With Elka recently dead, and Peter in failing health at 89, their life work and the theater they built is on the brink great change.
Two links to click and check out:
For Chelsea Edgar's excellent article on B&P
For my photos of Bread and Puppet Museum
NOTE: I slacked off Opposable last week and put the blame on a flurry of house guests enjoying the last days of summer. This week I’ll do a series that juxtaposes animals with their representation in art.
I remember horse pulling at fairs in Connecticut when I was a kid. That was probably cruel too, but I can’t remember. Thanks for the B and P photo, and the other photos, and the article a bout them. So ephemeral.
In my 88 years have never been to an oxen pull, and this picture does not make me sorry! What a terrible hobby! Those beasts are so thin,and certainly look to be abused. My husband used to be a hunter, and I think that was more humane!