Hunting?
Scientific study?
xx
The photo did it!
Wildlife photographers and brothers Richard and Cherry Kearton! They wanted a literal “hide” from which to photograph birds, and prevailed upon a butcher to prepare an ox for this purpose.
The incident in the photo was when Richard got inside, fainted, and the ox and he tipped over!
This became the subject of the children’s book “In the Belly of an Ox—The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton.” (2009)
Bingo! According to the story, he was not able to get out of the ox blind while it was upside-down and was like that for several hours before Cherry found him. When he did, he took a picture (which, at least according to one source, took some setting up) before he helped Richard out of the ox.
Aside: On Amazon, the first Editorial Review for the 2009 children’s book, “In the Belly of an Ox–The Unexpected Photographic Adventures of Richard and Cherry Kearton,” is from a librarian at the Easton Area Public Library, which is very close to where I live!
Don Larsen’s passing earlier this week made me think of another sports “only happened once” event. This might be too well known to be a good lateral thinking puzzle, but it is still interesting.
**Improbably, the filly won a steeplechase event at a famous track. It was the first race for the horse. Her jockey was inexperienced, but told people beforehand he believed in this filly. The race was close until the end, but our hero horse was spectacular and came in first by a nose, bringing cheers from her owner and from those in the crowd fortunate enough to have bet on the 20-1 longshot. Hurrah!
But then it happened.
Instead of praise this horse was given an undeserved mean nickname and forced to retire. Why? **
Did the team break any rules?
Was the horse not competing in that race?
No to all
Was the forced retirement/unfortunate nickname due to something that happened during the race itself?
Something after the race?
Something before the race?
Some characteristic of the horse herself?
Some characteristic of the jockey?
Was there any cheating involved?
Did people suspect cheating?
Were there any clever getting-around-the-rules shenanigans wherein they didn’t actually break any rules, but still did something non-standard?
reply to SurrenderDorothy
Was the forced retirement/unfortunate nickname due to something that happened during the race itself? ** Yes**
Something after the race? Yes
Something before the race? No
Some characteristic of the horse herself? explain what you mean by "characteristic."
Some characteristic of the jockey? See above
Was there any cheating involved? No
Did people suspect cheating? No
Were there any clever getting-around-the-rules shenanigans wherein they didn’t actually break any rules, but still did something non-standard? No
Did the “undeserved mean nickname” CAUSE the horse’s owner to retire her?
Did something else altogether “force” the horse’s retirement?
Was the “mean nickname” adopted and used by the public when referring to this horse?
Was the “mean nickname” associated with the term “winning by a nose”?
Did the horse do something embarrassing after the race?
Any word play in this puzzle at all?
That’s what I thought about Richard & Cherry Kearton and their ox blind 
Was the thing that caused the issues something most people would have noticed during the race as it was happening or only afterward?
Was it something that really happened or was someone making assumptions or spreading rumors?
Was the issue more to do with the horse herself, more to do with the jockey, both, or neither?
Was it something one of them DID or something that one of them WAS (like age, appearance, country of origin)?
Did it have anything to do with something the jockey said? Or something anyone said?
*My questions relate to “it” which seems to be the essential problem/cause of the nickname situation.
*
Does “it” refer to the death of the horse?
Does “it” refer to the death of the jockey?
Does “it” refer to the death of anyone else? Other jockeys or other people there?
Does “it” refer to a major injury to the horse? Any other horse? The jockey? Any other human?
Does the nickname specifically connect to the “it” that happened?
- I’m thinking if someone(or some horse) died, the horse would be called “black death” or something or “pale horse” type thing
reply to LennieB:
Did the “undeserved mean nickname” CAUSE the horse’s owner to retire her? I don’t know. It sure didn’t help.
Did something else altogether “force” the horse’s retirement? **No. Not something else altogether. **
Was the “mean nickname” adopted and used by the public when referring to this horse? **Yes **
Was the “mean nickname” associated with the term “winning by a nose”? **No **
**No **
No horseplay.
reply to SurrenderDorothy:
Was the thing that caused the issues something most people would have noticed during the race as it was happening or only afterward? **Both, but mostly afterward. **
Was it something that really happened or was someone making assumptions or spreading rumors? really.
Was the issue more to do with the horse herself, more to do with the jockey, both, or neither? **Jockey **
Was it something one of them DID or something that one of them WAS (like age, appearance, country of origin)? **Did **
Did it have anything to do with something the jockey said? Or something anyone said? **No **
**reply to Mahaloth **:
*My questions relate to “it” which seems to be the essential problem/cause of the nickname situation.
*
Does “it” refer to the death of the horse? No.
Does “it” refer to the death of the jockey? No.
Does “it” refer to the death of anyone else? Other jockeys or other people there? **No **
Does “it” refer to a major injury to the horse? Any other horse? The jockey? Any other human? **No **
Does the nickname specifically connect to the “it” that happened? **No. What happened *during *the race.
**
- I’m thinking if someone(or some horse) died, the horse would be called “black death” or something or “pale horse” type thing **You are on the right track. (Heh heh)The nickname is a mean play on the name the horse had before this race.
Remember we are dealing with a “first and only time” sports occurrence. What happened has never happened before and most likely will never happen again. A perfect game in the World Series is more probable.**