Dead Horse Theory

It is a sarcastic metaphor illustrating how some people, organizations, or nations deal with an obvious problem as if it is not clear. Instead of acknowledging the truth, they ignore it and come up with justifications. The basic idea is simple: if you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best and simplest solution is to get off and leave it. However, in reality, there are people or institutions that, instead of getting off the horse, take other actions, such as:

Bringing a new saddle Instead of acknowledging that the horse is dead, they try to make the horse more comfortable, thinking it will solve the problem.

Bringing feed for the horse They keep feeding the horse, even though it's dead, hoping that some external factor will somehow bring it back to life.

Changing the rider They replace the rider, assuming a new person might make a difference even though the horse is still dead.

Firing the employee in charge and hiring a new one – They blame the person in charge of the horse’s care and replace them, expecting that a new person will magically fix the problem, ignoring the fundamental issue.

Holding meetings to discuss ways to make the horse faster – They waste time in meetings discussing how to improve the horse’s performance, despite the fact that it cannot be improved because it is already dead.

Forming committees and work teams to study the dead horse and analyze the issue from every angle – They create committees to study the horse, conducting extensive analyses over months, only to conclude that the horse is, indeed, dead.

The committees conclude the same thing that was obvious from the start: the horse is dead – After wasting all the time and effort, the committees reach the same obvious conclusion, which was clear from the very beginning.

In spite of the wasted effort and resources, they refuse to face the truth – To justify their actions, they compare the dead horse with other dead horses, suggesting the horse isn’t dead because it lacks training and needs a training course.

The training course requires increasing the horse’s budget – They suggest the horse’s performance could improve with more funding for training, even though the horse is beyond saving.

Finally, they redefine the word "dead" to convince themselves that the horse is still alive – They manipulate the definition of "dead" to comfort themselves into believing the horse is not truly dead, even though it clearly is.

The lesson from this theory reveals how many people prefer to stay in denial of the reality and waste their time and energy on futile attempts, rather than accepting the problem from the start and solving it.