Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Hargrove / Hicks From the Sticks Tennessee Walking Horse Competition Exposed: Unbelievable Cruelty and Mutilation
Posted by Brantley Hargrove on Wed, Jun 10, 2009 at 1:04 PM
Shelbyville, Tenn. bills itself as the Tennessee Walking Horse Capital, and indeed it hosts the National Celebration--a yearly competition where the industry parades its finest horses.
Prized for their distinctive (and completely unnatural) high-stepping gait, they were originally bred to carry plantation owners around their lands. Their easy-going disposition and smooth stride make them a pleasure to ride. These days the competition rewards the horse with the highest-step and the most pronounced gait. But how do trainers induce this odd prancing trot?
According to a video from the Humane Society, some trainers use a method called "soring." They apply irritating chemicals to a horse's front ankles like oil of mustard, kerosene or diesel fuel and wrap them in plastic to drive the irritants into the skin. This, as you might imagine, causes the horse great pain. Then its ankles are wrapped in chains, so that each step the horse takes is excruciating, further exaggerating its gait. The process often leaves the horse permanently scarred.
The practice was outlawed in 1970, but political pressure from the industry has thwarted any real enforcement. Horses are checked for soring before competition, but trainers have grown increasingly adept at concealing the method. The next National Celebration runs from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5. Let your local legislators know how you feel about a sport that rewards an industry for mistreating horses.
Comments (11)
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2007 called. It wants its headline back. The TWH celebration was shut down after enforcement was stepped up. The following year the festival returned successfully at similar levels of inspection and more reputable contestants. I agree that there remains a problem but the enforcement of the rules seemed successful last year.
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This shit has been going on for decades, and i have always hated the walking horse show and the people involved with it. I do not trust these people one bit to clean up their act. This show is like those kiddie beauty pageants - repulsive to everyone outside their circle.
Brantley, you aren't from around here are you? Mike D is right, this is old news.
Ok, Mike D, you're willing to speak in absolutes? This doesn't go on at all in the TWH community?
You must also believe nobody dopes in baseball these days. Cheaters evolve, dude, as do their methods.
Before you go quoting the HSUS, you need to understand that they are a radical animal rights organization that collects huge sums of money to further their causes, not to provide shelters or any direct benefits to animals.
If you read HSUS’s website you will find a disclaimer noting that the group “is not affiliated with, nor is it a parent organization for, local humane societies, animal shelters, or animal care and control agencies. These are independent organizations … HSUS does not operate or have direct control over any animal shelter.”
They are not credible as a source of information about animal welfare. They are not affiliated with the Humane organization that sponsors shelters ... they don't do much directly for helping animals. For a complete run-down on them, go to: http://www.activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/oid/136.
I'm not a fan of the walking horse industry, but in spite of what this article says, there is very strict oversight at shows by USDA inspectors. Horses with scarring are not allowed to compete. There are chains on the ankles, but they are noisemakers, not pain agents, and there are also rules about the use of them so as to avoid any pain.
There is a flaw in the inspection program, in that they do not inspect stables, where abusive training may take place. But at least let's try to be accurate about what is wrong with the industry, and not quote weak sources.
Just because you don't like the source, TN 4th, doesn't make what it has to say any less true. Here is a series of anonymous interviews with people in the TWH community:
http://www.soundhorseconference.com/Confidential_Interview.html
What you forget to mention is that every single high stepping horse the HSUS shows in their video was inspected and approved by the USDA and industry inspectors prior to entry to the ring.
Every single horse.
Which begs the question: if every single horse shown in the ring in this video was pre-inspected and approved by the USDA, what happened to those who used inhumane methods to train? Yep...they're outside the ring looking in, unable to show their horse, and facing a Federal Case.
You may not like the look of the Tennessee Walking horse as shown, but how can the HSUS use this video to fundraise for their political machine when the horses they're showing are certified by the USDA?
One other thing to think about: while you may not care for the look of the Tennessee Walking Horse yourself, you can't argue with the statistics...they routinely show at the highest levels well into their teens and many into their 20s. They frequently live into their early 30s.
Don't be a patsy and fall for the HSUS-funded propaganda machine. Call your local shelter and ask them how much money the HSUS sends them every year. When they get done laughing, they will ask you if you have any bags of shredded documents from your office they can use for bedding and to help keep their animals warm. They will ask you if you have any extra toys or food or beds you can donate. They will ask you if you've got any extra time you can donate. And they will ask you for money, because the richest animal rights organization in the United States, the misleadingly named Humane Society of the United States, doesn't give them any.
Well, as a native Shelbyvillian, I have to say this is old news. The soring of the old days to get the walker's Big Lick is over (way back when, they used chains to actually create the sores on those horses). Abuse of that nature is out. That is not to say that abuses don't happen nowadays. The horse people through their years (and years) of obstinate fighting of USDA inspections have brought most of this harsh light onto themselves. Everybody knows that the Optimist Club donuts are the best part of the Horse Show, anyways.
I used to support the padded horse industry and have owned three ex-padded horses that went on to become successful flat shod horses.
Sorry, but this isn't "old" news. It's still alive and cookin. The new inspection rule this year is that now all saddles have to come off before inspection. Why? Because the yahoos who probably have no clue how to train an honest gait on a horse have come up with yet another way to conceal what they do. And the rest of us pay the price.
I sick and tired of it. My back's gonna be broke by the end of show season. It's RIDICULOUS that these abusers just keep coming up with more and more ways to be dishonest.
Why chains at all if they are only noise makers? Although they look pretty thick to me. You would think if they were only noise makers, they would be lighter, like the chain on a dog collar. They obviously look bad and produce negative reactions from people, so if would be in the interests of the TWH industry to ban them. Best horse is still going to win. But for the life of me, I cannot see how it is legal to put pads and shoes on a horse that are so heavy, the horse has to fling his feet in the air just to walk. If that was done in a circus, there would be an uproar from the crowd.
