Apparently large numbers of Tennessee Walking Horses are tortured and beaten in order to make them produce the high-stepping gait that wins championships.
The unnatural movements required from this type of show horse is not about horses at all, of course, but about about human affectation and ribbon-chasing.
Misery for the animals is simply "collateral damage" on the way to winning a rosette, same as it is for so many breeds in the world of show dogs.
Of course we are told it's only the "unscrupulous" who do these kinds of things.
And who tells us this? The people who go to horse and dog shows themselves, and who stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the abusers, and who have spent years, if not decades in silence.
9 comments:
Regrettably, there is not one thing new in this piece. Not only has "soring" been going on for literally decades, but it's been "banned" for nearly as long. Yeah, right. Some of the sored horses no longer grow hair where the caustic agents have been applied. THAT'S not hard to detect. Completely obvious and MISSING in this report is the tail-set of the horses. Go back and look at how the tails stick up unnaturally from the rump of the horses. Their muscles are severed and the tails literally broken and placed in a sort of cast, in order to have them heal in the broken and upright position. That's not pretty, that's mutilation. Not a mention, Brian Ross. Oh, and those flowing tails are all FAKE. Yup, wigs, probably made from the tails of slaughtered horses. As an equine professional, I find ZERO to like or admire about Walking Horses. Oh, and that "big lick" gait would NEVER work out on the "plantation". Shocker, eh? Yeah, like trying to fit a huge terrier down a tiny hole.
Seahorse
Don't look up gingering - something they do to Arabian horses to get them to do that high tail carriage...
Jesus, there is no depth to human depravity, stupidity or narcissism.
I just sold my quarter horse to some folks who are renovating a barn that was occupied for years by Saddlebred show horses. Every single stall in the 36 stall barn is completely riddled with kick holes. There are holes in the stall fronts big enough for a horse to put his head through.
Aside from all the obvious torture of soring, tail setting, the mile-long front hooves with heavy shoes etc., the huge majority of gaited show horses I've known are kept locked in their stalls basically 24/7. They are never turned out and allowed to just be horses. Why? Obviously they're not concerned about their horses being injured. Hell, they make damn sure they ARE being injured! So what is it then? To keep that coat shiny and clean? Beauty is as beauty does...
Abusive practices are of course not limited only to gaited show horses, but just as in the dog world, torture of this magnitudes is limited pretty much completely to the show horse set.
And for what? "For a blue ribbon that costs $1.95." Yep, she summed that up pretty nicely.
As Seahorse said, definitely not a new thing, but hopefully coming more into the open, especially with this going down.
Would have like to see more on Champagne Watchout (the buckskin Walker stallion being worked without pads or soring) and what a real Walker can do. That family went through hell to put that horse in the Celebration back in the late '90s. The site of the owners is here, and video first non-sored Walker stallion in a LONG time to be featured in the Celebration can be seen here, if you have 40 minutes :) IIRC, he is light-shod (small, light pads) and his tail is natural except for a "wig" which creates the traditional look of the nicked tails. I know it was a news story and they had limited time, so I really can't complain about it as it is now. Just wish they could have shown a little more about a non-sored horse.
Then again, there's enough in this topic to make an entire documentary, so like I said, I can't really complain about a little 7-minute news clip.
Hate to say this, but the last time I heard a reference to "gingering" it was about showing terriers.
Seahorse
I used to show in the AKC (albeit about 30 years ago) and have never heard of the term. A quick Google tells me it is a horse term -- shoving a piece of ginger root up a horse's ass to make him walk animated. Not sure a terrier has ever needed that! For sure it's simply not done with terriers or any dog. Slip a dog a coffee bean? Maybe. Paint a dog's nose full black or or powder it's coats? Some people do. But gingering appears to be purely a horse term and practice.
Patrick, all I know about ginger and terriers I learned very recently. I didn't see it done, but was told it was used to get a dog's tail up in the ring. I'd like to think it wasn't true, but it was said directly to me FWIW.
Seahorse
I think gingering to encourage a dog to lift its tail would be most counterproductive -- faced with pain in the rear, dogs tuck their tails *in*. With enough pain, e.g. with impacted anal glands, you get dogs that appear paralyzed in the rear as they crouch and growl at all and sundry as dare approach.
Cutting ligaments to force the tail set higher though... that's doable.
Back to the subject at hand, a crazy thing I'd like to hazard is defunding the Big Lick. Horses are expensive as well as prestigious. If naturally-gaiting Tennessee Walking Horses are not only placed but monetarily rewarded, it's a fashion that will quickly reverse itself. It's pointless to punish trainers as long as the incentives are so strong.
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