Interesting link re: Tennessee Walking Horses

Pigeon

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They are looking to pass a bill in the US to ban all soring. I don't know why it has taken this long for something to be done, or how effective it will be, but surely it's a step in the right direction.

The video here was great to see, if you watch far enough to see the actual competition, how chilled and happy does Champagne Watchout look compared to the other participants?! Really highlights the positives of natural shoeing.

http://www.walkinonranch.com/celebrationrides.html

I think Walking Horse showing is one of the most corrupt and cruel of all horse sports, and although I'm not massively into gaited breeds, they are very beautiful animals. Can't believe the things people do to these poor creatures. :(
 
I think only chemical soring is illegal? So the weighted chains etc are not? Not sure, it's all pretty horrific stuff tbh.
 
I agree, that dreadful video on here some time back made me cry, so cruel. Difficult to be too critical of simple weights/chains though when it's fairly common in showing Welshies.
 
Unfortunately the beautiful TW Horse has been tortured for years in the name of showing, you should see what is done to achieve the high tail carriage, tendons on either side of the tail are cut and the horse has to wear a 'rig' to set the tail.

see the link below for details of what is being done to stop the abuse of these horses;

http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot.co.uk/

and this chap in the article below really is an expert and knows just how to get the best out of his horses !!!!!

http://horsetalk.co.nz/2012/09/19/jackie-mcconnell-fined-gets-three-years-probation/#axzz2gt1OMSLahttp://
 
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Yep, AFAIA soring is already illegal and this the reason why they 'train' their horses to not flinch when touched. They ought to ban the stacks too if you ask me. such a sad (and I suspect short) life, even their poor tails are mutilated :'(
 
I fail to understand why people would want to make their horses move like crippled crabs. There is nothing pleasant watching the so called "big lick" especially when you consider the suffering of the poor horses. I understand the owner/ rider of champagne watchout had to have an escort out of the show because their safety was threatened by the so called "big lickers" Are they really so afraid to compete fairly well the answer to that is yes, so much so that they are trying to push through an amendment to call their show horses "performance horses" to exempt them from the new law. Lets hope they fail!
 
I fail to understand why people would want to make their horses move like crippled crabs. There is nothing pleasant watching the so called "big lick" especially when you consider the suffering of the poor horses. I understand the owner/ rider of champagne watchout had to have an escort out of the show because their safety was threatened by the so called "big lickers" Are they really so afraid to compete fairly well the answer to that is yes, so much so that they are trying to push through an amendment to call their show horses "performance horses" to exempt them from the new law. Lets hope they fail!

Because they don't care about their horses just about winning and prestige. It's torture of the worst kind and if you are entering a horse for this then imo you are changing what is natural and beautiful about the horse. If you have to give it platform shoes and burn its legs and sit on its loins, cut its tail (it can't protect itself from flies afterwards) to make a travesty of a rocking horse to get a trophy get a different hobby. These people are not horse lovers but glory hunters. In the OP video link although it's all bad the canter makes me cry, there is a grey that is particularly bad (although none of it is good). This should be banned outright imo.
 
I don't see what is prestigious about making a horse move that way, I didn't understand why judges would pin horses whose movement was so unnatural until someone pointed out that many of the exhibitors are also judges. So it's just one dirty little club! Look on facebook for the Ban the Big Lick page-- they spell it all out there.
 
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