Tennessee Walking Horse Soring Issue *Update post 1*

[WalkInTheWoods]

Update 4-11-13. Whitfield reintroduced the HPA Amendment H.R. 1518. Please go here and support the bill.
https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr1518

Full report by ABC News’ Chief Investigative Reporter, Brian Ross. The ABC news team is conducting field work in Shelbyville Tennessee, the home of the center of the action there, the Celebration Horse Show. The ABC interviews include extensive testimony by Jennie Jackson, a prominent sound horse advocate from Tennessee. Then, on Thursday, the HSUS will release videos taken by their undercover agent, who worked in the barn of one prominent trainer. The videos, which include footage of horses being beaten because they are unable to stand up from the pain in their front legs, will shock the consciousness of all animal lovers and will hopefully help to end these practices forever. Please tune in to these reports and spread the word to others you know.
Here is the link to the Brian Ross Nightline report 5-16-12
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/tennessee-walking-horses-abused/story?id=16360835

Link for ABC to thank them for airing - and ask them to do a follow-up
http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3…&cat=Nightline

FOSH presentation for those wanting to learn more about soring
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot…ions-fosh.html

Transcript of Barney Davis(SSH Sorer) sentencing
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot…ney-davis.html

The Champagne Watchout story at 1999 Celebratioin - a must see !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhSP6muJwLk

WHAT CAN WE DO ?

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Jackie McConnell will be sentenced in federal court Sept !0, 2012. The judge who accepted his plea at the plea hearing will not be the sentencing judge. Hon. Judge Mattice will be presiding at the sentencing hearing.

Address your letter to Dear Judge Mattice. This is fine for emails - (snail mail envelope and letter instructions below)

this is a sample only - use your own words !
Jackie McConnell has knowingly broken the law for decades, knowing full well he was in violation of the HPA Act of 1970. He encouraged people under his employ to do the same. I repsectfully request that in your wisdom you will find cause to reject the plea bargain in place for Jackie McConnell.

*Flesh your letter out with words from the heart.
*Words from the heart mean a great deal in these matters.
*Explain to the judge how you feel in a dignified and respectful manner.

Sign off using

Respectfully
or
Thank you for your service
or
Thank you for your consideration
or?
Use your full name

I both snail mailed and emailed my letter.

Harry S. Mattice, Jr. United States District Judge
900 Georgia Avenue, Room 104
Chattanooga, TN 37402
Phone: (423) 752-5184
mattice_chambers@tned.uscourts.gov

1 The first line of the envelope should be addressed to "The Honorable Judge [First and Last Name]. " You can abbreviate “Honorable.” Example: The Hon. Jane Doe

2 For the second line, include the official title of the judge (for instance: “Associate Justice” or “Judge”), add a comma, then include the full name of the court. Example: Chief Justice, United State Supreme Court

3 Use the remaining lines for the address of the court.

4 The same full address is repeated at the beginning of your letter, which should be in a standard business format (see Resources).

5 Use “Dear Judge [Last Name]” as your greeting.

6 Proofread the address carefully before submitting for the mail for typos so that it can be delivered properly. If handwritten, be certain all letters are legible.

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This would be a great time to support Oregon Congressman Schrader since he spoke to the house 5-17-12. Now nobody in Congress can say they dont know what soring is. The soring roaches run when the light (USDA inspection) is turned on. They run, the owners, who have been paying for training for months dont get their horse shown = unhappy owners who cant say they werent aware of why their horse didnt show. This can be done NOW without changing a law ! It will take a lot of time and effort to pursuade the HIOs and breed associations to ban stacks, but more frequent USDA inspections can have an immediate effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dx3dvYMH-k

Your Congressman
Interactive map to click on to get contact info for your state’s congressmen
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

Snailmail and email your state and others something along these lines. Use your own words !:
In view of the upcoming elections I would like get your opinion of this on the scandal about the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses.

Oregon Congressman Kurt Shrader addressed this issue:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Dx3dvYMH-k

Will you please increase financial support to the USDA to assure that the HPA inspection program is adequately funded ? I would like to hear your views on this.

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Pleasse sign the petition below
END THE ABUSE, SORING & CORRUPTION IN THE TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE BREED
Target: THE PRESIDENT, YOUR GOVERNOR, CONGRESSPERSONS AND SENATORS
Sponsored by: Nathanael Jackson For CHAMPAGNE WATCHOUT
Now is the time to once and for all end ALL forms of Abuse, Soring & Associated Corruption within the breed of Tennsess Walking Horses.

By enacting a law banning The Pads & Action Devices, the common practices of Soring will be unnecessary.

Increase the allocated budget of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services (APHIS) of the USDA the delegated branch to enforcer of the1970 Horse Protection Act ( HPA)
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/190/4...g-horse-breed/

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Pepsi phone# to thank them for pulling support of the Celebration
800-433-2652

Your Congressman
Interactive map to click on to get contact info for your state’s congressmen
http://www.contactingthecongress.org/

I’m going to email them something along these lines,but use your own words !
In view of the upcoming elections I would like get your opinion of this:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/tennessee-walking-horses-abused/story?id=16360835
Is this not in violation of the HPA of 1970 ? Please consider allocating more funds to the USDA so they can perform more inspections. I would like to hear your views on this matter

HIOs (Horse Industry Organizations)
Send your emails to the all the major board members: president, vice president, committee leaders, etc. Or choose all of the email addresses…the more the merrier!

When writing to the HIOs, request that they ban McConnell the same way they banned Barney Davis. The HIOs immediately banned Barney Davis BEFORE he went to trial, but they have not banned McConnell. It’s clear who’s the money maker of the two for them.

Also, ask them to start putting together stronger penalties. Perhaps a 3 strikes and you’re out policy–three HPA violations (not rulebook violations) and you’re banned for life. Ask them to stop trying to placate the public and pretend these are isolated incidents and actually start working to end soring. We all know soring is the main way of “training” these horses–it’s high time it ended.

KYWHA - http://kywha.org/contact-us/
PRIDE - http://pridehio.com/wordpress/contact-us/ You can copy and paste all the email addresses into a single email.
SHOW - http://www.showhio.com/contactus.htm
SSHBEA - http://www.sshbea.org/contactus.html
WHOA - http://www.walkinghorseowners.com/about-whoa/ Scroll down to see the email addresses.
TWHBEA
Pressure TWHBEA, if need be by pulling membership and pledging to boycott their shows.Ask them to stop supporting the HPA violators and giving them high positions in their association. Ask for changes in the by laws that anyone who has violated the HPA more than twice is not eligible to be on the board or an officer for life. Ask that their Horse Protection Committee, which has HPA violators serving on it, to get active within the breed and actually protect the horse.
http://www.twhbea.com/contact.php
Executive Director - Ron Thomas, rthomas@twhbea.com, 931-359-0580
Executive Assistant - Diane White, dwhite@twhbea.com, 931-359-0581
President - Marty Irby, martyirby@msn.com, 615-796-5334, 931-233-0112
Senior Vice President - Margo Urad, murad@kandsins.com, 214-763-7379
Trainers Vice President - Wayne Dean, fredad@wildblue.net, 931-359-4808, 931-359-7326
Equine Welfare Vice President - Dr. Linda W. Montgomery, 615-210-4038
Find your local board representative on this page: http://www.twhbea.com/association/bod.php
The Celebration
Ask them to ban Big Lick classes.
http://twhnc.com/ email: twhnc@twhnc.com

Gateway to sign in to see the list of HPA violators maintained by FOSH- Friends of the Sound Horse. You will have to provide an email address to sign in and see this list.
http://www.hpadata.us/

List of World Grand Champion horses, their owners and trainers.
http://www.twhnc.com/gallery-worldchampions.htm

And of course the Celebration. Dont know what we can say to these folks.
Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration®
P.O. Box 1010
Shelbyville, TN 37162
Phone: 931-684-5915
Fax: 931-684-5949
e-mail:
twhnc@twhnc.com

AAEP (American Association of Equine Practitioners)should be pressured to finally 'fess up that the Big Lick gait and “training” is INHERENTLY ABUSIVE, serves no purpose or traditional basis in the actual employment of the horse, and should not be allowed to continue.

Home | American Association of Equine Practitioners

[Foxtrot_s]

Thank you - hope I can find it.

[oliverreed]

Thanks for the info. It’s going to be preetty hard to watch, I’ll bet.

[WalkInTheWoods]

Yes it will be, but i am so glad it is getting national worldwide(?) attention and that the USDA is starting to actually enforce the Horse Protection Act of what year ??? oh yes 1970 !

Hard to stop what goes on at barns, but the scrutiny at the shows is being amped up. In the end it will end a lot of suffering at the “training” facilities.

[SwampYankee]

I have Walkers of my own, both of them rescues, and they are simply the smartest, best-dispositioned horses I’ve ever met in 40 years in the business. I look into their eyes and ask myself how in the world anyone could ever treat them that way . . .

The answer is: IT’S ALL ABOUT MONEY.

We need to find out who’s putting up the prize money for this stuff and cut 'em off at the knees. When there’s no incentive for these hideous practices, only then will they stop. Every TWH owner on earth should be on board with this.

It’s WAY past time.

[pony4me]

Thanks for the heads up. Shelbyville is right down the road from me. Good point about the money. I’ve never looked to see which companies sponsor Celebration classes, or where the money comes from.

[WalkInTheWoods]

Yes, that sweet temperament allows the bad “trainers” to do things to TWHs that other more reactive breeds would not tolerate.

Have you ever been to the FOSH website ? They are working so hard to educate sound training methods, abolish soring and support sound horse show venues for the gaited breeds.

Here is the Friends Of Sound Horses site: http://www.fosh.info/index.html

[GaitedGloryRider]

Isn’t Jennie Jackson the mother of Natalie Jackson and owner of Champagne Watchout?

Can’t wait for this to air although I agree, it will likely be hard to watch.

[WalkInTheWoods]

Yes the Jacksons showed Champagne Watchout at the 1999 Celebration in the Big Lick class. He was the only horse that was shod normally. Quite controversial at that time ! Here is the whole story: http://www.walkinonranch.com/celebrationrides.html

[ThisTooShallPass]

.

[WalkInTheWoods]

i had no idea !

just googled and found this

Oprah Winfrey bought her beautiful black stallion, W W Trailmaster, from a Washington State walking horse breeder.

i had no idea !

he is down at the bottom of the page on the left

http://www.twhbea.com/programs/SupremeChampions.php

[WalkInTheWoods]

Preview of what will air on Nightline tonight 11:30 EST
Graphic. I am so mad im shaking.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/tennessee-walking-horses-abused/story?id=16360835#.T7P3p-j5CSp

[2DogsFarm]

I am sorry I watched that clip.

But I will watch Nightline tonight and hopefully the report will alert TWHBEA that this sort of crap is still taking place.
So sad that money is still talking over the welfare of these horses.

Hmmm…if Oprah is now into TWHs maybe she can wield some of her media power?

[WalkInTheWoods]

Oprah bought this stallion back in the late 90s. It could be that she didnt buy him as a riding horse. I dont know.

TWHBEA sadly is fully aware of the problems in their industryand in my opinion complicit. Eight years ago I was a member of the Spotted Saddle Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association and got their monthly magazine. The magazines were full of 2 year old Big Lick performance horses. It sickened me and i didnt renew the membership i initially needed to get my horse registered and changing his name.

I never recieved a magazine from TWHBEA but their website, as well as the SSHBEA website was primarily Big Lick horses. Go to the TWHBEA site now and you dont see much of that. You see nicey nice versatility horses. I can not say for sure because i have turned my back and been out of the loop, but in lets say in the last eight years there have been TWHBEA board members who had soring violations on their record (i remember seeing documentation about that).

TWHBEA is aware but there is big money in the breeding farms and many filthy rich owners and traditions die hard. The goal has been to get a World Grand Champion Big Lick stallion to stand on your farm. Good for business. More foal registrations for the TWHBEA. yadda yadda yadda

[ThisTooShallPass]

[B]OMG THAT IS SOME OF THE WORST HORSE CRUELTY VIDEO I HAVE EVER SEEN!!!

ALA WANTS A ROAD TRIP, IT SHOULD BE TO HIS PLACE!!! I WILL CONTRIBUTE TO OUR COTHER’S BAIL MONEY![/B]

I thought Oprah was mentioned on CoTH years ago & that CoThers did write to her deaf ears. Maybe a NEW Oprah campaign needs started?

[SwampYankee]

[QUOTE=WalkInTheWoods;6320091]
Oprah bought this stallion back in the late 90s. It could be that she didnt buy him as a riding horse. I dont know.

TWHBEA sadly is fully aware of the problems in their industryand in my opinion complicit. Eight years ago I was a member of the Spotted Saddle Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association and got their monthly magazine. The magazines were full of 2 year old Big Lick performance horses. It sickened me and i didnt renew the membership i initially needed to get my horse registered and changing his name.

I never recieved a magazine from TWHBEA but their website, as well as the SSHBEA website was primarily Big Lick horses. Go to the TWHBEA site now and you dont see much of that. You see nicey nice versatility horses. I can not say for sure because i have turned my back and been out of the loop, but in lets say in the last eight years there have been TWHBEA board members who had soring violations on their record (i remember seeing documentation about that).

TWHBEA is aware but there is big money in the breeding farms and many filthy rich owners and traditions die hard. The goal has been to get a World Grand Champion Big Lick stallion to stand on your farm. Good for business. More foal registrations for the TWHBEA. yadda yadda yadda[/QUOTE]

For the LIFE of me I can NOT see the attraction of “Big Lick” at ALL. It is not a functional gait! It’s well known that most of these horses’ gaits are “nailed on” and without the huge pads etc. they all PACE. If you buy a retired one, he has to be completely retrained like a greenie.

They move like a mutant cross between a praying mantis and a spider crab and the strain on the horse’s structures is monumental. HOW, WHY does anyone want to ride like this?

[Dispatcher]

How in the name of God can those big fat slobs do that to an animal?

Let’s think about this. Are these sub-human people married? Do they actually have wives that condone what they do? Or do the wives bear the same fate?

Those DIRTY, EFFING, LOW LIFE, DEFECTIVE males. They are not men, they are some subspecies of the male in the human race.

Just WHY? don’t say money. There is another motive. It’s visciousness and a sub-human culture. I could MAYBE understand if this happened is some other country. But the United States? This is a view of some Americna people that have very low IQ’s and very little education.

It’s not about the money. It’s about being a defective cruel human being.

[Angela_Freda]

It was not on the 6:30 news.
Will watch the NightLine show.

[WalkInTheWoods]

I think it is grotesque too. Even when people say they train without soring I just cant see they would want to train that freakish gait. To me forcing a horse to move like that is just a bit less abusive than soring. In fact maybe worse because they dont think it is abusive at all, whereas the sorers know know and dont care. And yes they have done their darnedest to breed the running walk right out of the TWHs to get the pacey end of the gait spectrum.

Diane Sawyer never mentioned soring, so it must have been pre-empted, but it will be on Nightline tonight.

[bludejavu]

My husband just watched the ABC Evening News and it didn’t come on.:no: Maybe Nightline?