I have a TWH mare I got from a rescue back in February. I agree with the poster who said they are the sweetest, most tractable horses God ever made. I cannot IMAGINE hurting an animal for money or ribbons!!! I don’t show…but if I did…my horse Promise would win just because she is such a great partner! I hope all animal abusers get what’s coming to them!!!
Thank you for the link.
52 positives out of 52 tests?
There are no words.
[QUOTE=Dispatcher;6321226]
The 5 W’s? what does that mean?[/QUOTE]
Who
What
Where
When
Why
G.
i went here:
http://www.ford.com/help/contact/
then clicked on sales and advertising down on the right
an email window popped up and i chose Advertising from the dropdown
This is what i wrote:
After viewing Brian Ross’s Nightline report on Tennessee Walking Horse Abuse I would like to ask you to consider ending your affiliation with the Celebration horse show in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The secretive protected abuse that has been going on for decades is now seeing the light of day. I hope you follow Pepsi’s example and pull any support of the Celebration.
I just called Pepsi and thanked them
800-433-2652
I emailed a thank-you to Pepsi and sent Ford an email asking them to reconsider their sponsorship. Do we know of any other Celebration sponsors?
It’s not just the TWHs … its Morgans, too. Years ago (almost 20 yrs. ago and I still have nightmares about this sometimes) I worked in a Morgan barn with 6 World Champion Morgans. I wasn’t a trainer there – just the gal to get them all tacked up, cooled down, untacked then back into their stalls with water and hay. I had been spoken to prior to this particular day about being too ‘nice’ to the horses. Talking to them, stroking them to calm them, etc. Well that last day there for me was when I witnessed the two trainers beating the living crap out of a stallion in his stall because the ‘owner wanted him to be more lively’. After the trainers beat him unmercifully, I was told to go in to clean him up (clean, medicate and bandage his open, bleeding wounds) and ‘take care of him’. I was L.I.V.I.D. … I did – I went in, calmed him down, brushed him down, etc. then told the trainers off and left. Never went back. But I do, when asked or the subject comes up, share my experience with this particular trainer and the stable. No – don’t ask now - I will not post on a public forum. And I actually have no idea if, over the years, this trainer has changed his ways. I doubt it, but who knows?
It’s sick and despicable. I think that when ppl are charged with this type of abuse that they, themselves, should receive the same treatment as they gave out to those horses in addition to being locked away.
i guess im going to go to the Celebration site and see if i can see any banners. back in a while…
.
cabullus - sorry you have those memories. they never go away
The TWHBEA has responded to the Nightline report via their website: http://www.twhbea.com/News%202012/12NightlineResponceHSUS.php
Sounds like lip service to me- they are still beating the same old drum of “we don’t condone soring…we endorse fair enforcement of the HPA…blah blah blah…”
I’ll believe it when I see it.
Oh LOL! I thought we were talking about inspectors, not journalists…
[QUOTE=Guilherme;6320916]
Watched it this a.m. before breakfast. Sometimes this is best done on an empty stomach.
Us veterans of the Soring Wars didn’t learn anything new. I’d love to know just how the video was made. Whoever did it was pretty good.
I don’t trust HSUS any farther than I could throw my horse trailer.
One thing that was fairly clealry stated was that the Big Lick is a manufactured gait. If you watched McConnell or any of the other riders they assume that “mad bulldozer driver” position. Look at the position of the horse in the canter. It’s such incredibly had equitation it’s hard not to pitch the remote at the TV. Yet I understand from those who do this that this position is virtually demanded by the horse’s way of going. There might actually be some truth there. It’s purely a show gait and has no value anywhere else.
The Big Lick trainers appear to have embraced the Mythbuster’s mantra that “anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” Too bad they forget the warning “don’t try this at home.”
The banning of pads and chains will not solve the problem of sored horses. It will not solve the problem of “stewarding.” That’s clear from the present situation among Flat and Light Shod horses. Pads and chains are the sign of training incompetance. They do work to create certain equine movements, but if you remove them the movement ends, too. Thus they are not “training devices.”
Do the Big Lickers do this for ribbons? Sometimes. Bragging rights can be valuable in certain social circles. I think mostly it’s done for money.
I’d love to see the whole thing go away. Maybe when owners say “no” with their dollars it will.
G.[/QUOTE]
<Like> I would add that pressure shoeing, “quicking” and use of any other artificial or mechanical “training” device is also CHEATING, and the sign of a trainer who will do “ANYTHING” to win.
I am all in favor of walkers being ridden to develop the gait, even ridden in rough or plowed ground and ridden across heaped rows is okay. Even being ridden across rows of stubble is okay.
But I do not believe that anything “fake” that can inflect even temporary pain, not even the old “broomsticks and blinders” method should be used in training.
I have no use for the HSUS. It is a shame that no one else had the guts or the knowledge to ifiltrate and film what goes on in the BL barns- and not just the McConnell brothers’ barns either.
I hope the corporate sponsors that have helped make the Celebration such big business will follow Pepsi’s lead and leave the Celebration and the “good ole boys from Tennessee”-- and their friends high and dry.
This has been a LOOOOOOG time coming-- and I hope IT really has finally arrived.
[QUOTE=GaitedGloryRider;6321446]
The TWHBEA has responded to the Nightline report via their website: http://www.twhbea.com/News%202012/12NightlineResponceHSUS.php
Sounds like lip service to me- they are still beating the same old drum of “we don’t condone soring…we endorse fair enforcement of the HPA…blah blah blah…”
I’ll believe it when I see it.[/QUOTE]
<LIKE>
If the TWHBEA is so AGAINST these practices, then why has it allowed generations of HPA violators to remain members of the organzation, show horses, sit on their board, register foals and transfer horses?
Why do people like J McConnell hold judge’s cards with SHOW? Why has J McConnell, and other HPA violators been named “Trainer of the Year” by the professional Walking Horse Trainers Association?
Why haven’t McConnell and other violators been thrown out of these associations so intertwined with the TWHBEA and the TWH show world?
in the meantime, as i look for sponsors here is the contact info for the Celebration
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
i will be telling them that eyes are on them and it is time to stop the big lick class or condoning soring of any gaited horse by being more careful with choosing their DQPs or something to that effect
Certainly does.
So did the horses trained by Jackass McConnell win all the big classes? If so, then twhbea is REALLY talking out of both sides of their mouths.
[QUOTE=oliverreed;6321242]
Jeebus this is the sickest thing I think I have EVER heard of. I cannot watch the show. I just can’t. Someone tell me where I can send some money to help stop this and I’ll do it. Today.[/QUOTE]
I have TWHs and I used to renew membership with TWHBEA for the sole purpose of staying apprised of this issue and having “a voice”. I stopped when one of the ballot issues I found myself voting on was whether or not an individual with HPA violations could serve as a board member. I realized then, I was too optimistic about the organization.
I think one of the best things one can do is support the organizations that “rationally” oppose this. I’m just no longer a fan of TWHBEA and I’m angry that they share, if not own, the bad reputation this breed has. I need to get more involved myself but I think FOSH (Friends of Sound Horses) and the National Walking Horse Association are good starting points.
Of course, if you’ve got room for one more, get a TWH or SSH and bring out the best in him. You won’t regret it. Great, versatile, athletic, loyal, intelligent horses.
If I am not mistaken Jackie McConnell has ridden at least one if not several TWHs to the win the title of World Grand champion TWH. He has also won many many Championship classes on many many different horses in many many different TWH shows throughout the country for at least 20 years or MORE.
I believe he has been named “Trainer of the Year” at least once by the TWH professional trainers’ association-- which is full of people who have received numerous “tickets” and suspensions for violations of the Horse Protection Act.
He may have even been chosen to actually serve as one of the three judges at the Celebration or at other major TWH shows several times.
The TWHBEA has been talking out of both sides of their mouth for years. It’s a wink wink and a nudge nudge as they, the same good ole boys soring and stewarding and abusing sit atop their perches in the TWHBEA telling everyone that asks “nothing to see here, we’ve got it under control, nobody does THAT anymore…”
So long as the same people doing the soring remain in the upper echelon of the association you’d have to be a damn fool to believe anything that comes from their mouths. I never transferred registration of any of my Walkers to my name, never joined the TWHBEA or SSHBEA, I’d just as soon wipe my fat behind with my horses’ papers as have my name put on them.
The TWHBEA and SSHBEA need to do some serious spring cleaning within their ranks if they really and truly want to get rid of soring.
I guess I am amazed that it has taken this long for the abuse of the poor TWHs to reach some sort of mainstream attention. The bill was passed in 1970! This is not a recent development but I am glad that it has finally hit the general media.
The video shown in the ABC report is stomach turning enough. The HSUS video with even more evidence is truly enough to make a person cry:
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot.com/2012/05/video-hsus-undercover-mcconnell-video.html
Poor poor horses! Shameful, awful people.
And when they tell folks this is an isolated practice, fire this information back at 'em:
http://forthetnwalkinghorse.blogspot.com/2012/05/articles-and-presentations-fosh.html
