Question:
ok, this is one of my hot button issues...i know with folk like denise it is the bsl, which bothers me, but this issue just gets my blood boiling and pushes me to that irrational angry stage...lol...

sore horses..if you don't know what it is, in some horse breeds (Tennessee Walking Horses, for example) it is fashionable to get high leg action and long reach with the stride...in the twh they do a four beat gait which is astoundingly smooth to ride, and have natural head nod and action, and people do things to them to make them MORE animated...here's an example of the old style walking horse:


and this is a "performance" twh today:


of course, it is said that "nobody sores horses any more, that is in the past" and my favorite "they do horrible stuff to other breeds/animals" like somehow because somebody else is doing something worse, it makes what you are doing ok

anyways, i found a heartwrenching story:

http://www.silverphoenixranch.com/TWHsoring.html

click on rebecca speaks, it is a pdf file, but it is just abysmal to me...

this site:

http://www.twhbea.com/gaitsVideo.htm

has examples of the different walking horse gaits, flatshod and big lick...why anyone would want their horse to do that is beyond my comprehension..it just makes me so angry and sad...they are so beautiful, and easy going, it just sickens me that somebody would want to exploit that to turn them into those overstretching monsters...*sigh*


Answer:
I don't understand how making them have burns on their hooves helps them train to do those kinds of things? Like for Stoney for example, was that intentional or did something go wrong with the chemical combination that he needed a skin graft. It is so cruel....I don't even understand how that could make them change their gait other than to limp painfully all the time.


Answer:
what it does is make the leg sore, so they imediately pick it up high...like, if you have a bruise on your foot, and you step down, it hurts so you lift it back up quickly...

also, having the front hooves sore, they lean back and put more weight on their rear end, giving that squatting in the rear effect..

what happened with stoney was an accident, they meant to cook his legs enough to make him sore, but not to the point that it actually burned the flesh, because once that happens, the dqp (designated qualified person) who inspects the horse shows won't let them in and they will be given a hefty fine and probably prevented from showing again (at least that season)

that leads to another issue, stewarding, which is where they beat the horse if it shows a reaction to the pain in its hooves...so that a dqp can poke around and see if they are sore, and the horse won't react because it's been "trained" (read beaten) not to react to that pain.


Answer:
That is so horrible! I figured something was wrong with horses walking that strangely, but I never thought it would be something like that.
How come the woman in the file doesn't divorce her husband? I wouldn't stay around there for any amount of time!


Answer:
i don't know it would definately be a deal breaker (plus i'd have the hpa officials at my husband's barn with some hot branding irons in hand as well)

the really horrid thing is, this is accepted in a lot of big lick circles! in fact, if you try to turn them in, you will get such nicities as acid thrown in your face, your barn (including your horses) burned down, and so on...

it's big money and people get upset when you mess with their money


Answer:
Thanks for explaining it Jami...doesn't make it any less horrible, poor Stoney!


Answer:
Jami, I am so glad you posted this. I had no idea horses were sored to achieve such dramatic gaits. Humans are so selfish! What we do for self-gratification! Looking at those pictures make me wince and want to cry. There is no way I could stay with my husband if he was performing such an inhumane act on an innocent animal all for the name of money!