Horse IQ

Tennessee Walking Horses are beautiful animals. And one of the most even tempered horse breeds you’ll ever find. They’re very comfortable to take on trails because of their unique “four-beat” gait. However, it is precisely this unique gait has resulted in decades of abuse at the hands of greedy, uncaring owners hungry to win in the show ring. Here’s what they suffer from, and what one organization is doing about it.

No other horse has a gait quite like the Tennessee Walking Horse. Their gliding running walk has made them a popular draw at equestrian events. This gait is what Tennessee Walkers are judged by at horse shows. And it is this gait that has caused them a great deal of abuse by their owners.

In their running walk, the Tennessee Walking Horse achieves a speed of about 10 miles per hour. As his speed increases, he has a tendency to overstride, giving him the “big lick” that pleases so many crowds, not to mention judges. And therein lies the problem.

The bigger the “lick” (or overstride), the better marks they get from the judges. So to make the horses artificially overstride, owners resort to tactics that are downright abusive to the horses. Tactics such as…

• Chains - some owners fasten 8-ounce chains around the front pasterns of the horse, hoping the excess weight will cause the horse to accentuate his gait. However, a 1982 study at Auburn University has proven that the chains artificially raise the temperature on the leg, causing inflammation and pain.
• Stacks -4-inch slabs of plastic held in place by a heavy metal band. As the horse strides, the metal band tends to wear a groove into the horse’s hoof. And if the horse throws a shoe while wearing one, the band may actually rip off part of the hoof wall.

If this weren’t bad enough, Tennessee Walking Horse owners have tried to artificially give a horse a bigger lick in a shorter period of time by resorting to a despicable practice called soring.

Soring involves applying foreign substances to the pastern of the horse. Things like diesel fuel, kerosene, and even mustard oil. The idea here is to cause the horse so much pain that he has no choice but to over-accentuate his gait, thereby increasing his chances of winning the event.

These substances are so caustic that the humans who apply them have to wear butyl rubber gloves to protect them from chemical burns. Too bad they can’t afford the poor horses the same courtesy. Butyl rubber gloves, by the way, are what the U.S. Army gives soldiers to protect their hands from chemical weapons.

Thankfully, an organization called FOSH (Friend of Sound Horses) based in St. Louis, MO has come together to fight these detestable practices. The FOSH mission statement includes…

FOSH takes an activist role in the fight against the soring of the Tennessee Walking Horse. FOSH offers a USDA certified inspection or DQP program to both FOSH sanctioned shows and other shows wishing to ensure compliance with the Horse Protection Act. There is more information about this program on our web site under Programs menu or contact dqp@fosh.info

Lynda Polk of Hoofbeats also has a post with more information about soring and the resulting scars it leaves.

Soring has got to stop. Period. C’mon. Applying the substances to a horse that you’d put into chemical weapons? For the purpose of winning a contest? At the expense of one of these marvelous horse’s health? And possibly his life???

I support FOSH and suggest you do as well. Yeah, I know not all Tennessee Walking Horse owners are guilty of these practices. But these deplorable techniques need to be rooted out and extracted from equestrian sports like the cancer that they are…and will probably cause. And the sooner the better.

Yours For Better Horse Care (and abuse prevention),

Sierra Lynch

Tags: Horse Breeds, Horse Health, Horse Issues

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