Ashleigh Miller
English 112.42
Ms. Mohlere
14 October 2012
Cruelty in the Horse Show Industry
Animal cruelty is widespread and often noticed in low-income areas. However, it seems
like the cruelty is unnoticed or hidden when it comes to the wealthy. The horse showing industry
is a high dollar investment. One that has been ignored or dismissed most every rule and
regulation. Cruelty exists in all equine disciplines. I want to bring out the cruelty in the
Tennessee walking horse, Quarter Horse, and Thoroughbred industries and make some
suggestions to fixing it.
The most popularly noticed cruelty is in the Tennessee Walking Horse Industry.
Tennessee Walking horses are famous for their running walk, which is a gait where the horse
over strides with its hind feet while showing animation in their front. The horses that are most
prized for performing this gait are considered "Big Lick" horses, these horses show the greatest
strides and animation. However, to produce this dramatic walk some people go to extremes to
get it. TWH trainers are famous for the act of "soring". "Soring is an illegal practice of applying
mechanical and chemical damage to a horse’s feet with such items as kerosene and metal bolts"
(Sohn). Trainers will injure the horse’s feet and that therefore, causes the horses to want to get
away from the pain. Trainers also attach chains to the horses feet so that the chains will hit the
hurt spot to try to get the horses to produce a more exaggerated gait. This soring does not just go
away these horses are sored so much that it ruins them for their lives. As Eve Alexander recalls a
rescued TWH Mr. Briggs, "his feet were so sore he could not stand still. He stands in odd
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positions trying to find comfort to rest. His right shoulder buckles sometimes causing him to
stumble. His left shoulder muscle was sore to the touch...back left stifle shot, too late for surgery.
He has small bumps above his hooves, indicating chains and/or weights or both. His body is
basically destroyed by living on 'pads' on his front feet, throwing off his weight distribution,
causing muscles to work unnaturally". This is not a uncommon occurrence, it is not hard to find
these horses that have been abandoned after they have been destroyed.
The Quarter Horse world is less noticed for its acts of cruelty, but it is surely there. I most
notice the inhumane acts in the Halter classes. Halter horses are bred to be big and strong.
However, some of the things people do trying to force these horses to become big and strong
cause them to be irreversibly damaged for the rest of their lives. When these horses are yearlings,
or even weanlings, they are popped full of protein and steroids to get them to grow fast and
produce excessive muscling. These proteins make the horses muscles grow too fast for their
bodies to handle. Often these horses can barely walk or do anything else. I recently was at the
famous American Quarter Horse Congress were the best of the best are known to come and
show. I recall watching the Yearling Stallions final, where there were about fifteen horses in the
class. This horse that caught my eye standing in the arena, it had a beautiful head and neck as
well as showing extreme definition of muscle. Standing still the untrained eye would see this
horse as beautiful. To my judging team and coaches when we took a closer look we saw the
signs of a foal being pushed too hard. The pasterns on this horse were perpendicular to the
ground, once moving the foal stumbled around the arena. This foal looked unable to take a single
step without extreme effort. This issue was caused to the foal being put on medications for it to
grow at an extreme rate that it was not ready for, and now it will be ruined for the rest of its life.
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And down the stretch they come... the most notable horses in the United States,
Thoroughbreds, the famous race horses. Everyone loves the adrenaline and excitement of a good
horse race. Even now, no one will forget Secretariat winning the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths
and then going on to win the Triple Crown. Or how about, the underdog Seabiscuit winning and
giving people hope during the Great Depression. These were both great moments and great
horses. However, this is not the fate of every Thoroughbred. Every trainer, owner, jockey,
anyone would love the glory of having a famous race horse that will be remembered in history
forever. But not everyone can achieve these odds. In hoping to produce these amazing horses,
Thoroughbred breeders produce these horses in excess. Thoroughbred breeding barns pop out
horses like puppy mills. They produce so many horses trying to find the one, and end up trashing
thousands. Often before they trash them they destroy them. Clipping horses vocal cords so they
are unable to make vocal sounds during races is very common and irreversible. They are also
often very fearful of people due to their lack of interaction or cruel experiences. Causing them to
be extremely skittish and hard to handle even when they are older and done with racing. They are
also given high energy feed making them even more unable to manage. This causes for people to
often try to avoid thoroughbreds, like myself. Once it is decided that a horse does not have the
stuff to cut it in the racing industry they are auctioned off or abandoned. At these auctions horses
are often bought and then illegally hauled off to another country to be slaughtered. Still, I can
almost guaranty that if you go to any barn in the United States you will find an ex-race horse, or
a thoroughbred bred into racing that was trashed by its original owners, at my barn alone we
have four, and these were the lucky ones.
All of these industries have rules and regulations to help prevent cruelty. However, I
believe that some of these should still change and/or be more strictly enforced. As said in the
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TWHSA Rulebook, "In accordance with the Horse Protection Act, a horse cannot show unless it
is first inspected by the DQP". Horses are supposed to be disqualified if they are ruled to have
any unsoundness's or signs of being sedated or sored. However, this does not always happen,
Moody Star was a horse that was inspected at the 71st Walking Horse Celebration in 2009, and
failed inspection (Sohn). As Sohn points out, “Moody Star, one of the horses in an undercover
video the Humane Society made and used to prompt federal charges against noted Tennessee
walking horse trainer Jackie McConnell, was not disqualified. In fact, the horse won first place in
one of the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration show classes”. This horse should have not even
been able to enter the arena, let alone win the class, with stricter accordance to the rules this
would have not happened. The AQHA makes easy access to its rulebook, unlike the TWHSA,
and is very extensive in their rules, which are updated on a regular basis (AQHA). I believe that
they should update it and make their rules and the way their judges place the halter classes
differently. I believe that protein boosters should be illegal, and the horses should be checked
prior to showing. Also, that any horse shown to have signs of permanent lameness or pain should
be disqualified and the owners and trainers be reprimanded with a ban from the shows for
extensive circumstances. In the racing industry, I believe that there are a lot of things to be
changed. It should be illegal to clip horses vocal cords, and making the horses endure any
physical abuse to train. The illegal transportation of horses should be more strictly enforced and
when owners/trainers are found shipping these horses off or abusing them they should be banned
from the racing community.
Luckily there are other people out there that feel the same as me and are doing things to
help save these abused horses. Alleged horse abuse from trainer Jackie McConnell caused Pepsi
to pull its sponsorship from the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. He is accused of
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soring his horses to get them to perform the exaggerated Big Lick gait (South). There are also
many Thoroughbred rescue centers. These people to great work to save these horses. However,
they should not need saving.
Bringing out the cruelty in the Tennessee Walking Horse, Quarter Horse, and
Thoroughbred industries and making suggestions to fixing it is something I would like to spread
throughout the horse world or anyone interested in animals. Cruelty exists in all equine
disciplines, not just the ones that I have talked about. Animal abuse is cruel and unnecessary.
There is no reason for these people to try to make artificial ways to get horses to do something
that they cannot do naturally. Not everyone has the talent to perform. By getting these things
more noticed and cared about is the first way to stopping it permanently.