# WARNING VERY GRAPHIC ~ the inside training of the Tennessee walking horse



## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

I'm really hesitant to watch... but will give it a go.

Omg give me a ****ing stick, I'll beat some sense into them!!

Those poor horses... urgh........that made me feel so nauseous.. and angry. 

:/


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## Duren (Oct 25, 2011)

THAT IS DESPICABLE.

Keep in mind though that those clips are from one training stable. You cant condemn all for the actions of one.

But on another note I'll like a few minutes alone with anyone involved with that stable. Some gasoline or anything caustic...and maybe some chains. Yup, that'll do.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

This is the same video that has been posted a couple of times and there are other threads about this abuse.......just FYI.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

franknbeans said:


> This is the same video that has been posted a couple of times and there are other threads about this abuse.......just FYI.


Yes Sue linked it as well and I did watch it then. It's just.. so heartbreaking everytime.


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## Can He Star (Mar 9, 2011)

Skyseternalangel said:


> I'm really hesitant to watch... but will give it a go.
> 
> Omg give me a ****ing stick, I'll beat some sense into them!!
> 
> ...


i know i felt exactly the same


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## Can He Star (Mar 9, 2011)

Duren said:


> THAT IS DESPICABLE.
> 
> Keep in mind though that those clips are from one training stable. You cant condemn all for the actions of one.
> 
> But on another note I'll like a few minutes alone with anyone involved with that stable. Some gasoline or anything caustic...and maybe some chains. Yup, that'll do.


yes i know
i wasn't judging the whole discipline but i thought that particular stable was horrifying. 
i mean they ****ing beat the horse with a stick ,whipped it and jabbed it in the face with an electric cattle prod all because it was in too much pain 

if i ever got to meet them.....


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## Can He Star (Mar 9, 2011)

franknbeans said:


> This is the same video that has been posted a couple of times and there are other threads about this abuse.......just FYI.


ok cool... thank you.
i had just found it recently 
thought i would share


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Can He Star said:


> ok cool... thank you.
> i had just found it recently
> thought i would share


Yeah it's definitely worth bringing light to!! It's insane what people think is okay. Just absolutely ridiculous.


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## Alfie92 (Nov 8, 2011)

Omg i feel sick after watching that! I feel sooo sorry for them poor poor horses. No horse should have to go through that.
Them people need to realise what they are doing is sooo wrong!!!


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## WesternBella (Jan 7, 2012)

If this is illegal than why is it happening? Instead of taking the time to edit a video about this ~ get the law involved!! This should not be happening 

This made me absolutely sick..
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## gymkhanaprincess7 (May 7, 2012)

I cried, just seeing the horse at the beginning of the video get HIT. Disgusting, disgusting people. DISGUSTING.


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## JustEvent (May 22, 2012)

I didn't watch the video because I've seen plenty of it lately in the news. I live in Nasvhille,TN and this has been in the news with a trainer here that was using terrible techniques to train walkers. Here's a link to the article about it. 
Jackie McConnell offered probation in Walking Horse abuse plea deal | The Tennessean | tennessean.com


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## LovesMyDunnBoy (Aug 11, 2011)

Sometimes I'm ashamed to be a part of the human race.. I just can't fathom what would posess a "person" to do that to a helpless animal. I hope these people end up in prison, with a cell mate named "Bubba" if you catch my drift. Sickening.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Bobthebuilder (Jan 8, 2012)

No words.
None.
I'm not going to go into details about what I'd like to do to that man, because I could probably get arrested for even saying those things.
Anyone who does this. Anyone. Has NO sympathy from me.
My belief is that just as there are people that are 'deformed' on the outside, there are people that are 'deformed' on the inside... 
People that can do these things, anything like this, should be, frankly, put down. 
That guys been in it since 1979... He's not going to change.
I dont understand why the industry doesn't ban the stacks and the chains. Would decrease the cases by a lot imo. The stacks do enough damage without soring- to the ligaments and tissues. Not to mention the issues the rest of the horses body will get from moving in such an unnatural way.
The most ironic thing is that as far as i know- these horses were bred- this gait was bred to be comfortable and effortless for horse and rider.
I dont think it looks like it is... I think it looks ridiculous. Heres a great video that will REALLY put how ridiculous it looks into perspective. index
(Sorry for the violent nature of this post- but I cant stand cruelty to animals- or people. I also do not mean to offend anyone here- religious or otherwise. I'm not talking about the TWH industry as a whole)


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## kayleeloveslaneandlana (Apr 10, 2011)

I couldn't stand to watch the whole thing, it's disgusting the things people do.


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## Fingerlakes (May 2, 2012)

Scumbags


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## nvr2many (Jan 18, 2011)

I wasn't going to watch, but I did, then I cried.


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## Fingerlakes (May 2, 2012)

Oh.. that trainer in the video? 

Tennessee walking horse show bars trainer for life


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## equestrianforever (Apr 4, 2012)

that is just so terrible! I dont see how any person could ever do that to an animal! We should beat the people with those sticks and show them how it feels! ugh


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## Corporal (Jul 29, 2010)

Duren said:


> *THAT IS DESPICABLE.*
> 
> Keep in mind though that those clips are from one training stable. You cant condemn all for the actions of one.


Encouraging the action in the show ring and giving $ for winning encourages stables like this to operate this way. You cannot have one without the other. How about you just eliminate this unnatural action from the show ring, period?
I am SOOOO GLAD that you posted this and SOOO GLAD that somebody took the trouble to take these photos. You can see the pain in their bugged out eyes. *I never saw this look in my (natural) TWH's or TWH mixes.* BUT, we did have experiences with "Merry Boy's Hart" that indicated past abuse, like when he tripped with my DH aboard. He took a fall--no injuries bc he rolled off, really, but the HORSE took off as if we were gonna beat him. I think we finally convinced the horse that we didn't treat our animals like this.


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## AengusOg (Jan 18, 2010)

Cruel *******s


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## BarrelWannabe (Feb 8, 2011)

Watching that made me physically ill. 

I don't like to think violently, but give me 10 minutes in a room alone with that trainer, or anyone else who does that to a horse KNOWING the pain that it causes, they might not come back out.

Those kind of people aren't worth the horse **** that they step in.


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## Can He Star (Mar 9, 2011)

i agree with you all...... and the sad thing is they all look like nice horses  to tell the truth , even if it was the ugliest thing i had ever seen , i still would have reacted the same 

like most of you, it made me sick and i had tears running down my face
i think they should get a taste of their own medicine...good on the person who jailed a trainer- i think a better punishment would be to put stuff on THEIR legs until it burns through the ligaments and when they physical cant walk , whip them and hit them and shove an electric cattle prod in their faces and make them walk rediculously unnatural untill their bodies hurt! (sorry to any TWH people just in my opinion)

i was horrified.....


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## wyominggrandma (Nov 4, 2009)

It made me want to puke when they had the horses canter. Other than the buckskin, it looked horrifically painful for those horses to canter.. And watching them move their rear legs is awful.
But like alot of sports involving animals, people will do anything to win, so when something keeps being given awards and money, more folks will copy.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

Is there any showing of TWh's that does not utilize those freaky shoes? How can that movement be considered desireable or in any way natural? How can a horse that walks that way, with it's hocks hyper bent like that , not be lame in a couple of years?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

here's another interesing video about the acceleration of the gait by using chain and "padded" shoes.


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## Snizard93 (Oct 12, 2011)

Things like this make me ashamed to be part of the human race. I have very strong opinions on what we as a race have done to this planet, I won't even start. I will spare you all :lol:

I think it looks freaky, horrible, unnatural, painful and totally undesirable.


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## Skyseternalangel (Jul 23, 2011)

Snizard93 said:


> Things like this make me ashamed to be part of the human race. I have very strong opinions on what we as a race have done to this planet, I won't even start. I will spare you all :lol:


You and me both :-| :-(


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## Snizard93 (Oct 12, 2011)

Skyseternalangel said:


> You and me both :-| :-(


I could write for hours about what I think we have done to this world we live in today. It's disgraceful. We think we are some huge superior race, at the top of the food chain.

Shove a man in Africa with NO weapons... yeah... good luck!

I won't get started because as I said, I have strong opinions on many things... :lol:


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## Susan Crumrine (Oct 5, 2009)

I own a wonderful TWH that I bought the day he was weaned. 
I do not need to watch the video, I am aware of the abuse at the top levels.
I think you can find it in almost any discipline, if you look hard enough.

Maybe someday it will stop, but as long as people care more about winning against other people than they do living creatures, it won't.


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## Stoopette (May 30, 2012)

Wow, that's horrible...I can't imagine what kind of pain those horses are forced into from that. I mean no wonder they're laying down half the time! I don't think they have much of a choice, it's either suffer through pain even more by standing and putting pressure where it hurts, or laying down to ease it even if a little bit at the risk of getting in trouble.

As I see it, horses are people too, and if only they could speak, I'm sure we'd be getting ear-fulls every single day!!

If I worked in that stable like that lady in the video did, I'd do everything in my power to make sure they were stopped, horses are too beautiful to even think about hurting, it's just so sad.


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## PintoTess (Aug 18, 2010)

I watched one a few weeks ago...and was too shocked.


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## Melissa1984 (May 5, 2012)

OMG this makes me sick to my stomach. I would love to take him and beat him in a public place for all to see and then bring the horses he abused in to step on him


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## Mckellar (Apr 18, 2012)

)38$3$&2&$/!!.!!:$€]€£{!&[email protected]@:&$!2!2$3$$!/!,'+]£€{€|£

Sorry ... Don't think my real words would have been appropriate


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## Mckellar (Apr 18, 2012)

sorry to double post, I did that first one on my phone. My first ever experiance watching a big lick class is this video: Around 1:40 was very disturbing to me...





 
I find it hard to believe that this even goes on and how the trainers get wins from this movement.. I wanna take a trip to the shows and show my "support" ... But I'd probably get shot.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

Tinyliny, google Papa's Royal Delight - he's a registered TWH stallion here in Missouri who has mopped up in the 'natural' TWH classes. Here's a video of him cantering. This is achieved by breeding, training, and no soring practices or chains. 




In fact, his owner is a gifted gaited horse trainer, horse lover, and tireless advocate of Friends of Sound Horses, which promotes sound shoeing and humane handling practices. I would love to have one of Papa's offspring, I think they move like magic. 

It's a testament to the stoic, huge hearts of this breed that they 'try' to please these human beings who are truly torturers. Even the ones who don't 'make' - e.g., can't be trained as show horses because they don't tolerate the abuse -- are not winners even though they escape the torture.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

WesternBella said:


> If this is illegal than why is it happening? Instead of taking the time to edit a video about this ~ get the law involved!! This should not be happening
> 
> This made me absolutely sick..
> _Posted via Mobile Device_


That video was made by the Humane Society by an undercover operator at the stable to document that particular trainers activities and to publicize the actions still out there in some barns the industry.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

We concern our selves with the soring, but there is no way a horse can be bred to have such a large overstride. Look at what this is doing to the stifles and hocks. If you watch Big Lick from behind the back legs are literally flapping side to side.


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## Horseygirlsmith (Jan 12, 2012)

That is Horrible! How could anyone do that to their horses and Call it TRAINING?!?! That is Abuse!


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## RosiePosie06 (Jun 3, 2012)

> Things like this make me ashamed to be part of the human race. I have very strong opinions on what we as a race have done to this planet, I won't even start. I will spare you all :lol:


No lie, I'm right there with you. I have some cynical thoughts about our race.

anyway that was horrible. Besides obvious feelings I have for those people... I have the big question of why the HELL do they even have horses?!?! Obviously they hate them! SO GET AWAY FROM THEM. That's what baffles me about this and other abusive trainers. If you actually enjoyed the presence of an equine you would not be doing that!

Also, is anyone aware of the purpose behind hitting the horse's face in the cross ties? It's unimportant... But I don't know what he was getting at.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

The purpose of hitting them in the head is to train them to stand still without flinching or giving **any** sign of discomfort when the show officials check their legs and hooves for signs of chemical soring. If they flinch, at all, the trainers beat the tar out of them until they learn to stand still without flinching or giving any sign of pain. If the officials find evidence of soring by chemical or mechanical means or scars from previous soring, the horse is disqualified from the show. It goes on the owner's records. Some of us would assume that the owner would be kicked out of the breed association if they collected enough violations, but that seldom happens.


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## RosiePosie06 (Jun 3, 2012)

I'm absolutely speechless... Breed associations need to do a lot more enforcing.


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## franknbeans (Jun 7, 2007)

Rosie-Folks like this do it for one reason. Money. If the horses the "train" (for lack of a better term) win, then the horses are worth more, and so are the services of the trainers. It has nothing to do, in this case, with the love of anything but the almighty dollar. (and perhaps to make them feel "big" somehow)

I also find the whole action of these horses disturbing, SR. On one of the other threads about this, another poster tried to tell me that the platforms do not contribute to the early breakdown of these horses. I really find that one hard to believe. There is NO WAY, at least in my mind, that a horse moving like this is not detrimental over time. Just don't believe it. 

This is, no question, abuse. I think we ALL agree on that (other than perhaps, Mr Mcconnell himself). However, I would really find it a stretch to compare this to the general activity that goes on in other disciplines. There will always be outliers, or the ones who would abuse anything, but generally, I don't think it is there. I have just come from an NRHA reining show. Yes, I did see ONE guy who I thought was questionable, and that was primarily because he was HUGE and the horse was teeny, even by reining standards, and the horse was SOAKED, and the horse really looked stressed. But, I have no idea what the story was, so I did not interfere. For all I know the horse was being an a$$, just as mine was some of the time. Other than that-I saw nothing that I would think twice about. In fact, many of the horses were being treated with machines to circulate ice water on their hocks, others had magnetic therapy......all really well taken care of, IMO, and seemed content doing their jobs.


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## RosiePosie06 (Jun 3, 2012)

I know they don't love the horses at all, but it baffles me how they became "horsemen" in the first place. At some point they had interest in horses? I guess I could be wrong... He might have been born into horse abuse.


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## Ladytrails (Jul 28, 2010)

Rosie, the breed associations are not going to enforce anything these days - some of them *are* the problem. Big shots on the TWHBEA are on the violators list for soring violations. 

A couple of years ago (2010?) it was in the news that the DQP (soring inspectors) were at one of the shows. They were actually writing citations and disqualifying people for soring, to the extent that they had to cancel the entire show. People who were disqualified had to leave, people who were arriving refused to undergo inspection (gotta wonder why, right?) and they had to shut down the show. You'd think the breed association would get the message that something needed to change, but it hasn't happened yet. 

I've own a TWH mare for 3 years and still haven't registered her in my name. To do so, I would have to send a check to the TWHBEA. I do not want them to have a single cent of my money....so haven't registered her in my name yet.


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## Jewelsb (May 8, 2012)

Why are they hitting them in the face? So they learn to keep their head up? Sad sad sad this video made me angry!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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