Maybe more efforts will be made to stop soring. The fact that the extremely exaggerated gaits Walkers have in shows (and other gaited breeds for that matter) are sought after and considered attractive is beyond me.
Tennessee walking horses today are successfully shown without soring, we have developed and thought out our breeding to ensure our horses can go sound and still perform just as well.
Front page of Yahoo news, ladies and gents.
You need to read this and watch the video that accompanies it from ABC news.
I don’t care if you ride Tennessee Walkers or not, any horse man or woman needs to be aware of what’s happening in the walking world.
And I see your icon is a jumper…I wonder how they train them to jump? ;) Please, this is one instance, a very disappointing one. This is not in everyday walking horse barns, remember there are two sides to a story.
Trixxe; this is a padded horse. On their two front feet they put large pads (there are smaller, but they compete in a separate class) and generally weighted chains around their pastern in order to make them sit dangerously low on their haunches while throwing our their front feet. This is really only seen on Tennessee Walking Horses. These horses have to be kept with the pads all through show season Or as long as the owner would like. These horses develop serious stifle issues, lameness, and in many cases have completely torn their foot or part of their leg off. Luckily the population is slowly starting to decline! (: To really understand this, look up padded walking horses on YouTube and google! Hope I was a little bit helpful :D
To the entire population that is against the padded tennessee walking horse…please understand that there are TWO sides to a story, and the one that is most popular right now that is AGAINST the walking horse is one instance, and we do not encourage it. Most of these animals are like any other sport horse, conditioned daily and loved very much. Walking horses are not the only ones using pads, Saddlebreds and Morgans have a similar gaited technique. ;) These horses show well into their twenties WITHOUT stifle problems, lameness, or …tearing their leg off? please. The population is declining due to the negative publicity and uneducated people. I’m not saying that to be rude, it is a fact. I realize when a newcomer sees this gait they are intrigued until they talk to someone who knows nothing about it…then they are disgusted. The pads weigh maybe a max of 5lbs..verse a 1000+ lbs animal? It’s nothing. And the chains can only be a max of 6oz. This is actually their natural gait, only more dramatic. Have you ever seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua? It’s the same thing when they put the bracelets on his feet…he picks them up. We love our horses very much and they are treated with the unmost care. So please, before you go making rash decisions and judgements, be well rounded in information.
Living in TN again for the summer and I have no internet…so I’m sitting outside my gym like a creep just so i can get on tumblr…I was having withdrawls. BUT ALAS! I’m able to get on and see just a little bit of what I’m missing, just a taste and I’ll be okay for another few weeks. Guy, I’m so pathetic. Well, just letting you all know whats going on with me and until next time…
I had black hair. Yes, I know all you hair stylists are cringing and THIS picture above is as close to my natural hair color as you’re going to get. Now, I went yesterday, kind of wanting it back bc I dont want to color it this summer and what do i get? still darkish hair with blonde roots. Now I have to wait 6 weeks with this god awful looking hair…I may just kill my hair and do it again in a few weeks.
damn.it.
