In my next life, please don't let me come back as...

… a Tennessee Walking Horse.

Don’t get me wrong – they’re very nice horses. Or at least the one that Lil brought home a few weeks ago is very nice. I’ve never met any others. Neither had Lil. They’re not exactly common around here, and if people do have them it’s for trail riding, which isn’t really what Lil is into. So when Memphis was offered to her for the therapeutic riding program, she was hesitant. Until she met him. Not only is he black – the requisite colour for all the very BEST horses – but he’s relatively short (about 15’1 hh), built like a tank (ideal for therapeutic, since shorter horses are easier for volunteers to work with but a solid frame makes the horse able to carry larger riders), and a truly sweet-natured soul. He’s kind, well-mannered, and nothing upsets him. He’s now in training for therapeutic work, and hasn’t put a hoof wrong yet. Decidedly a keeper.

Here’s a picture of Memphis with three of our volunteers. Note his relaxed posture and kind eye.

Now look at this Google picture of a wild-eyed Walker doing something that – trust me – is NOT natural. No horse picks up his feet that high or steps that far under himself (look at the left hind) and crouches his butt down like that of his own accord. The best trained dressage horses that flex their hocks and lift their forehands don’t begin to approach this kind of angle. And the caption says this horse is two. Can you say “ruined by the age of 8?” Note the lovely bracelet and manicure on that foreleg. These are your clues to how he got this way.

Because Lil is a curious sort, she decided to find out more about Walkers once Memphis came to live at our farm. That’s how she found the picture of the fire-breathing dragon here. So how does a mellow dude like Memphis go from doing the super-comfy running walk (a very fast and ultra-smooth version of a normal walk) he was bred for to the painful-looking strut in the picture? Well, fashion has a lot to do with it. In the ‘sixties it became cool for show Walkers to go around with this exaggerated action in the front, which came to be known as “the big lick.” Training had something to do with it, too. But so did pain. ‘Cause the big lick not only looks painful for the horse to do (guaranteed no Walker could sustain it all day while carrying his owner around his big Tennessee plantation which is what the breed was developed for), but pain often has a lot to do with the way it’s accomplished, too.

If you want your horse to snatch his feet up off the ground high and fast, you simply make it painful for him to keep them on the ground. This can be done by having your farrier trim him extra-short, until the soles of his feet bleed and develop bruises. If that’s not enough, you can add tacks between the stacked pads, shoes and hoof, that dig into the white line. And if that still doesn’t give you enough flashy action, you can put a caustic chemical like mustard oil, diesel fuel or kerosene on his pasterns to blister his skin. Then you hang chains around those sore pasterns and watch him dance. Of course your horse may shut down after all this, lie down and refuse to put any weight on those sore feet at all. Then you’ll just need a cattle prod to get him up. If you think I’m making this stuff up, watch the Humane Society video or read the EQUUS Magazine article I’ve linked to below. Just don’t watch the video if you have a twitchy stomach.

As with all abuse, it’s a small percentage of trainers who subject their horses to this kind of torture, but your chances of having a human cause you unspeakable pain – on purpose, repeatedly, and for no justifiable reason – are far better if you’re a Tennessee Walking Horse than most other breeds. Memphis was lucky, his humans weren't into competition. Humans who belong to The National Walking Horse Association or Friends of Sound Horses have committed to zero tolerance for soring. But not everyone else has. Competitions where federal inspectors show up to check for soring often see an exodus as trainers pack up their horses and go home rather than take the chance of being caught.

Sometimes, people just make me sick.

Aren’t we horses lovely enough to look at without trying to make us into something we’re not?

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxVlxT_x-f0

http://www.equisearch.com/news/soring_030706/5/