Friends
of Sound Horses
800.651.7993
The
Horse, Editorial Department
Editors,
“The Horse” magazine:
I received with
enthusiasm my January issue of “The Horse,” as I have for the numerous years I
have subscribed. One of the principal reasons for my enthusiasm for this issue
was the article titled “Win at any Cost” headlined on the cover. I am a
Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) owner/enthusiast and newly elected member of the
Board of Directors (BoD) of Friends of Sound Horses, Inc. (FOSH). I expected to
find in the article a section on the TWH. Obviously, I was not
disappointed.
Please accept the thanks
of the FOSH BoD for directing attention to the abuses this breed has endured
over the years.Friends of Sound Horses, Inc. (FOSH) recently
became aware of the article “A Win at Any Cost?” published in your January 2004
edition. This article, while providing a
public service in highlighting ongoing abuse in the horse show world in general,
contains some incorrect information that grossly understates the ongoing plight
of the Tennessee Walking Horse.
As the article
very correctly
points out, under the Horse Protection Act, soring is a crime. However, allow me to point outthere are
several inaccuracies in the article. First, the article
states that Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs) are qualified large animal
veterinarians. While a veterinarian can
be a DQP,
this is not normally the case. To qualify as a DQP, persons individuals must
have received
training from USDA APHIS personnel, (which include USDA veterinarians). Most DQPs are NOT veterinarians, but are
instead usually farriers, horse owners and exhibitors, and other lay people. In some DQP programs, inspectors often have
ties to the horse show industry. Few
USDA-certified Horse Industry Organization (HIO) involve DVMs in their program
at all, and even then usually at the administrative level only (not in the
field).
There
is, howevernonetheless
another,
more serious implication in the article that must be corrected and clarified. The implication that the abuse of this breed
is a thing of the past is absolutely wrongincorrect. You state that the abuse “…synonymous with the
show ring…is not the case today.”
Nothing could be further from the truth - the abuse of the TWH is a
serious and ongoing problem.
To provide
more information, we invite your attention to an article in the
Spring 2000 ASPCA Animal Watch publication titled “Sore Winners.” This article confirms, by personal
observation and anecdotal evidence, that “soring” remains a serious
problem. The author, is Andrew
G. Lang D.V.M., who spent three
days in 1999 attending horse shows in or at least some of them,
and then
vividly describes the results: to wit “At the mainstream shows I
attended, some horses appeared to be struggling just to make it around the
ring. …When… the horses were lined up along the rail for judgement [sic],
several appeared distressed, glistening with sweat, their eyes wide and their
nostrils flaring as they caught their breath.” The cause of this distress can be traced to
the practice of “soring” as a substitute for good, sound training and
conditioning. Dr. Lang further states,
“The horses are sored in a number of ways: by chemical irritants…left to cook
under plastic wraps and bandages or by over trimming the hooves, improper
shoeing or other methods of making the front feet hurt when they hit the
ground. Chemicals used include kerosene,
diesel fuel, and more noxious substances such as crotonaldehyde and mustard
oil, which is related to the poison gas used in World War I.”
This
article clearly shows that the problem is epidemic and not isolated in nature.
Dr. Lang goes on: “…They interviewed
defectors from the world of soring… a former TWHBEA (Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders
and Exhibitors Association) director, admitted in print to sanctioning
torture for 30 years. By her estimate,
more than 90 percent of the horses at major shows were sored.” In another
interview, Dr. Lang related this: “Don Bell was director of judges for four
years, until 1997. When I spoke with him in October 1999, he stuck with his
estimate that ’80 percent to 90 percent of the horses shown in some areas of
the Southeast are sored to some degree.”
There
is much more in this article, and we urge you to ask the ASPCA for
permission to reprint the article in its entirety.
In another source, Matte
Pulle of the “Nashville Scene” in the
Please
consider two more points. The abuses of
Tennessee Walking Horses go beyond the show ring in thatbecause
what is inflicted on these horses causes them to live a life of pain. To reiterate, they never know a moment
without pain. One need only go
to one of the shows where sore horses are exhibited and, if allowed to do so,
walk around the stalls. You will find
horses “hanging” on their halters or in many cases lying down. This is done to get the weight off of and
relieve the pain in their front feet.
The sole
purpose of soring is to provide a competitive edge in the show ring - to line
someone’s pockets. Now, this is a subtle but very
important point: cA serious equestrian professional or hobbyist
that is looking for breeding stock in any breed would typically, if they can
afford the price, look seriously at the World Grand Champions for the sire or
dam of their next foal. While this may
make sense in most animal breeding programs, with the TWH and its primary
registry at TWHBEA, one can never be sure if their choice is a World Grand
Champion because of bloodlines or because of a good mechanic and a good
chemist. Is the award-winning movement
the result of abuse or of good breeding? Is the horse chemically motivated or is he
well trained? In much of the TWH world,
the answer is not always immediately apparent. And all too often it’s the wrong answer!
FOSH
is one of several groups dedicated to the elimination of soring and the
establishment of a truly sound, naturally gaited horse. Our goal is to reintroduce the TWH as the
versatile, superior pleasure and companion horse it once was (and still is,
although in too small a venue).
We
again urge you to reprint the referenced article from the ASPCA or, although an
inadequate substitute, to print this letter in its entirety.
Sincerely
yours,
Bill
Coon, President
Friends
of Sound Horses
801.254.9369
billcoon@sprintmail.com