Interview from the 2009 Sound Horse Conference

This is an anonymous interview from the 2009 Sound Horse conference. This person agreed to call in and tell what he/she knew of the industry. He was the owner of 20+ padded show horses.


Interviewer: the purpose of our call today is to talk about the, problems of soring in the Tennessee
walking horse breed, and perhaps related breeds, and I understand, caller, that you have
some information relating to that. Is that correct?



Horse Person: I hope so. I have been a padded horse owner. And, I no longer have them, but I know
quite a bit about it.



Interviewer: …how long were you a padded horse owner?



Horse Person: For about 5 years.



Interviewer: OK. Do you still own Tennessee walking horses or other gaited horses?



Horse Person: Yes, sir, Tennessee walking horses.



Interviewer: Could you tell me a little bit about…going back to the time when you were a padded horse
owner and were showing horses in padded horse classes…whether you have any knowledge
of soring practices or other practices that might fairly be expected to cause the horse to
suffer pain.



Horse Person: Oh…yeah. Umm, all of…every colt that I ever put in padded training was sore…every
one of ‘em…because they were competitive.
And anything that’s gonna be competitive where I am, which is Kentucky, Tennessee, and
Alabama, if you’re gonna show there, you’re gonna have a sore horse if you wanna compete.
Everything from, you know, just typically…an easy horse to sore is just a Go-Jo. You know,
that’s one that…pretty natural horse. One’s that are harder, they’ll fix ‘em all the way
around. I’ve had colts that have…I’ve caught standing in buckets of ice because they wanted
to show ‘em in 2 days and they had purposely foundered ‘em.



Interviewer: I think you used the term “Go-Jo.”



Horse Person: Uh huh. It’s a very mild hand cleaner that people use. But if it’s put on a horse and
wrapped, then it’s used in other ways. Just like CopperTox which is for horses, but used the
wrong way it’ll sore horses.
Interviewer: OK. Do you have personal knowledge that Go-Jo or CopperTox or both of them were used
on your colts when you were showing?


Horse Person: Yes. Yeah. It was common practice.



Interviewer: OK. Could you describe in a little bit more detail exactly what the technique was to use
these, these substances?


Horse Person: I really…you know, I didn’t…it was kinda turnin’ a blind eye for me.
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And by the next day, it’s soaked in enough to where they’re tender enough the chain is
gonna do what they need it to do and really cause ‘em, every time the chain touches them it
hurts.


Horse Person: So that even, even when you wash it all off the next day, it’s deep enough to where it’s
still gonna bother them. Their soreness is still gonna bother them.


Interviewer: How frequently was this done, to your experience?
Women: Weekly.


Interviewer: To the horses that you had in training?


Horse Person: Weekly.


Interviewer: OK.


Horse Person: It was done before every time they were shown.


Interviewer: OK. Do you know how far in advance of the show that they would start doing this?


Horse Person: Ah, typically they’d do it Monday through Wednesday and that way Thursday and Friday
they could work ‘em. And by Saturday…but it depended on the horse. If the horse needed a
harder fix, they would do it later in the week so that they still had the results from it for a
Saturday night show, if need be.
They’ll find some…I’ve seen kerosene used. I’ve seen…some of ‘em I don’t even
understand how it can work because they’re bandaged, but it’s common things that you can
buy at any hardware store or any grocery store. And that’s the beauty of it for them is that
it’s easy to get ahold of.
. Diesel, kerosene…they’ve, I’ve…I’ve got a friend that her horse they’ve used jet fuel on
‘em. Don’t ask me how you’d get that, but they do.


Horse Person: Umm, anything that can be an irritant that they can, you know, set and let, get it deep in
on ‘em, they’ll use.


Interviewer: Uh huh.


Horse Person: Whatever it takes to get what they want.
It always depended on the horse. And a lot of times they would go back, like they’d work
the horse afterward. And if the horse wasn’t breakin’ level, they would fix the leg that
wasn’t goin’ as high. And they’d fix it harder. It is an art.


Interviewer: OK. Do I understand, then, that depending on how the horse reacted, they might use
somewhat different kinds of treatments or different intensity of treatment on different legs?
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Horse Person: Yes. Yes. Definitely. Everything about it is how the horse reacts, and each one of ‘em is
different. I’ve had a horse that didn’t react to the topical way of doin’ it, and so he was
foundered. And he reacted wonderful to that. And it was after I owned him. But, he was a
foundered horse shown every Friday night. And after he foundered, another trainer took him
and started fixin’ him on top of it, and they killed him.


Interviewer: How did you become aware that the horse had foundered?


Horse Person: It was just told to me, like that was…oh, that’s an easy way to do it. It’s a natural fix.
That was the words—it was a natural fix.
It was a horse that I had raised and sold to this trainer.


Interviewer: Oh, I see. OK.


Horse Person: And I checked on the horse to see how he was doin’ because I had raised him. And he
was standin’ in buckets of ice because you had to whip him, they whipped him to get him to
cross ties because he didn’t wanna walk.


Interviewer: Uh huh.


Horse Person: But it’s a natural way for a horse to throw their leg on their back end.


Interviewer: Uh huh.


Horse Person: And I was appalled, and he explained it to me.


Interviewer: OK. Was this something that has happened since you’ve stopped showing padded horses
competitively?


Horse Person: That’s what made me stop showing.



Interviewer: OK. And could you describe what you know about pressure shoeing?


Horse Person: Only the after result. I had it with a…I had horses with a name brand trainer and moved
‘em, and both horses, um, busted open quarter size holes in the fronts of their feet because of
the way they had ‘em shod.


Interviewer: When you say the fronts of their feet, do you mean in the hoof itself?


Horse Person: Yes, the hoof wall. Yes.


Interviewer: OK. So the hoof wall split?


Horse Person: Right below the pastern.
Horse Person: It’s just common knowledge here that that happens if it, after so long…you know, it’s
like an abscess. It’s gonna come out somewhere.
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Interviewer: I see. Were you aware of exactly how the pressure shoeing was accomplished on this horse?


Horse Person: No. No, I wasn’t.
That’s kinda the sick part. There’s so Interviewery veterinarians that are, they’re involved
enough with it and know how things work, it’s just brushed off to where…ok, soak it a
couple days and he’ll be fine. Go back to doin’ what you’re doin’. So it’s not treated as…it’s
not appalling here.


Interviewer: another topic that is often discussed concerning soring practices is the topic of scars and
what may be done about scars. Do you have any knowledge about that topic?


Horse Person: Acid packs.


Interviewer: OK. Could you describe what you mean by that?


Horse Person: They’ll apply acid and wrap it, and leave the horse over the weekend. And it’s horrible.
It’s…a lot of times it’s a kill ‘em or cure ‘em type thing, um, just simply because the horse
is gonna be down. It’s excruciating, evidently. And that way the…it depends on how much
they put on, but the top few layers of skin will peel off so that everything will come back
new.


Interviewer: Uh huh.


Horse Person: But…


Interviewer: Is that a technique that you knew was ever used on any of your horses?


Horse Person: I’ve never seen it but I always…anybody that has padded horses knows it…they know
what goes on. It’s just whether or not they admit it. At the time I wouldn’t. No. But yes…
…everybody knows they do. Everybody knows what it takes to get rid of it. And that’s somethin’
you just leave to those that know better, which is the trainer.


Interviewer: Well, but as I, as you’ve explained it to me, at least as I understand it, is that there’s sort of a
common unspoken understanding of what goes on…


Horse Person: Yeah. Everybody knows. If they’re at all an involved owner, they know it’s happening
but they don’t want to know and they don’t…it’s out of sight, out of mind, and let the trainer
do his job and get you that ribbon.


Interviewer: How Interviewery horses did you have during that period?


Horse Person: Ohhh…probably 20 at least.


Interviewer: Alright. Do you have any estimate of, or any knowledge about, out of the, let’s say 20 or so,
how Interviewery of them were subjected to soring practices of one kind or another?
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Horse Person: All of them. Every one of ‘em. Lots of ‘em died before they were ever even able to be
shown because somebody started ‘em too young and they couldn’t take it.

Interviewer: And what happened? Did they founder or something like that that caused their early deaths?

Horse Person: Three or four of ‘em. It got to the point I wouldn’t call and check on ‘em, because it
seemed like every time I’d sell a baby somebody would kill it. Some of ‘em were started at
13 months old. One in particular was a 13-month-old and by the time he was 15 months old,
he had sold for a lot of money. And by the time he was 16 months old, he had blew his
knees and he was done. Others were, you know, started…they’re typically always started 14,
15 months…always here. And they just can’t take it. A lot of ‘em can’t take it and they’ll
colic and die. Colic is the #1 killer.

Horse Person: Every time my horses showed, they were sore. Every time. There was never a time they
showed clean. Ever. And every time, they passed inspection with flying colors.
Because the trainer picks the shows. And if the government, if they show up then the horses
that you know probably won’t stand, you don’t get off the trailer. And if you have a trailer
full of horses that won’t stand, you leave.
.I would tell you that Kentucky, Tennessee and Alabama are the worst. But I see more, you
know, off the wall training practices and more horrid training practices in Kentucky and
Alabama because they’re further away. And Tennessee knows the threat a little more than
Kentucky and Alabama does. So you can see the worst stuff in Kentucky and Alabama. And
it goes on in Tennessee, but you don’t see it. It’s not as blatant.

Interviewer: Are you aware of anything about soring practices that might take place in those kinds of
classes, whether they’re trail classes or pleasure classes or things like that?

Horse Person: Only the pressure shoeing.

Interviewer: Uh huh.

Horse Person: That’s, that’s the only thing that I’m aware of. And I hear more about it and blockin’ ‘em,
and I can’t even go into that because I don’t even know enough about it to tell you anything.

Interviewer: Is there anything that we haven’t talked about so far that you’d like to communicate
concerning this problem or what might be done to stop it?

Horse Person: No, not off hand. As long as it’s stopped at some point, I’ll be thrilled.

FOSH

I emailed the President of FOSH, Friends of Sound Horses, Inc., yesterday about volunteering with their organization. I received a response today from a very welcoming and excited president, Lori. She said she would pass my information along to some other Board Directors to see where my skills can be utilized. I am very excited to begin my journey to end the practice of soring. I'm waiting for her reply like a kid waits for Christmas morning!

Here is the link to FOSH. Please check out there website. It seems a lot more detailed since I last visited several months ago. There is more information on how to get involved. Check out the online store link. I can't wait to order a shirt and bumper sticker!

Soring

After writing the following post yesterday, I was in a bad mood for a good hour and a half after work. Steven commented on how grumpy I was and I told him I know, but I can't help it. I told him that I was writing this and he told me that I shouldn't let it get to me so. But I can't help it. I'm really hesitant to write some more today but I want to get it out.

I've learned that when certain things in life really get to me, I cannot think about them too much or I will drive myself crazy. I think most of these certain things that really get to me involve horses. I don't know why I feel the way I do about these issues. I even know that a lot of people feel like I do about them. I really have a hard time expressing myself when it comes to these issues, and that's why I have put off writing about them on this blog. Several other blogs cover topics involving these issues and I read them often. For the most part, I agree with their opinions.

I am hesitant to start this entry because I'm afraid my passion for these issues will explode and I will find myself rambling and ranting on in complete chaos, no one will understand anything that comes out, and I will work myself up and get pissed off. People seem to be more passionate about certain issues when it applied to them directly and they have seen first hand the consequences of the actions of some heartless, money-hungry losers.

So here goes my first attempt. I will write about several topics but my first one is going to be about what I am so passionate about: The Tennessee Walking Horse and soring.

When I first moved to Tennessee, I was absolutely appalled to find such a small number of people from this state actually know what soring is. I asked numerous people I work with what they thought about the Tennessee Walking horse. Do you know what they said? ..."Oh yeah, that's the cool horse that does that really neat run with his legs going so high right? I saw him at the Vols homecoming game last year. Everyone was going crazy when that horse ran around the stadium doing that walk...."

And then I would say...."do you know that most if not all horses doing "that walk" have had chemicals put on their legs to cause them pain or items put on their feet to cause pressure points so that with every step they take, they are in a tremendous amount of pain and they are literally trying to get away from it by walking that way?" And then I would get this look of amazement that something they thought was so great would be the result of something so wrong.

What's the easiest way to stop soring....Inform the public (that is the non-horsey people)....no one is going to cheer for the horse running around the stadium if they all know what it had to endure to get there.

I know I will probably get criticized....but I'm going to say it anyways. I'm convinced that ALL horses on packages are or have been sored and probably a lot of the plantation horses and lite shod horses. Thankfully, a lot of the anti-padded anti-soring people compete in light shod but I know for a fact soring still happens there too.

I've known about this issue for quite some time now but I have really dug deeper into it since Steven bought his Tennessee Walking Horse mare Twiggs.

Twiggs was a show horse in her younger days, probably from age 2-3 to 8. She is 9 now and we have owned her for a year. Our previous barn bought her from someone who I assume was showing her because she still had pads on when they brought her home.

This is not a picture of Twiggs but these pads are the same as what she had on. The chain around this horse's pastern is called an "action device" by the industry. In theory, the motion of the chain bouncing up and down on the horse's ankle causes him to lift his feet and keep his rhythm. The problem with this is that most of these horses have been sored. Soring is when anything is applied to the horse's leg or hoof, usually on the pasterns, heel bulbs, or coronet band, that causes the horse to become sore. Chemicals such as mustard oil, diesel fuel, kerosene, koppertox, and others have been used as soring agents. When the chain bounces around on the horse's leg, it hits those sores and causes pain. When the horse is performing the "Big Lick," he is literally trying to climb out of the chains that are causing him pain. The result: a flashly, big gait that wins the owner a blue ribbon.

I'm not going to go into the history of soring or even describe the other types of abuse these horses endure for the show ring. If you are reading this blog, you know how to research it yourself.

Here's what I really don't understand. When inspectors show up at TWH shows, almost 90% of the people load their horses back onto their trailers and leave. Now, how are the inspectors suppose to catch people soring their show horses when they all leave as soon as they show up? It's absolutely ridiculous! Why can't the inspectors set up at the entry gate of the show grounds. If you want to come in, your horses will have to be inspected first. End of story. But you know what would happen? No one would come, at all. Isn't this OBVIOUS? Why hasn't the government stepped in to allow inspectors the option of doing this? Steven suggested that the inspectors should show up near the end of the show. The show management would have a record of everyone that entered their horse and shown in classes. The inspectors could obtain that list, go trailer to trailer and inspect each and every horse that had been shown. Or, what about shortly after the show had started? Most horses would have already been entered in their classes. You might ask, well what's to say the owners will leave after they've shown or scratch their classes? Have some US Marshalls at the gate. If you were registered for a class, that proves you had the intent to show that horse. The Inspectors should have the right to inspect those horses and the US Marshalls should have a right to keep them on the premises.

Somone mentioned in response to one of my comments on another blog that it is hard to catch the people that sore because they leave. I argued that if they leave, isn't it obvious that they are guilty? I wondered why they couldn't stop them. The person pointed out that the situation is similar to that of a dog fight. It is very hard to prove dog fighting unless they are caught in the act. Now, I'm not sure about all of the laws, etc regarding dog fighting prosecution.....BUT, if a dog is tied up outside of a dog fighting ring, it has marks from previous fights, it has been "prepared" to fight, and it has been registered to fight.....wouldn't that be enough evidence to prosecute? The same thing applies to soring. The horse is at the show, it would show signs of soring if they were ever inspected, it may have evidence of past soring, it is cleaned and ready to show, and it is registered in the class. DUH! That proves that the owner had a clear intent to show the horse. Therefore, inspectors should have the right to inspect that horse and stop the owners from removing said horse from the show grounds. I think if the same situation would apply at a dog fight raid. The police officers and animal abuse investigators would not allow the owners to remove the dogs before they had a chance to look at them. It may take a little more time for a group of inspectors to unload and find show records of horses entered but they should not allow ANYONE to leave unless they were inspected. The catch would be that in order for the horse to be inspected, it would have had to be entered in a class, proving intent to show. That's why inspectors should show up after the show has started and catch everyone who has already entered classes.

There are so many ways that the magnificent Tennessee Walking Horse is abused. From soring to pressure shoeing, to tail docking to stewarding, the abuse never ends. When will it change?

This picture is of Twiggs' hoof before we allowed a barefoot trimmer trim her feet. I know in this picture, it looks like she has not had her feet trimmed in many months. But honestly, she had been shod 6 weeks prior. In this picture, we had only owned Twiggs for about 3 months max. She had previously been shod by a man in Birmingham, AL. I don't think this guy ever trimmed her sole or frog. Her feet do grow super super fast though.

The barefoot trimmer we used was appalled at Twiggs' feet. I didn't know much about the guy but we spoke about theory and method of trimming before I allowed him to come out. I agreed with his theories and we talked about taking Twiggs down slowly so she could adjust to the new angles. He finished her left front first. As soon as he put it back on the ground, I could see Twiggs shifting her weight to keep off of it. I began to worry.

Twiggs was sore for a good 2 weeks. We thought at first that her soreness resulted from the angle changes when the guy chopped her feet down. By no means did he "take her down gradually."

Then, we noticed Twigg had a crack in the middle of her frog that had gotten really deep in her right front and had actually traveled up between her heel bulbs. She had a severe thrush problem in this crack. Once the extra hoof was off and she was able to feel the ground with her frog, the thrush really began to bother her. We treated her and within a couple of days she wasn't sore anymore. I do believe some of the soreness was from the angle changes though.

In this next picture, you can see the crack going between her heel bulbs. You can also clearly see a huge scar on her pasterns. This scar is from being sored in the past. She has a similar scar on her other leg too you just can't see it well in this picture.

When Twiggs was on pads, or packages, or stacks or whatever the hell you want to call them, the farriers had built up her feet so much that she developed the crack, which actually goes down to where her frog should be. We have had so much trouble this past winter with thrush getting back into this crack. We had a really wet winter and it was really hard to keep it dry and clean. If she was out in too much mud, the thrush came right back. There really wasn't any way of keeping it clean and free of debri unless we kept her up all of the time and kept her foot wrapped. (which we did a couple of really bad weeks.)

It's so sad to see her scars and feet. I can't imagine what she has gone through in her life. Once, I was applying koppertox in the crack in her frog. I spilled a little onto her heel bulbs and quickly grabbed the hose to wash it off. (remember koppertox has been none to be a soring agent when used on skin). As soon as I sprayed water on her pastern she jerked. I know it wasn't from the water. Twiggs has never even flinched when were treating her, washing her feet off, etc. But when that water hit the back of her pastern where her scars are, I'm sure it took her back to all of those times when previous owners would poor chemicals onto her legs or would doctor her legs after they had sored the hell out of them. It breaks my heart.

Twiggs is why I am so passionate about this issue. When I can see the evidence of soring every single day when I look at her, it makes me that much angrier...that much more passionate about doing something about it. I'm becoming more and more convinced this is my calling. To help end the practice of soring and punish the hell out of the pieces of shit that could do this to a horse as beautiful as a Tennessee Walking Horse.....

And also, help protect other horses from abuse by people that are after a measily blue ribbon...

Fosh list of offenders

Well, it's almost moving time. We have been working our booties off trying to get the house in New Market move-in ready. We have the house primed and 2 bedrooms have color. The house had so much tar / smoke on the walls and ceiling that it took a ton of Kilz. I think we finally managed to put enough on it so it wouldn't bleed through. We ripped out a piece of cabinet about the kitchen sink which opened up that side of the kitchen tremendously. It will make a huge difference once we get the new windows installed. They should arrive sometime tomorrow and I have to pick them up sometime before my parents get back up here on Tuesday of next week. Mom was a HUGE help this past week. There is no way we could have gotten as much done as we did without her. I'm so thankful she is such a talented woman!

Our garden in New Market is doing fabulous! Our cucumbers are going crazy and I'm pretty sure we will have way more than we can eat. Our peas, okra, and herbs we planted a couple weeks ago are starting to come up nicely. My one pumpkin plant is trailing everywhere and we have two baby watermelons coming along. We have harvested several jalapeno and banana peppers from our pepper plants. Our squash plant at our current house is also producing like crazy! We just harvested 4.5 lbs from it this morning alone! I'm afraid we may have let a couple of those get too big though and they won't be as good. Oh well.

Our horses have been a little neglected lately since we haven't had time to do much at our current house because we've been at the new one so much. I'm hoping to get some fencing done this week so we can move them over this weekend. The fencing at the new house is barbed wire and I'm really nervous about it. I have already had to put one horse down in my life because of barbed wire. I really don't have a choice though. The fencing is already in place for the owner's cattle and I'm sure he won't like me changing it for the horses. It is electric though so I'm hoping the will just stay away from it. The first scratch though it's coming down....I don't care what they say. We are putting t-post caps on top of all the t-posts with a large rope hot wire which will be give the fence more visibility and more shock if they go near it. The fence we put up to separate the pasture into 2 will only be the rope hot wire.

There is a little run in shed on the property which will supply the horses' shelter. We are considering dividing it in two because we could then feed in it and keep the horses separated when needed. It would probably make two 10 x 10 stalls. The pasture isn't bad at all. Very shady but in the big pasture there are huge blackberry bushes with ferocious thorns. Hopefully Ronan won't figure out what they are and get too cut up by them. But I will have the antibiotic ointment ready......

I'm really looking forward to living in New Market. It is a very quiet, farm community with nice views and rollings hills. It has one red light and a ton of churches, haha. Jefferson City is only about a 5 minutes drive east though....and so is the Tractor Supply....which probably will be bad.

Spring is in the air and summer is banging on the door!

I have been slacking on my blogging lately. I've had a lot of things going on and just haven't had time. Let me give you an update on everything!

We have found a rental house. It is located in New Market, TN. It's needs a little work but the landlords are fabulous and have agreed to let us have 1000 deducted from rent to make improvements on the house. That does not include new windows or paint that we will also be installing. My parents are planning to come up next week to help with repairs. Since dad is a homebuilder, he will install the windows and repair any other big things that need to be done. The house is a 3 bedroom, 1 bath brick rancher. It has about 50 acres around it dedicated to cattle. We have about 4 acres that we will fence off for our two horses. There is a small run-in shed close to the house that we can convert into two small stalls. It will be just fine. Steven and I have been driving out every weekend to garden. We have created a small garden with about 7-8 rows. We still have many plants growing in containers at our old house. Here is a list of everything we are currently growing:

Containers:
Sweet Corn
Squash
Iceburg Lettuce
1 tomato plant with about 40 (no kidding) tomatoes on it!
4 strawberry plants
3 blueberry bushes, all different varieties for pollination
1 thornless blackberry vine
1 grape vine
several beefsteak tomato plants that are still very tiny
1 Watermelon plant
1 eggplant
2 pots of trellised peas
Cilantro
2 Oregano plants
Dill
Rosemary
Lavender
Several flowers in pots

At the new house in the garden:
Silver Queen corn
2 varieties of onion
Green Bell Pepper
Jalapeno peppers
Banana peppers, hot and sweet varieties
Cucumbers
Several varieties of beans
a couple of strawberry plants we found growing at the house
Christmas melon - in a raised bed
Cantelope - in a raised bed
Pumpkin
Buttercup squash
Zucchini
Okra
Brocolli
New potatoes - In a potato box
Sweet potatoes

I think that is about it but it is possible I forgot something!

We have also ordered our fall seeds. We are planning to plant many different rare varieties of vegetables which I will list later.

Other things that have been going on:

I've received a promotion at work. I went from being an administrative assistant to the Controller. It is definitely a lot more responsibility but I love it so far. I think my brain works better the more pressure it has to deal with.

So, between packing for the move, getting ready for the renovations to the new house, my new job, and life in general....I have no time to blog. But, I will try to upload some pictures of our harvest so far....It's not much but we're so proud!