Tennessee Walking Horses Find Relief!

[Bigfoot]

My family has raised and trained Walking Horses for 70 plus years. Those horses get better care than most people. Yes their are a few bad apples that give the breed a bad name, but that is in every business. It is obvious you don't have a clue about the breed or their gait, please keep your opinions to yourself if you have no knowledge in the matter.

Your tone is all off. Bring us up to speed on what's going in the industry. I truely don't understand what's been banned, and what's still a go.

Bigfoot my tone is right on, when you have someone saying this is way overdue that doesn't have the slightest clue about the walking horse. Yes I take this very personal. I have many family members and close friends that train for a living. I have also trained and shown these horses since I was a big enough to walk.

The USDA is banning the action device (which is 6 oz chain) and the pads(which are not stacks of heavy weights) in effect as of January 2018. I can see how looking from the outside in it could look bad if one doesn't know the facts. The chains are very smooth and are placed on the horses pastern with a lubricant to prevent any rubbing or scaring. These are used to give the horse a since of stepping out of the chain which creates the big lick. The objective of the pad is to extend the horses natural hoof in a humane way to allow the horse more action. The pads are made of plastic and can have a light shoe on bottom or rubber, depending on what the horse works best with. The pads are not heavy or harmful to the horse. There is a band that helps hold the pad on the hoof, this is also not painful to the horse but is placed to prevent harm to the hoof.

So many people have painted a bad picture of the breed and do not realize that these horses take years of training to accomplish what is called the big lick. They are not simply pouring chemicals on their feet and throwing chains on them to step high.

That's the kind of explanation we need.

 

[greybeard]

I don't know what 'process' the Hispanics use around here, but high steppers are pretty popular, especially among those that have their horses at the Mexican rodeo a few miles up the road from me.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

This makes me also think of the ridiculous trot that the pleasure horses have been altered to perform. They seriously look like the two end of the horse are moving in different gaits. I just don't get the allure...

 

[Nesikep]

Sometimes a little pain is needed.. as a handler, you should work with it only to let the animal know that it CAN hurt, and since they're usually not that dumb, they'll comply as soon as they figure out what you want them to do.
I have "Control" halters for my heifers with a chain under the chin, yes, it probably is darned uncomfortable if they yank on it, but the learn darned fast to not go tearing away from me at 50 mph when they get pulled to a stop.. they learn to follow me when I pull on it, and before long I don't need to use it, and they remember what to do forever. Mega leads with a piece of bale twine and 1 finger and never goes running off, towing me behind.. Same goes for my bull Marko, though he hasn't been as thoroughly trained, he does pretty well for a big lummock... as in, I am able to lead an 1800 lb pile of muscle where I want him to go

 

[ga.prime]

Bunch of hogwash. If it hurts too much they won't do it.

 

[Bigfoot]

This makes me also think of the ridiculous trot that the pleasure horses have been altered to perform. They seriously look like the two end of the horse are moving in different gaits. I just don't get the allure...

That whole scene is outrageous.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

This makes me also think of the ridiculous trot that the pleasure horses have been altered to perform. They seriously look like the two end of the horse are moving in different gaits. I just don't get the allure...

That whole scene is outrageous.

That is the perfect word for it! But I guess some would consider the show cattle world outrageous too, so to each his own. Human nature to take something and make it bigger, better, faster, shinier, ect, till you can't tell it is even related to the original...

 

[Bigfoot]

This makes me also think of the ridiculous trot that the pleasure horses have been altered to perform. They seriously look like the two end of the horse are moving in different gaits. I just don't get the allure...

That whole scene is outrageous.

That is the perfect word for it! But I guess some would consider the show cattle world outrageous too, so to each his own. Human nature to take something and make it bigger, better, faster, shinier, ect, till you can't tell it is even related to the original...

I have become a voracious reader of everything equine chiropractic. Not sure why it interest so much, but I can't get enough of it for some reason. I can't imagine how out of adjustment, those people are making those horses.

 

[Boot Jack Bulls]

Like a 400 pound woman in stilettos! A good friend of mine has world champ halter horses, and he will be the first to admit that the industry has gone too far. When you can't tell in close crop pictures if the joint is a knee or a hock, there has to be a problem with mobility.

 

[reeler]

Chuckie, right or wrong, is expressing her opinion. Afterall, that is 90 % of what any of us do on a forum...

:clap: Well said

 

[sim.-ang.king]

I don't know a thing about walking horses. But I'm going to go ahead and say I don't consider a horse safe until it has been properly broken.
Many modern horse breaking methods imo. Do not accomplish this.
If you won't a horse to be safe in a extreme situation, you must first take it There. And it's often not pleasant or pretty.
People 150 years ago knew horses way better than we do.

They knew all animals better. Animals are not human and shouldn't be treated as such.


Also Chuckie, I don't consider animals my friends, and I'm not a criminal.

 

[dun]

My showing experience was halter and performance. I lost interest in it when I spent a vacation off the coast of vietnam so you can tell how long ago it was. Human nature being what it is, there will always be the unscrupulous that will use any short cut available. Tarring all trainers with the same brush has always been the fall out from trying to resolve the acts of a few. Those that achieve results through training will always be suspect, any result of human nature. The use of severe irritants (or abuse) doesn;t have a place in training. I've seen supposed ox drovers use a hotshot for an ox goad, that to me isn;t raining. Personally I wouldn;t trust an ox trained or worked that way.
While this whole soring deal has been brought to the front as well it should have been, condemning an entire industry because of the actions of the minority gets my goat.

 

[danl]

Speaking of animal abuse has anyone else heard of the uproar over the movie " A dog's purpose" ? I watched the video clip and was expecting to see horrific beatings or something. Couldn't believe it was just a guy trying to get a dog to go in the water.. He could be facing prison time...
I suppose everyone that gives a dog a bath could be subject to possibly Lethal injection??????
There are some hilarious videos on youtube of unwilling baths by dogs. I think If I had one on there I would be taking it down. The world has completely lost its mind...

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

My showing experience was halter and performance. I lost interest in it when I spent a vacation off the coast of vietnam so you can tell how long ago it was. Human nature being what it is, there will always be the unscrupulous that will use any short cut available. Tarring all trainers with the same brush has always been the fall out from trying to resolve the acts of a few. Those that achieve results through training will always be suspect, any result of human nature. The use of severe irritants (or abuse) doesn;t have a place in training. I've seen supposed ox drovers use a hotshot for an ox goad, that to me isn;t raining. Personally I wouldn;t trust an ox trained or worked that way.
While this whole soring deal has been brought to the front as well it should have been, condemning an entire industry because of the actions of the minority gets my goat.

Well said!

 

[Chuckie]

I used to work for a man that raised Walking horses, and I do have an opinion. Why not put chains on your ankles the same size you put on a Walker and go for a three mile run, and don't forget to grease your ankles, maybe it will keep from rubbing the skin off your legs.

 

[Chuckie]

sim-ang-king, if you don't consider animals your friends, then you have a lot of living to do.

 

[midTN_Brangusman]

I used to work for a man that raised Walking horses, and I do have an opinion. Why not put chains on your ankles the same size you put on a Walker and go for a three mile run, and don't forget to grease your ankles, maybe it will keep from rubbing the skin off your legs.

Oh you work for a man that raises them. Hmmm, so you still don't know anything about how they are trained. But you want to bash the breed and the people that do it.

Just to give you a little background info since you obviously don't have a clue. These horses are trained with a very light chain, comparable to wearing a bracelet, until the horses feet are tuff. Much like my hands are tuff from cleaning stalls and a ditch digger hands are tuff from digging. I don't blister or bleed, my hands are tough and I have calluses. I guess your against animals in the circus and rodeos as well.

 

[Chuckie]

That's OK mid TN. Sometimes I feel sorry for myself from time to time.

 

[Chuckie]

Today I am really feeling sorry for myself because I have to wade through 6" of clay mud and with each step, I have to turn my foot at an angle to keep my mud boots from being sucked off my foot. We have been getting 1/2 of rain pretty much every day.

I am very thankful for the rain as we went backwards pretty badly last summer as we didn't get enough rain for three months. The lakes, ponds and rivers dropped tremendously.

 

[reeler]

Speaking of animal abuse has anyone else heard of the uproar over the movie " A dog's purpose" ? I watched the video clip and was expecting to see horrific beatings or something. Couldn't believe it was just a guy trying to get a dog to go in the water.. He could be facing prison time...
I suppose everyone that gives a dog a bath could be subject to possibly Lethal injection??????
There are some hilarious videos on youtube of unwilling baths by dogs. I think If I had one on there I would be taking it down. The world has completely lost its mind...

The video clip I saw from this movie was, in my opinion, Horrific. The dog was forced into raging water, & they had to stop shooting the scene. :2cents: