Monday

soring

The gaited horse industry (Tennessee Walking Horses in particular) has long had a terrible problem with "soring," the practice of doing various things to the horse that makes its legs and feet hurt so that it will lift its feet higher in the show ring and look flashier.

It's such a terrible problem that an entire industry of federal inspectors and watchdogs for those inspectors has grown around the issue.

Last weekend, the inspectors randomly hit one prominent horse show really hard, inspecting many more horses than usual. The result? The majority of trainers simply packed up their horses and went home without showing rather than face inspection.

This says a lot about how serious this problem still is, despite the Walking Horse industry's claims that it's primarily an issue that they have put behind them.

I grew up riding and showing gaited horses in Middle TN and I can tell you that while the natural gait of a TWH is indeed genetic and something the breed does without any training, the hugely exaggerated gaits you see in the show ring simply cannot be accomplished without very dramatic training methods and phsyical manipulation of the horses via weird shoes, ankle weights, etc. Even the methods that do not technically constitute the legal definition of "soring" are in my opinion, extreme, ugly and often painful for the animals.

The sad thing is that these horses' natural gaits are so wonderful and beautiful. I wish more people would show them in a natural state.
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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Katie, we purchased our TWH from a family who bred him to show in the gaited ring. However, he (horse) would not gait, and the family refused to have any part of the soring practice; therefore they sent him for Hunt Seat training. He makes a wonderful child horse because of the TWH naturally laidback disposition. He is coming along in the hunt ring; loves cross-country jumping the best. He is schooling 3-ft fences, but technique wise he is showing at 18inches to 2ft. My daughter says he has the best canter of any horse she has ever ridden. Of course we don't tell people in the hunter/jumper world what his breeding is because there is alot of predudice based upon breed. See you at the shows!

Monday, August 8, 2005 at 11:44:00 PM GMT
Anonymous said...

Oh good grief. Leaving aside the debate about the relative prettiness or not of the classic high-stepping gait of TN walker show horses, the issue with the feds is really quite simple - the inspections are random, and randomly enforced. There are few, if any, appeal procedures. Petty personal vendettas on the part of career bureaucrats (in a recent conflicted case, the VMO who cited a horse at a show four years ago is now inspecting meat plants. Hardly a ringing endorsement of his equine expertise), coupled with highly subjective tests of "soring" mean that a VMO can put a horse and trainer out of business on a whim.

To conclude that all trainers that chose not to show must have something to hide is offensive and insulting - here in America, most folks are innocent until proven guilty. In a racket where the VMO is judge and jury, and capricious, choosing not to show is prudent.

Cheerlead for natural shows, sure - but don't attack everyone in the TWH industry based on bad practices from 30-40 years ago (the VMO's operate under the Horse Protection Act of 1970).

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 at 12:51:00 AM GMT
Julie said...

Random testing is standard procedure in sports where there is a problem (steroids, etc). Trainers would complain even more bitterly if every single horse were inspected before every single class. Then they would say the testing was overly burdensome.

As for why nearly 2/3 of the trainers chose not to show that night rather than allow their horses to be inspected, well, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...

I am an avid equestrian (now I am into hunters) and I have a strong aversion to even the "humane" training methods used to school gaited horses for the showring. I know that if I kept metal chains (an approved training aid for TWHs) around my hunter horse's ankles whenever I schooled him, he would be incredibly sore and banged up in that area of the leg. SCra tissue would develop.

He would also step a lot higher, to avoid the weight and the discomfort.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 at 12:58:00 AM GMT
Anonymous said...

I agree with Katie; if a trainer had nothing to hide why leave? Sure, you could argue that they left in protest to the random checking, but my guess is it was not in protest. It takes alot of work to get ready for a horse show...would I give it all up to protest a random check on my horse's health? No way! From what the owner of my TWH told me about trying to get him to "gait" everywhere he took his horse for training it was "suggested" he use the soring technique. He was told by someone, considered by many in Shelbyville, to be the best TWH trainer that his horse would gait. But it would require soring. That is why the horse is now jumping fences with a 13-year old girl who adores him. Thanks to his previous owner for being so strong in his belief! By the way...there is a "versatility" catagory for TWH and they can do other things if the "gait" isn't there.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 at 2:27:00 AM GMT
Anonymous said...

Random testing is accepted procedure in sports - yes. But that testing is scientific - drug tests - either something is in your body or it isn't. "testing" of TWH is completely subjective - VMO's can DQ a horse because the horse he thinks the horse reacts to "palpitating" or has lost some hair around the ankle. It's entirely discretionary, with no recourse (except through the courts, where the USDA has adopted a defense strategy of stonewalling the justice system, in ways that mightily annoy judges).

There is no duck - again, to reiterate, petty career bureaucrats, who aren't equestrians, or even equestrian vets, can disqualify a horse, and punish a trainer and owner, sentencing them to years of legal struggles, over a simple whim. "I don't like the way you looked at me", and then the VMO can show up (unannounced) at all shows where he thinks the trainer will be, until he busts him.

Until there is an objective testing approach to this issue, the question of bias and caprice will haunt the effort to clean up the breed. The enforcement regime, rather than encouraging compliance (because it works so effectively in other sports), merely encourages distrust. Without a level playing field, not showing up is a prudent decision.

I'm not in favor of soring. As for other training methods, all athletes, including horses (thoroughbreds, anyone), "train" by doing things that are hard. That's how you get better. Thoroughbreds run hard, jumpers jump high, athletes lift heavy weights, runners run until they throw up, bikers ride until exhaustion. TWH use weights to step high, just like a basketball player might wear a weighted vest to train himself to jump higher.

If you don't like the gait, don't go to the shows. Support the plantation pleasure part of the breed. Whatever. Your "aversion" is your business. But don't accuse the entire industry of cheating because a flawed, subjective testing system causes people to fear arbitrary all-powerful federal bureaucrats.

Tuesday, August 9, 2005 at 3:19:00 PM GMT
Anonymous said...

I have to say I see the point you are making. there are some atrocious methods used in training gaited horses. BUT if the way to get them out is this very politically oriented subjective inspection, that isnt fixing anything either. anyone who thinks horse shows are these objective contests is living in a dream world. I also find it interesting that people single out this breed. personally I find making horses jump fences higher than themselves and run a cross country course until a couple of them drop dead to be rather cruel. I dont see Katie out protesting the olympic trials which usually result in a dead horse periodically. not to mention that most of the bad riding accidents on the human level involve jumping, despite protests to the contrary that its really no more dangerous than a trail ride. lets talk about smacking the legs of open jumpers to make them jump just a little bit higher. and the thoroughbred industry..horses ridden before their bones are hard in the interest of making big bucks. anytime you are getting people who are making a lot of money out of professional performing animals where winning can make or break them, they will do whatever they can to exaggerate whatever it is their animal does. (are you aware that show dogs with lots of hair..shih tzus for example..are not allowed to play outside or just be a dog because it will wreck their coat?? they dont get to just be normal dogs until they retire) when horses are the toy of the idle rich and those who make money off the idle rich (trainers are working class but they are making thier living out of the fact that wealthy people have the means to purchase an animal that costs more than most people pay for their house) if you are REALLY opposed to all this unnaturalness and cruelty you do not show horses except at the most fun level. there are gaited trainers who do not do these things but they are not people you have ever heard of and they are big on just having fun with horses. use them as God intended on the trail, working cattle, etc. I find horse shows of whatever stripe to be the biggest time and money sucker I have ever encountered. a complete waste of time.

Wednesday, August 17, 2005 at 7:24:00 PM GMT

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