VOICE LATE NEWS
AP NEWS RELEASE CREATES NATIONAL STIR THROUGHOUT WALKING HORSE BUSINESS
EDITOR ’ S NOTE : The following news release appeared as an AP story in newspapers across the nation Thursday , May 12 , 1966 . Needless to say . Walking Horse enthusiasts from coast to coast have rallied around a common cause to relay the facts to those who would destroy our breed . The following " White Paper " arrived recently at the VOICE office and expresses the vast majority of opinions regarding the subject at hand . W ' e are indeed grateful to Mr . GEORGE H . HOLMES . Chardon . Ohio , who is a life member of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders Association and has been a key personality within the Walking Horse business for years , for preparing this article .
" Tydings Seeks Horse Gait Law
" WASHINGTON ( AP ) - A federal law against interstate shipment of horses that have been abused to alter their natural gait was asked Tuesday by Sen . . JOSEPH D . TYDINGS , D-Md .
' The widespread abuse of the beautiful walking horse for the purpose of affecting its natural gait ,’ requires corrective legislation , he said in a prepared Senate speech . " Tydings explained that the back stride of the Tennessee walking horse , a favorite mount of President . JOHNSON , is long and that its front feet barely touch the ground . This prancing step , he said , makes the horse a show ring favorite . " Tydings said , however , that some unscrupulous owners and trainers have found that the desired longstriding step can be obtained by " soreing ” the horse ’ s front feet , usually by using chains or tacks inside the quarter boot or by applying a burning agent to the pastern , the area just above the hoof . Another technique cited was the driving of a nail into the tenderpart of the hoof ."
WE ANSWER AS FOLLOWS :
" The festering feud between the Tennessee Walking Horse exhibitors and the hunter and gaited horse owners has finally erupted with the announcement that Senator . Joseph Tydings , Maryland Democrat , has introduced Federal legislation to prohibit the interstate shipment of Tennessee Walking Horses . This is understandable as Maryland and its neighbor , Virginia , produce the majority of the hunting horses and saddlebred horses in America . " As long as three or four pleasure Walking Horses piddle-paddled around the nation ’ s horse show rings , there was no animosity or hostility from the exclusive hunting crowds and the expensive gaited horse breed . But after World War 2 , when the population exploded into the suburbs and rural areas , the family pleasure horse took on new meaning . For those home owners who couldn ’ t golf or boat , a couple of acres of grass and rural roads gave birth to a family recreation project that could fulfill the new demands for togetherness . Five hundred thousand families became enamored of the horse , spurred on by the emergence of the horse , as a television star . Beginning as weekend recreation , the project burgeoned into a horse for each member of the family and soon into family
10 breeding and exhibiting stables . But a person who has a pretty good horse has to have a place to show it , share it and enjoy it . The snobbery of the Hunt Clubs barred the doors to these new horse lovers . The astronomical prices of the best gaited horses , Arabians , Morgans and other breeds provided a formidable financial barrier . The long hours , skill , and hard work required to bring a 1200-pound beast to show peak discouraged many weekend riders . " Then out of Middle Tennessee came the perfect horse for this kind of post-war American . Gentle , pretty , easy-gaited and tractable , the Walking Horse was the answer to the tyro ’ s prayer . Soon pleasure trails in all fifty states began to see the swift , smooth gait of the Walking Horse . Horse Show Committees , alert to the new trends that might bring more dollars to the community , began to include Walking Horse show classes . The National Walking Horse Celebration , where the World Champion Walking Horse is named in Shelbyville , Tennessee , grew from a pasture show back of a high school into the biggest horse show in America . Last year , at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show , the Walking Horses outnumbered all breeds except hunters . This has been duplicated in horse shows all over America . And when a person once rode a Walking Horse , he lost interest in other breeds . Breeders of hunters , saddlebred horses , Arabians and others began to feel it in the pocketbook . The cheering crowds at the horse shows deepened the hatred of other breeders whose classes became smaller and customers fewer . " Around Long Island , Maryland and Virginia , the muttering against the walking horse took the form of criticism of the manner in which the Walking Horse is trained . It was said he was artificially gaited with cruel training methods . The U . S . Department of Agriculture in 1932 certified the Walking Horse as a distinctive breed specially bred to go the smooth 1-2-3-4 gait , but the opposition chose to ignore this certification and insisted that walking horse people were cruel and inhuman . They adopted the same tactics that the Anti-Vivisectionists and the Humane Societies adopt when they talk about animals for medical research . They ignore proof and rebuttal evidence of useful purpose , careful housing , kindness , adequate feeding , and maintenance of the animals . Applying the emotional appeals that touch the humane spirit of most Americans who love pets , they pictured the Walking Horse owner as a monster who drove nails into his horse ’ s coronet band , pastern and frog . 1 hey made wild charges of acid being poured
on a horse ’ s feet to produce the gait that was the envy of the horse world .
Now this presents a pretty terrible picture , if true . And there may have been drunken , ignorant trainers who jeopardized the welfare of their horses in this manner . It is also true that every community in this country has parents who beat , maltreat and abuse their children . We don ’ t think this is universal or an
accepted way of life . And no horseman could apply these practices and present a sound horse for his own pleasure or for the show ring . But the charges persisted , flamed by an internecine feud within the
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VOICE of the Tennessee Walking Horse