1969 Voice Of The Tennessee Walking Horse 1969 December Voice | Page 72
next issue. Thank you.
LETTERS
Protection Act”. I am all for some
kind of protective legislation, but I
am firmly convinced that this is not
it! If you could possibly print the bill
in its entirety, or if each interested
person would get a copy from his
state representative, surely some
thing could be done to prevent its
passage. A letter from every trainer,
rider, owner, or other interested re
sponsible citizen should certainly en
courage our legislators to vote this
bill down.
Sincerely yours,
C. W. KUNE
Boyer town, Pa.
(We appreciate Mr. Kline’s taking
the time to send the results of the
show to us. They can be found in
the Horse Show Results section of
this issue.)
Dear Sir:
Dear Sir:
Here is some information concern
ing the Walking Horse division at
the Pennsylvania National Horse
Show. They had two veterinarians
there as well as two stewards exam
ining all of the Walking Horses. How
ever, during all the divisions, only
two horses in the Juniorclassesprior
to entering the ring were eliminated.
Outside of the two horses in the Jun
ior class they found all the horses in
excellent condition. The veterinar
ians and show committee were very
well pleased with the Walking Horses
exhibited at this show, all being
shown clean.
Judge at this show was Buddy
Black who did an excellent job of
tying classes in all divisions. He did
not show any favoritism in any way,
shape or form. The people in this
section of the country were very
well pleased with the quality of the
Walking Horses as well as mentioned
before, being clean.
In looking over the last issue of
the VOICE I was rather surprised
not to see any news from the Penn
sylvania National Horse Show at
Harrisburg. This is one of the biggest
shows in the country and always had
a high rating. (I don’t just say this
because we had pretty good luck
and were pleased with my own hor
ses being placed as they were.)
On Saturday, October 25 the Amer
ican Walking Horse School Associa
tion had their annual meeting and
luncheon buffet dinner for members
and guests. The Tydings Bill was
discussed at length and all members
were urged to get in touch with their
senators. Walking Horse exhibitors
were also urged to go to the Wash
ington, DC show and show all clean,
as in Harrisburg (see VOICE, Nov.
69).
I hope that you will run the results
and give the show listing in your
At a time when the entire Walking
Horse world is in a state of confusion,
I almost hesitate to write this letter,
but I feel that there is a need for it.
The Tydings act may be a threat to
the Walking Horse industry, but an
even closer, and more dangerous,
threat is the bill which will be pre
sented in the state legislature when
it convenes in January. It is a re
flection of Governor Ellington’s de
termination to keep the problem at
home, but its results will be to kill
the entire horse industry (allbreeds)
in this state.
First of all, in the name of impar
tiality, the bill was written by the
State Industrial Commission, over
looking the fact that most members
of that commission obviously would
n’t know a ''protected” horse if it
kicked them! This ignorance shows
up in every ambiguous phrase of
the bill. For instance, if the definition
of "horse show” as contained in the
bill is interpreted literally, a person
could not show a friend two pastured
horses without a horse show license.
Also, the bill recurrently uses the
phrase "inhumane treatment” with
out ever defining such treatment.
According to the definition in the bill
of "soring,” the use of spurs will be
prohibited!
Aside from these ridiculous aspects
of the bill, it has more serious im
plications. Very few show sponsors
(such as Civitan and Lions Clubs,
and other civic organizations) will
be able to afford a license (at X dol
lars) as well as a fee of "X dollars
per entry, per class.” If they are
forced to raise their entry fees, they
will lose many entries. Another diffi
culty will lie in finding anyone willing
to accept the vulnerable position of
steward, "whose duty, among others,
shall be to report to the CommisS^°n
all known violations” of the bill* thus
making the steward liable f°r any
sore horse which appears inthoring.
These are just a few of the s^ous
flaws in the "Tennessee State Dorse
Sincerely yours,
CAROL A. CLARK
(Member of U. T. Equestrian Club)
Route 1, Box 288
Lenoir City, Tennessee 37771
Letters to the Editors
LIFE Magazine
Time & Life Building
Rockefeller Center
New York, NY 10020
Sirs:
What a shame that through your
very biased article potential Walk
ing Horse buyers and present own
ers are going to be associated with
the pitiful horse in your article. The
other three-fourths of the country’s
Walkers are NOT in this condition!
How sad that Senator Tydings’
bleeding heart did not include room
for the Five and Three Gaited show
horses who are trained with chains
on all four feet (without padding),
and turn screws in the quick of the
hooves. These are your Madison
Square Garden horses!
Unfortunate race horses are shot
full of "pep” to the extent of heart
attacks.
Jumping horses are taught toclear
the top rail or else scrape their legs
on nails or barbed wire attached for
this purpose.
These instances are of small per
centage, and as unfair to their breeds
as your article has been to our Walk
ing Horses.
It is regrettable that you did not
mention that Vic Thompsonhas done
the most to clean up the soring and
that his own horses rest in stalls
clean enough to eat in and are obvi
ously in no state of torture.
Do you dare print the other side
of the story? If you don’t, how many
will believe any article you print
again?
MRS. O. S. MOSELEY
Atlanta, Georgia
(Continued on page 75)
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V oice of the Tennessee Walking Horse