WOULD YOU BELIEVE... il
/ owing article appeared in the June 13 edition Cleveland Plain Dealer” in Cleveland, Ohio. It
jd example of existing inhumane activities in.• crse business that are perhaps worse than anyof which we in the Walking Horse business are
accused. We doubt seriously that we will see any blazing
headlines in " Sports Illustrated” regarding this situation, or read any " blistering accusations” from Mrs.
Pearl Twine about such inhumane treatment of these poor unfortunate hunters and jumpers. We also doubt seriously if Senator Joseph Tydings makes any proposals in Congress designed to stop this practice from coast to coast.
DRUG USE AT DEVON HORSE SHOW By Roland M. Kraus
It was inevitable that some day someone would get a " spit-box” into the ring of a major American " A” horse show. It was also inevitable that such a news
item would never appear in the releases emanating from the press box of that show. A " spitrbox” is a contrivance to measure and determine the presence of drugs in a horse’ s body.
The measure of importance of showing at the huge multibreed Devon Horse Show, in existence some 73 years, is a matter of personal conviction.
The finest horses in the East are on the grounds with every professional horseman of any count from Maine to Florida. I have always felt the show is too early in a too long year to have horses ready for championship competition. It is quite obvious that many other exhibitors are in the same boat, but they must show at Devon— it’ s the " in” thing to do. The horses aren’ t ready— but the exhibitors are!
When a horse is not really ready he is still fresh. A fresh horse can be quite a handful, particularly in hack classes. This being an important event, one cannot allow this horrible fresh situation to exist. So to Devon( and elsewhere) go truck-loads of tranquilizers.
Now what is a tranquilizer: It is a drug, liquid or capsule, handled by medically skilled and exceptionally talented horsemen and women. It does nothing but quiet down an unruly animal.
The use of these drugs is against every rule of every horse association in the country.
By subterfuge, Sallie Jones Sexton of Granville, Oh., who staked her claim to being the most hated horsewoman n the U. S. when she blasted tranquilization at the 1968 American Horse Shows Association Convention, brought the show managers two veterinarians and a " spit-box” into the ring for the Working Hunter
Hack Class. News travels fast Of 31 entered in the class, 23 caught a whiff of a great enemy and vanished. There were left eight terrorized horsemen and women walking their horses in a ring from which there was no escape. The show manager plaintively called for the balance of the class to appear. The 23 former Hunters were hitched to carts, put on walking boots or western saddles, or in some fantastic way completely changed appearances and dissolved. The show went on.
And what went on was really a show, as the eight exhibitors gave ringsiders a class they’ ll never forget. On the command to trot a very experienced rider cantered, and on the wrong lead too; trainers were
seen poking umbrellas at horses who through mishap were going acceptably; the halt became a walking
parade.
When the class was over it had to be pinned. Get this, fellow travelers, there were some big big names among the eight in the ring. The first five received
ribbons, and following these " bitter” awards was an examination by the vets. After awarding the five ribbons— horses one through
five were declared by the doctors to have been drugged. The magnificent showmanship of the other three
allowed them to avoid being in the ribbons! Now there was the ultimate in horse showing, at the
ultimate of horse shows, with the ultimate of the horse world looking on— 31 horses at Devon— and every
horse tranquilized!
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EDITOR’ S NOTE: The following article dealing with tax problems in the horse business was also part of
the above article. We were so interested in this that we printed it for your information.
36 Voice of the Tennessee Walking Horse