Horse Tortured for Fifteen Years

About a week ago, a new acquaintance told me the following story which she has never forgotten. She and her husband were at an auction of older horses, looking to buy. One horse didn't get any bids and when the auction ended, the couple walked to the horse's stall to observe it more closely. That's when they noticed the telltale marks on its hooves and legs and the lack of vitality in the poor animal. It looked worn out. Someone who was well acquainted with the owner told the couple confidentially that the horse had not been out of its stall in 15 years,except for shows, and the owner intended to euthanize it if he couldn't sell it. And that's just what happened the next week. To his credit, the husband met the owner at a horse event and raked him over, telling him what he thought of him for doing that to a horse.

The reasons why this abuse is still happening are politicians who don't want to offend the horse industry and sp won't act, and the federal government, that doesn't give the inspectors enough money to cover all the gaited horse competitions so that the abusers can be caught. The Horse Protection Act is thus not enforced to the fullest extent.

The worst people of course are the owners and trainers obsessed with making money and winning prizes and the dubious prestige that goes with the prizes when horses have been sored, and so will do anything necessary to torture their horses in order to win. Even when the offenders are caught, the punishments are not nearly harsh enough. What would be appropriate would be with one infraction, the sorers would never be allowed to participate in another event, and they would have their horses taken away. They would never be able to own horses again either. And I would legislate huge financial penalties and even jail time. I would also work hard to change the tax codes of a particular state to classify the horse in more ways than just farm animals.

What can we all do about this? At least let your representatives in Congress know how you feel about it, stressing that some states' names are blackened in the public's view because of the filthy reputations of sorers who live there, and urging the politicos to use their power in Washington to get rid of soring. Go to http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml to find your reps and contact them. And because sorers profit from the silence of people who care but do nothing, find some way to work on horses' behalf actively besides donating money. If you have web sites or blogs, write about the problem, and get it out in the light where people will learn about it. Become a member of an active horse protection group. Read good web sites where there are opportunities for you to do something substantial. In my next blog entry, I'll tell you about an excellent group that needs your help.

The Savagery of Soring

In all discussions of soring, we have to remember that there are many trainers who work with gaited horses in a humane way without having to resort to torture; indeed, I believe that knowing what the sored horse goes through, they are ashamed of what their fellow trainers do for ribbons, money, and prestige. Several years ago, a prominent local citizen told me that he had given up showing his Walking Horses, even though he had trained them with kindness and patience, because he couldn't stand seeing the other horses that had been the object of savagery.

The techniques of soring as seen in the damaged hoof above, are bad enough, but it doesn't stop there. As discussed on the Protecting Horses page of my web site at http://www.mmfisher.com/, The Horse Protection Act of 1970 was designed to eliminate soring, but political pressure from influential business people in the horse industry, inadequate funding from the federal government, and the arrogance of those who sore their horses and who will not stop have hobbled the enforcement of the law for almost four decades. The law involves inspection of horses. And here is where the afflicted horses suffer more. In "The Cruelest Show on Earth," the Humane Society says that some people train their horses not to respond when inspectors palpate their ankles and legs to find out if they have been sored. How do trainers do this to their animals? By beating with blunt instruments or attaching alligator clips to sensitive parts to cause pain, or putting a painful device in their mouths: all to force the horses to concentrate on the "new pain" rather than in the "old" pain in their feet or legs. They must not move. This process is called "stewarding" within the industry, an ironic double usage. As an English teacher, I can't help but see the irony here. The word "steward" was in use before the twelfth century and meant, as it does today, someone who is in charge, who directs affairs, who has great responsibility. Stewards then can be those who run horse shows in the right way, those officials most in evidence at shows, or a trainer who works in a stall or pasture, torturing, stewarding his animal into silence.

Some years ago, I included abuse of horses in a list of topics my students could choose to research for their essays. We talked about each topic and its possibilities, and when we came to the horse question, a student in the back spoke up loudly and clearly: "I don't know what all the fuss is about. It's just a horse." What that eighteen-year-old said was crude and ignorant, but is true of too many "adults" who are equally unable to consider the horse as anything more than an animal who is worth money, prizes, and prestige. It is a horrible prestige, this maiming of animals for no good reason, and people who respect, care for, indeed, love their horses regard sorers with horror and loathing.

I discuss the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration of 2009 on the Protecting Horses page at http://www.mmfisher.com/.