Humane Society Releases Video of a Horse Being Sored

Look at this video if you dare. Thank you to The Humane Society and its brave undercover person who photographed the poor horse being sored. While we can describe in words how a horse suffers from soring, to see it first hand as in the following video is so poignant that many viewers will weep.  What can be done? First, boycott the Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration and let people know you're doing it and explain why. Maybe if the money dries up for this event, the non-sorers will do something to get rid of the vicious people who shame the Celebration by somehow entering sored horses. An organization that fights soring is FOSH as does The Humane Society. Join both. If you know anyone in state or national politics, look into that. Is there anything that can be done there?
Look at this video if you dare, and then act!
http://www.tennessean.com/article/20120517/NEWS03/305180035/Humane-Society-releases-video-Tennessee-Walking-Horse-abuse-graphic-video-

Come See Me at Two Events This Week

It's time to reconsider Poe, and on Thursday evening, April 26, at 6:30, about a dozen of us will be doing just that. Where? Brentwood Library, at 8109 Concord Road, Brentwood, Tennessee, 37027. I'm looking forward to a lot of fun as we dissect Poe. ("Dissect" is approriate for the Master of Horror!)
And on Saturday, April 28, I'll be at the Spring in the Hollow festival in Lynchburg, Tennessee. There will be many events going on, including one of my favorites, clogging. Other fun things will be a  plants and flowers sale, food, music, a Parasol contest, a quilt show, and at least one parade. If you live anywhere near Brentwood or Lynchburg, come see me!

Edgar Allan Poe: Dark Inspiration

In all my years of teaching American Literature, I can't remember any student who disliked Edgar Allan Poe. Maybe it was the ingenious tales of horror he told; or it could have been the scandal-ridden tales people told about him--stories still told in college classrooms. I'm going to try to unravel that fellow above on April 26th at 6:30 PM. If you live anywhere near the Brentwood Library in Brentwood, Tennessee, come and join us. This lecture will be a reconsideration of Edgar Allan Poe.  It is highly appropriate to talk about Poe today. He is not only The Father of the Detective Novel, but one of the most influential writers in American literary history. I hope to show Poe, then, in this expanded context, as much more than the artist who dealt in the creepy-crawlies and still frightens junior high students to death with his ghastly images.The discussion will include Poe’s life, the literary genres in which he worked, the literary influences on his writing, some of the elements of his technique, which are still relevant to writers today, and finally, his influence  on American writers who came after him. To register, call 615-371-0090, ext. 851. I'm looking forward to talking about one of my favorite writers of the nineteenth century. Like all voracious readers I know, I too am fascinated by Poe. Hope to see you there!

 

"Heintz is Dead:" My New Mystery Story

Every once in a while, writers take a break from writing what they usually do. Same with me. To my delight, my mystery story entitled "Heintz is Dead" has been published. It takes place in Buffalo, New York, my home town, and was really fun to write. Everyone from Buffalo will recognize Buffalo-ish touches. I hope you will all enjoy meeting Sal Rizzo and get caught up in his problem.  Just go to http://www.mystericale.com/index.php?issue=current_issue&body=toc. Mysterical-e is a delightful, fun-to-read online journal featuring mystery stories of different kinds. It says, “We are dedicated to publishing mystery stories of all types and stories of the mysterious including speculative fiction, fantasy, etc.”  The web site resembles the old pulp magazines in which many American writers were featured. I hope you enjoy reading the stories at the site—including mine.

A Call to Action: Friends of Sound Horses



Many good people are trying to eliminate soring in the face of this truth: Although this loathsome practice is illegal, it keeps going on. What does one do about the contemptuous defiance of the Horse Protection Law that those who sore demonstrate? The severity of this issue demands action rather than fruitless hand-wringing. Theory flies out the window when horses are still tortured. We should rise above theory and take productive action to expose the villains and see to it that the truth about what they do to horses is communicated to the world. Men and women who sore flourish in secret, work covertly. I am never surprised when people tell me they don't know what soring is.
Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) is devoted to acting on its conviction that education is paramount to understanding the problem of soring, and that  people who sore should be exposed and punished. In this posting, I'll be quoting from the group's website at http://www.fosh.info/. I believe that FOSH represents the highest hope for ridding the equestrian world of this shameful practice and freeing horses from this abuse.
In deciding whether to join an organization, it's helpful to read and agree with the principles that motivate the group. Here they are for FOSH:
"All FOSH events adhere to the requirements of the Horse Protection Act.
Horses are to be treated with dignity, respect, and compassion.
Horses must be presented as sound in both body and mind.
The preferred way of going is natural, correct, and without exaggeration.
Shoeing is intended only for the protection of the foot and its structure. Barefoot horses are both welcomed and encouraged where practical.
Handlers & riders are expected to use training techniques and equipment that conform to the highest humane standards as recognized by the general equestrian community.
Exhibitors have a duty to conduct themselves in an orderly, responsible, and sportsmanlike manner."
To give legs to these principles, FOSH has many programs to see that natural gaited horses are the rule rather than tragic, sored horses like the one above. Here are several examples of FOSH thinking.
1. The horse is always the first consideration. In its shows, FOSH "no longer allow[s] two-year olds under saddle, manhole cover shoes and hooves longer than 4 1/2 inches. Our philosophy is different from most other equine showing and inspection organizations, and we take risks with these rules. Sometimes it's about doing the right thing and not what's popular."
2. "Because the horse comes first, FOSH does not allow trainers on its Board. We realize there are sound, wonderful trainers who are FOSH members; however, we have observed that some organizations suffer turmoil through trainer battles. There is also a perception that trainer Directors have a show ring benefit over others or push for rule changes that provide advantages to them and their clients at the expense of the horse. This could cause the FOSH 'horse first' mission to become watered down."
3. FOSH has an Independent Judges Association with a set of rules, "designed to showcase a more natural horse because the naturally moving horse will be more marketable and less likely to end up at auction or with an unhappy owner and home."
4. FOSH provides inspectors for horse shows to make sure there are no sored horses in the ring. Remember my previous blog that discussed the fact that sometimes inspectors are often appointed who have an interest in not finding sored horses? FOSH says, "Our inspectors are the gold standard in the industry and our Licensed Designated Qualified Persons (DQPS) . . . pay close attention to the HPA regulations and use our experience to negotiate the Operating Plan with the USDA . . . "
5. "No other gaited horse showing organization fights soring to the extent of FOSH. We have spent thousands of dollars attending Horse Protection Act (HPA) meetings, researching soring/pain/pressure technology, and fighting the evildoers tooth and nail on ideas they try to slide through the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). We post the HPA suspensions and Horse Industry Organization (HIO) Meeting Minutes on our website, organized the Sound Horse Conference, and track and quantify thousands of HPA violations (this is a tremendous use of our dollars and time) so we can issue press releases and keep the world informed." This last function of the group impresses me the most. The FOSH site has listed more than 8,700 HPA violators who were suspended from 1986 to the present. Imagine the number of people and groups this invaluable information helps: as The Humane Society says on its web site, "individuals selecting a professional trainer for their gaited horse can use the . . . [FOSH]Web site to research the trainer's violation history. A buyer can verify the seller's reputation for soring. Horse rescues that are placing horses with new adoptees can verify their HPA history before placing the horse. Show management and enforcement officials can familiarize themselves with names of repeat violators, listed in one of the search options. The site also provides current data, such as suspension proportions by state, and by violation type." Informing the world, indeed!
There are many more advantages to becoming a FOSH member. But see for yourself. Go to http://www.fosh.info/ and read the whole web site. I'm confident that you'll  join the fight to end soring by joining FOSH.

Justice and Paul Blackburn

Here is how The Humane Society of the United States answers the question of why soring persists even though the Horse Protection Act outlawed it. "From the beginning, underfunding and political pressure from industry insiders have plagued USDA's enforcement of the HPA. Lack of adequate funding prevents the USDA from sending agency officials to every Tennessee and Racking Horse show. As a result, they have instituted a system that allows horse industry organizations (HIOs) to train and license their own inspectors, known as Designated Qualified Persons (DPQs), to examine horses at shows for signs of soring. With the exception of a few HIOs who are committed to ending soring, most of the HIOs are made up of industry insiders who have a clear stake in preserving the status quo" www.humanesociety.org/issues/tenn_walking_horses/facts/what_is_soring.html.To make matters worse, when perpetrators get caught, they seldom receive the punishment they deserve. Here is a case in point. Paul Blackburn, Jeffery Bradford, and Christen Altman were employed by Barney Davis at his Hidden Creek Farms in Lewisburg, Tennessee, where they sored horses and practiced other illegalities. In a seven-month investigation, a smart agent of the U.S. Department of Agriculture collected enough evidence to indict and convict them all. At the sentencing of Blackburn, he said, "I know what I done was wrong. I am very sorry for it." His attorney argued that Blackburn shouldn't go to jail because he is the father of six children and the family would suffer. The judge listened. Blackburn's final punishments were these: one year of probation, a $1000 penalty, and an assignment to write an article about soring to be published in the local paper. After the sentencing, Blackburn, as reported in a number of newspapers, said "he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."  In the wrong place to get caught? This doesn't square with his courtroom apology. Notably, both the judge and one of the two U.S. attorneys said they didn't know about horse soring before taking over the case. The judge even said that more people should know about soring. I hope that the February sentencing of the others will be as stringent as the law allows, seeing that video evidence shows a plate and bolt being inserted in a horse's foot.
And the future of justice for sorers looks dim. Bill Killian, U.S. Attorney, said that "the case, along with the government's 2011 case in Middle Tennessee against Chris Zahnd, 45, of Trinity, Alabama, who was sentenced in November to two years of probation, are the first criminal prosecutions of Horse Protection Act violations nationally in about 20 years."
To tell the truth, I don't expect the other three defendants to be sentenced severely enough for what they did. The Tennessee cruelty to animals laws are too weak. And some people claim that since horses are still classified in Tennessee law as "livestock" rather than "animal," the latter defined as "a domesticated living creature or a wild creature previously captured," those who torture gaited horses in the state will never be punished even adequately for what they did.
Special thanks to Bill Poovey, whose article I depended on for this posting, and which was reprinted in a number of newspapers.
Next posting: Friends of Sound Horses

DQPs: Enforcing the Horse Protection Act

The Horse Protection Act has to be enforced. To that end, APHIS
(Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service) set up the Designated Qualified Person (DQP) system. These people are U.S. department of Agriculture (USDA) accredited experts: veterinarians with horse experience, farriers, trainers, or others who have the necessary knowledge to inspect horses and make sure that sored horses cannot be in the ring. Managers of a sale or show hire the DQPs. They are called upon to physically inspect every Tennessee walking horse or racking horse before they can be sold or exhibited or shown. APHIS inspectors are organized into teams to attend shows, unannounced, and inspect horses. What if they find a horse that has been sored? They report this violation of the law to management; management then disqualifies the sored horses before any prizes are awarded in a show or before the poor horses are viewed by potential buyers. What do these teams look for? Here are the three parts of the examination as summarized in the APHIS Factsheet on the Horse Protection Act:

• "An evaluation of the horse's movement
• Observation of the horse's appearance during inspection
• Physical examination the horse's forelegs from the knee to the hoof"

The inspectors look closely at the "area of the coronet band, the anterior pastern areas, the 'pocket' of the posterior pastern area, and the bulb of the heel." These places are where the horse is apt to be sored. Horribly, there may be present "abnormal tissue damage, swelling, pain, abrasions, or oozing of blood or serum." Inspectors will evaluate the horse's shoeing, and search out devices that are heavy or used wrong. As a horse is worked, heavy devices continally banging on the horse's pastern can cause soring. Because sorers have become more inventive over the years, inspectors use sophisticated technology with which to test: gas chromatography/mass spectrometry which can discover the composition of chemicals applied to the legs, and thermography, which can reveal abnormalities by measuring the temperature of the horse's legs. When sorers are identified, those who defy the Horse Protection Act, civil or criminal charges are preferred against the violator. If these men or women are convicted, they can go to prison for up to two years and in addition, receive penalties of up to $5000. Disqualification for one or more years is also possible and additional penalties of up to $2200 or more. Persons who have been disqualified cannot participate in any way in horse shows. They are allowed to attend them, though. Next time, what went wrong with this system?

Horse Protection Act

My purpose in this group of blogs on soring is to inform all horse lovers about soring, for many people don't know what it is, and why this abusive practice is still going on. We'll end the blogs by talking about FOSH or Friends of Sound Horses. The big question about the horrendous practice of soring is this: if there is a federal law against it, why are horses still suffering through soring at the hands of their owners or trainers? In future posts, I'll do my best to answer that question. But first we have to talk about the Horse Protection Act (HPA.) The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), enforces the HPA. Lots of acronyms here, hope you can translate them as we go along. (Before we go further, I am indebted to an excellent factsheet online put together by APHIS and dated 2009.)
If you're reading these blogs, you'll remember that so many people protested soring that the HPA was passed in 1970 and amended in 1976. In essence, the law states that any horses that are found to be sored are prohibited from being part of "shows, sales, exhibitions, or auctions." In addition, drivers are prohibited from "transporting sored horses to or from any of these events." APHIS wants to cooperate with the horse industry to make sure that soring is stopped and that "only sound and healthy horses participate in shows." The HPA aims to make sure owners and trainers who train their horses by conventional means, that is, train responsibly, are not faced with "unfair competition" by those who sore. The HPA covers all breeds but establishes that the high-stepping breeds are often sored. The law places the responsibility for keeping sore horses from being shown, sold or exhibited with the following people: managers of events, owners, trainers, riders and sellers. The managers bear the major legal responsibility to see that any horse event they are running, from shows through auctions, do not contain sored horses. Pretty clear, so far? Next time, the DQPs. What or who are those? Stay tuned.

History of Soring

The Tennessee Walking Horse is an American breed of 15-16 hands. Said to have been developed by plantation owners to provide a comfortable ride for those who had to spend hours in the saddle every day, the horse has a reputation for docility. I know this is true for I have ridden one on a trail ride, and could not believe the smoothness of the horse's performance. "Gaited" horses have an inherited ability to perform five gaits: walk, trot, canter, stepping pace, and the rack. The Tennessee horse is known for its gait which is a half run and half trot movement. Other gaited horses are the American Saddlebred, Missouri Fox Trotter, Rocky Mountain Horse, Standardbred, Icelandic Horse, Paso Fino and Peruvian Paso. Before the 1950's, owners and trainers bred the gentle Walking Horse by regular means and liked to show off their beautiful animals, competing for and winning prizes. But then something awful happened. An unscrupulous group of owners and trainers who believed the training was too slow, decided to try a technique they'd heard about: soring. They'd seen Midnight Sun, a great Walking Horse who could lift his legs very high, the so-called "big lick," and they wanted their horses to do this too. Soring would have three "advantages:" more high-stepping horses which thrilled show-goers; more prizes in shows, and more prestige for the owners and trainers who used this training method of torturing their horses. Sure enough, the tortured horses had an edge over their conventionally-trained buddies. The 1960's saw widespread use of soring. When there was a huge protest from those who esteemed horses, the Horse Protection Act was passed in 1970 and amended in 1976. But some owners and trainers were still defiant, continuing to sore. And to this day, horses are still suffering. In future posts, I'll talk about what the law entails and why soring has not been eliminated.

Soring Horses, The Horse Protection Act, and FOSH

This is the first post of several in coming days that deal with soring horses, The Horse Protection Act, and Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH). Many people still don't know what soring is. Soring is the deliberate mutilation of a horse to make its gait so unusual that the rider will win prizes in the show ring and prestige from fellow owners and trainers. The methods used to achieve the piteous, grotesque gait in the picture above are blistering the horse's forelegs through the use of chemicals, either applied or injected; cruel trimming of the horse's hooves; and forcing the horse to endure pressure-shoeing: all of this to achieve the unnatural gait you see above. That gait is the result of the poor horse lifting his legs high to avoid any more pain.
Next time, a brief history of how this practice came about.

To Authors: Five Hundred Blogs Later

My post today is dedicated to other authors out in Etherland who are struggling to accomplish marketing tasks that seem insurmountable.
You have to organize your tasks. I smile as I write this, because I have said this tens of thousands of times to my composition students, many of whom would have preferred to dash something off and turn it in, expecting that I would see the genius of the idea and award it an A. Those who flailed around with the job, rather than plan, wrote poorly with no plan of attack. Now I took my own advice. During my marathon review of book blogs, I worked from notes I'd made about my book, and I looked at them often as I accessed and reviewed the blogs. Sometimes the blogs called my attention to some aspect of the book I hadn't seen myself.
Because many of the review bloggers are so specific in the kinds of books they're interested in,  the notes centered on the question, What kind of a book have I written? The answers came from my having written two novels and having listened carefully  to what folks have said in conversations about both novels. I was able to analyze the new novel from a broader perspective, realizing that many of the characteristics of differing types of books can overlap in a novel, thus giving the author more blogs to match up with and contact. Here is an example of how the process worked, in considering the genre of the book.

• Usually I classify my novel as a mystery. Is it more than that? In the literary world, the definitions of "mystery" and "suspense" sometimes overlap. I could put my novel forward as a mystery with excruciating elements of suspense. That opens two categories in bloggers' pages.
• Could I find bloggers who like to read "serious" mysteries? This is a sub-category into which my book fits neatly. There is no silly woman tripping around on high heels while her cat solves the mystery and she worries about her hair and makeup and the new man. Connie Holt is involved in saving a horse's life, serious stuff all right, and there is a strong presumption that maybe people will be injured or killed as well.
• What other designation could the book have? It is for adults, but young adults of late teen-age can read and understand it. In fact, there is a heroic young girl in the book who is present at and participating in the climax. I could offer my book as YA. Now we have a serious mystery with excruciating suspense for adults and young adults. What else?
• Could it be considered as a romance? Yes. There are several romances in the plot. An acute reader, as a matter of fact, can compare and contrast those relationships. So yes, to romance. But serious, not silly romance.
• Another question is does the novel "say" anything? That is, does it pose questions which are universal in scope, and appeal to all human beings everywhere? Well, yes. To all those who hate what is done to horses in racing all over the world. For people who want a novel to make a point, here is their meat. Many critics think that mysteries shouldn't have a meaning behind it, a theme. It isn't appropriate; only mainstream literature  says something important. But that is a sour, narrow viewpoint from poor thinkers. So yes, my novel can be placed foursquare into stories that say something important. Another viewpoint to look for in the blogs.
• Finally, can the reader learn anything from reading He Trots the Air? That is, apart from my preceding point? Yes. The reader can find out about how a painting is proved authentic; what some types of Virginia architecture look like; how a horse is trained. Together with details of Virginia life and manners. This will appeal to many bloggers who like to learn as they read.

You will have to explain to the bloggers why your book has many of the characteristics of literature they like. Perhaps it is about a crime, but there is so much more there. Even though this is a tough marketing project, you can do it by being organized, coming up with a way to work through the many book blogs on the Internet. Good luck!

What I Found Out about Book Blogs

Like Heracles, I had to perform a task that seemed almost impossible to fulfill: access and read about 500 book blogs. By the time I finished this marketing job, I was pretty punch-drunk. It took untold hours, and if at the end I had been able to bury my computer in the ground, like Heracles with the Hydra's head, I would have done it.
What did I discover?

• I was impressed by the genuine love of reading expressed in the blogs. Whether they are carefully prepared or more informal, the writers want to tell the world about reading.
• The bloggers are often students in high school or at a higher educational level. Older bloggers can be librarians, housewives who have children and are starved for reading, and professional people who work for tech companies or teach or do other demanding work.
• Bloggers are busy people and it's not unusual to find them saying, "I want to apologize for not having blogged for the last four months but I had too much going on in my life."
• The bloggers are very definite about what kinds of books they will read for review purposes, whether it is YA (young adult), middle grades (fifth grade and up), fantasy, historical fiction, romance, science fiction, memoir, mystery, suspense, erotica, non-fiction, horror, women's lit, or any other type. Many have also broken down these types so we understand more clearly: it is to be a "serious" romance rather than a "silly" one, it has to be science fiction dealing with psychology rather than technology, and so on. Some bloggers won't read self-published works; others are more broad-minded. 
• The tone of reviewing blogs can be cheerful,  positive, and willing to read an author's book: "I usually get the book reviewed in a couple of months." At the other end of the spectrum, those who review can be cranky and threatening. "Better get this straight, I will not read anything that isn't in the list I've given you of types, and don't expect to get the book back and don't expect me to tell you if I'm going to review it or  not." 
• The graphic design of the blogs swings from wild and crazy and lots of clashing colors and everything super-size, including the fonts, to tasteful, with flowers and images of nineteenth century ladies reading and neatly placed text in a neat font. For some reason, there are many images of cats in these blogs, often the blogger's own animal. (Cats, for that matter, are often associated with bookstores. You used to see them sitting in many a sunny window before so many independent bookstores closed.) At any rate, I got very tired of seeing backgrounds filled with huge shelves of books; I suspect there's a Google picture somewhere of that same image because people seemed to like it.  
• The bad news for authors is that many of the blogs are not offering reviews. They want to tell what they're reading right now,  how many books they read last year, or how they're reacting to a local weather phenomenon, or what movies they saw or their opinion of a book that came from the syllabus of their freshman English classes.