Shelbyville corporate attorney and horse owner Frank Eichler made an interesting statement in an article published in The Tennessean on Nov. 29, 2013, on the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses. The article revolved around legislation taking shape in Congress that is intended to ban soring and other abuse of horses. Eichler was included in the article as an owner of 74 horses waiting to see what happens with HR 1518, the Prevent All Soring Tactics Act. Its Senate companion is S. 1406.
He said: “Let’s assume that half of us are halfway intelligent. If we’ve got this money invested in the business, and we want the business to do well, how do you do that? Bring in more people. The way to bring in more people is not by soring horses. It’s by proving you’re not soring horses.”
Is he implying that half of the breeders may be involved in the abuse?
Whatever the percentage, this group involved in the abuse believes the end justifies the means, and they “have” to apply painful substances to their horses legs to make them snap their feet high to accomplish their goals.
It’s a seamy practice that must be paying off, because these participants are going to great lengths to cover up the abuse for USDA inspections. According to Donna Benefield, a horse inspection expert who testified at a subcommittee hearing on the legislation, trainers are trying to hide the abuse by injecting legs with nerve blocks and adding hair dyes, sprays and tattoo ink.
The use of nerve blocks suggests to me that vets are involved. The story indicates that farriers are involved; it says the use of pads to hide foot irritants is well documented.
And owners likely are aware of what’s going on.
The payoff of the abuse presumably is money. The horses are worth more, and the trainer has more clients, which means more money for the vets and farriers.
It’s an underworld that sounds like something right out of a Dick Francis novel.
Except this is not fiction. And horses have been getting hurt for decades.
I have no hope for the trainers getting a conscience.
Perhaps the vets could remember their oath to do no harm and put the welfare of the animals first.
And perhaps the horse shows could honor something besides how high a horse snaps its legs. This is not a useful horse skill. It seems akin to those foreign armies that snap up their legs as they march, a puzzler as well.
It’s time that someone in the Tennessee Walking Horse community stood for something good and provided FDA officials with a list of offending trainers. Lifetime bans from the horse industry and a little prison time for these trainers may do more to keep horses safe than any bill being created by Congress.