Marsha Blackburn's Cold, Cold Heart

She walks, she talks and she rolls on her belly like a reptile. Marsha Blackburn, U.S. representative from Tennessee's 7th Congressional District, will do anything for a buck. Some might even accuse her of being a corporate whore. Some might say she's a freak of nature - that when she was born her heart was replaced with a cold stone and her head filled with sawdust.

Photo by JacksonFreePress

Most people get it that Republican men like their women pretty but dumb. Think Sarah Palin and Michele Bachmann. But do they have to foister* these bimbos on the rest of society?

Blackburn is against equal pay for women, against raising the minimum wage, against the ACA, against relief for Sandy victims, against sensible gun control, against Planned Parenthood, against public education, against feeding hungry children, against veteran benefits. In fact, she's so against anything and everything that might help her fellow Americans that the only things she's not against are those things that are guaranteed to hurt all but her corporate sugar daddies.

Now, it is revealed that The Wicked Witch of the South is also against protecting horses from being sored, a cruel practice which I described in graphic detail in a piece I wrote about the Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse three years ago.

Huffington Post

It only follows that if Blackburn is against protecting these beautiful animals from abuse, she must support cruelty to animals because to get the Big Lick to perform according to industry standards . . .



the trainers and owners have to do this . . .

The old saying that a picture is worth a thousand words doesn't even begin to tell the story of the abuse that is a daily routine for the Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse. Marsha Blackburn, Mitch McConnell and other Congressperps are paid well to vote against any restrictions on the practice of soring. The last I read, Marsha received a whopping $70,000 from the industry in appreciation for her lying down for them. 

Read more about soring, the proposed law and Marsha Blackburn in this excellent article.

More on animal abuse here.

Tennessee Walking Horse, Mitch McConnell and Attributes - Part 3

In a September 2, 2008 article Tuesday's Horse reported that Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, "pressured the U.S. Department of Agriculture for years to back off its enforcement of the Horse Protection Act, even threatening to cut the agency’s funding, according to documents obtained by the Herald-Leader."

McConnell backed the industry’s demand for its own inspectors — paid by the industry, drawn from the ranks of horse owners and trainers — to have a greater role in soring inspections, rather than the independent USDA veterinarians who uncover and report soring more frequently.
At the same time, the industry gave McConnell tens of thousands of dollars in campaign donations and hired his Senate chief of staff, Niels Holch, as its Washington lobbyist and attorney.

Tuesday's Horse quotes the highly respected Donna Benefield, administrative director of the Horse Protection Commission, a USDA-certified inspection organization in Gallatin, Tenn.

“McConnell probably has caused more problems for horse protection single-handedly than any other person. He set the cause of horse protection back by years,” said Donna Benefield.
“He has supporters here (in Tennessee) — financial supporters, if not people who can vote for him — who are doing illegal things and don’t want to get caught,” Benefield said. “It’s very important to them that the law be loosely enforced. Sen. McConnell has been their champion in that.”

McConnell has consistently voted against tighter regulations in the industry.

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Part 1: The Natural Gaited Tennessee Walking Horse

Part 2: The Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse

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The following organiztions have been in the forefront in trying to put a stop to the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses. I owe a debt of gratitude to them for trying to protect these beautiful horses.

American Horse Defense Fund

Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH)

Stop Inhumane Soring - a petition

The Humane Society of the U.S. - multiple links to articles on the TWH

The National Walking Horse Association

Article: Equus Special Report - Why Soring Persists

The Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse – Part 2

Now grab a tranquilizer, a box of tissue and your barf bag as I relate to you the tragic tale of the Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH). They are used and abused for no other reason than to win big bucks in the show ring.

The Big Lick show circuit is a multi-million dollar industry which benefits everyone but the poor horse. The bigger an exhibitor’s “sponsorship” the more likely he is to win. If that sounds to you like the judges are being bribed, you have the picture.

Just ask Ross Perot who has won countless championships at the Celebration – the most “prestigious” Walking Horse Show in the country. The Humane Society of the United States calls it “the cruelest horse show in the world.”

The Walking Horse is the only breed in the country that is required by law to have U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors monitor the horse shows. The Horse Protection Act was passed in 1970 to prevent the exhibition of “sore” horses.

“Soring” is the intentional infliction of pain to a horse’s legs or hooves in order to force him to perform an artificial, exaggerated gait known as the Big Lick. The pasterns are “treated” with an abrasive chemical such as hot mustard oil, salicylic acid, fuel oil and other petroleum products.

To produce an even bigger lick, unethical trainers also use pressure shoeing. The hooves are cut painfully short, almost to the quick, and a foreign object is inserted between the hoof and the shoe – something like a golf ball. This places a tremendous and painful amount of pressure on the hoof.

Metal chains and weights are also strapped on the pasterns to affect the desired gait. They rub against the already sensitive skin, increasing the horse’s pain so that he picks up his feet more quickly and lifts them even higher. To escape the pain in front he shifts his weight to his hind end.

“Stacking” is another form of shoeing. Stacks can be made from rubber and plastic and can be as high as five inches. These are nailed to the hoof. To keep the stacks on, metal bands are used across the hoof which increases the pain. When removed the entire hoof is torn off.

In a newer kind of pressure shoeing, trainers force a horse to stand on concrete with blocks of wood or other hard materials taped to the sensitive surface of his hoof until she is in so much pain that she can’t bear weight on her front feet.”

Yet another “training method” is stewarding. A horse’s handler will deliberately hurt a horse to get him to stand still during inspection. The theory is that if pain is inflicted on another part of the body, he won’t notice the pain in his feet. Pipes are often used for this barbaric practice.

The Horse Protection Act (HPA) established a designated qualified persons program, to inspect horses at the shows. This is like letting the fox in the hen house. While many of them are caring and ethical, far too many lie like some of our politicians and are crooked as many of the judges. Money talks.

More and more organizations are protesting these medieval practices. At great risk to their persons and property former Big Lick trainers are speaking out against an industry that mistreats horses just to win the blue. Barns have been burned, people beat up and horses killed or stolen.

The announcer says "some" trainers sore. "All" Big Lick trainers sore. The trainers say they "used" to sore. They still do.

The Natural Gaited Tennessee Walking Horse - Part 1

The Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) was bred for his endurance, docile temperament and his extraordinarily smooth ride - absolutely no bouncy-bouncy. Developed by middle Tennessee plantation owners in the 19th century, the horse could travel at high speeds between rows of cotton and tobacco without damaging the crops. In those days he was referred to as a Turn Row or Plantation Walking Horse .

The beauty of the TWH - besides his gentle nature and good looks - lies in the three gaits. He is best known for his running walk which can reach speeds of 10 to 20 miles per hour - and with no bouncy-bouncy. The horse glides; he does not trot.

Now known as the Plantation Walking Horse, he is used for endurance competitions, trail rides, and by mounted police and outfitters. He is also used for show. One of my favorite divisions is the Champagne Class where the owners set out to prove they have the smoothest horse in the world. At the end of the class, whoever has the most Champagne left in their plastic wine glass wins and they get to drink the rest. Well, so does everyone else actually.

The flat-shod natural gaited and naturally trained horse is the true Tennessee Walking Horse – no matter what he's called. There’s a saying that’s been around for awhile: you can ride all day and dance all night. So true. I had four of them and you can’t find a sweeter breed or a smoother ride.

Don't be puzzled by the head nod. You want a nodding fool because it indicates a longer stride which means a smoother ride. This is a perfect example of a flat-shod Tennessee Walker. Remember: Natural.