By MEGAN CHUCHMACH (@megcourtney) and BRIAN ROSS (@brianross) of ABC’s NIIGHTLINE
Tennessee Walking Horses Abused
Large numbers of the famed Tennessee Walking Horses have been tortured and beaten in order to make them produce the high-stepping gait that wins championships, an ABC News investigation has found.
“All too often, you have to cheat to win in this sport,” said Keith Dane of the Humane Society of the United States.
In the most recent example, an undercover video made by an investigator for the Humane Society documents the cruelty of one of the sport’s leading trainers, Jackie McConnell of Collierville, Tennessee.
The video led to a federal grand jury indictment of McConnell and will be seen publicly for the first time tonight on the ABC News program “Nightline.”
The tape shows McConnell and his stable hands beating horses with wooden sticks and using electric cattle prods on them as part of a training protocol to make them lift their feet in the pronounced gait judges like to see.
In another scene, McConnell oversees his hands as they apply caustic chemicals to the ankles of the horses and them wrap them with plastic wrap so the chemicals eat into the skin.
“That creates intense pain and then the ankles are wrapped with large metal chains so the horses flinch, or raise their feet even higher,” said Dane of the Humane Society.
McConnell is expected to enter a guilty to plea to one count, according to his lawyers.
He declined to comment, or apologize for his acts, when approached by ABC News this week outside his home.
Leaders of the Tennessee Walking Horse industry maintain that such brutality is rare and that trainers do not have to cheat to win championships, which can add millions of dollars to the value of horses.
“They do not have to cheat to win,” said Dr. Steve Mullins of the group called SHOW, which oversees inspections of horses before major events. “You don’t have to do this kind of junk to win. … And we are terribly against this stuff.”
The industry group maintains that the vast majority of horses are not subjected to the cruel practice of “soring.”
But a random inspection by the agents of the Department of Agriculture at last year’s annual championship found that 52 of 52 horses tested positive for some sort of foreign substance around front hooves, either to cause pain or to hide it.
Dr. Mullins told ABC News there could be innocent explanations for some of the foreign substances found by the inspectors.
Related articles
- Prominent Horse Trainer, Three Others Indicted For Allegedly ‘Soring’ Horses (huffingtonpost.com)
Categories: Horse Health, Horse News
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I think it’s a horrid practice and am glad it’s being exposed to the public.
Many years ago, I heard that ginger (or some substance) was placed in the rectums to get that high tail lift. Do you know if that’s true?
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Putting ginger in the horses rectum is a common practice/torture in TWH’s and Saddlebreds (perhaps other breeds as well). Its called “fire in the hole” and is painful and yes, the horses because of the ginger in their rectum, but also because of other things that have been done to certain breeds tails, do carry their tails higher. Many of the people who are involved in various breeds have been abusing horses for so long that it is “normal” to them, so they staunchly defend the things they do as “not cheating” and “we love horses”, etc, because they are delusional and living in their own la la land.
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What a horrible excuse of a human being! Cruel, evil and just plain SICK! Here at our rescue, we have an awesome Tennessee Walker – rescued from slaughter (a long story!) – was supposed to be someone’s Big Lick foundation stud but had some growth issues – he’s one of the sweetest, kindest horses and an awesome mover – barefoot and bitless!
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The sad unfortunate part of all this .. is that it is done without concern for the horse.. only to bring glory to the rider who does little or nothing.. but sit atop the animal.. I attended a Walking Horse Show..they had some type of instrument that they were looking at their feet.. which by the way.. had on huge shoes that threw the animals front way up and their back end was way below them.. looked awful..but they did send a load of horses back home and the owners were not allowed to show for 6 mos..however.. the cruelty inflicted on these animals.. which already have a lovely way of going.. is the fault of the judges that award ribbons and money to this ridiculous looking gait they have put on the Walkers.. When judging the horse and his natural way of going without the tortured shoes, and chains.. then this will stop.. People are just plain cruel, and in my opinion unworthy to occupy a space on this planet that feel this has to be done to these poor animals…I hope this so called trainer gets thrown in jail and the crap beat out of him….
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Their shoes are called “stacks” and this practice, even without the caustic agents and other stuff is abusive all on its own and cripples many, many horses.
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when will this be stopped. It is time to outlaw those pads also. None of those horses are escaping abuse. I dont care who says they are achieving that gait without abuse. They are lying. It will only stop when allhose awful pads and chains are outlawed.
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I heard that they use to cut the tendon of the tail too. Whatever, this whole displine needs to get a total makeover. I don’t think I will ever look at another walking horse and not think of the pain and suffer these animals endure, true or not. It will take a lot for the good trainers to convience the public that the horses have not suffered.
What needs to be remembered is that we would not have seen these videos if not for the undercover investigation. We need to make sure that these new laws forbidding undercover videos are stopped.
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OMG! This brings tears to my eyes just thinking about how horrible humans are to WIN…Walkers are one of the most kind horses I’ve ever met.
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The first commandment God gave us was to take care of His creation. There is a special level in Hell for these people.
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These kind of people don’t fear HELL!
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Mahatma Gandhi said, “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
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First, I would like to know where the bloody stewards are at the show? The USEF overseas the regulations at these shows. Sorry folks, I don’t believe for one minute your Association did not know that this was going on. As a show manager and volunteer for our club’s “A” show, it is the show managment’s responsiblity to look for such torture. God help these poor horses. They should be criminally charged and suspended or terminated from the Tennessee Walking Horse Association. I am appaulled that other exhibitors let this happen without finally having someone report this horror. Trainers like this have no place in the wonderful world of horses. Well bred horses will show their gaits as foals and yearlings. The Arabian breed, reining and western pleasure horses have allowed disgusting treatments to their horses too. The USEF passed regulations to stop the use of PVC piping inserted into the horses mouth and attached to their halters to keep their mouths quiet. Many times leaving this device in the horse’s mouth for hours.
Capsaisan and other irritants were applied to the back end of Arabian horses to flag their tails even higher. Thank God for those who report these cruelties and not being afraid of the retaliation
on their own horses. The stewards at our shows monitor the barns, trailer areas and other places where these cruel people hide in the shadows torturing the horses. How in the hell would anyone want to turn their horse over to someone like this? They should all be criminally charged with inhumane treatment of animals – trainers, employees and owners.
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Gail, I agree with everything you have said. They used to use ginger to put under the tails of the 3 and 5 gaited horses as well. It is just criminal that these types of lowlifes continue to torture innocent animals. I would like to see them in jail for cruelty and abuse and also banned from shows entirely and banned from owning , riding or training any horses ever again.
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These sobs have been doing this for years. When I was a young child we would stand at the rail and yell at the judge, look under the boots judge!, I have seen the chains, the boots and know they were hiding scars and wounds. When I was that young, I did not have any power to do anything but yell at the judge and the riders. Now I would directly confront them. However, I have not been to a show with walking horses for years.
I did ride a beautiful walking horse when I was a teenager. The man who owned him did not practice any kind of cruelty and the only thing they did was to let his hooves grow long and put weighted shoes on him. There was no other artificial thing done to him. The longer hooves and the padded and weighted shoes provide plenty of incentive for them to lift their feet higher and get good action.
I would like to see walking horses shown naturally, no long hooves, no set tails. They do have natural classes and some owners show the natural horses against the set tail and weighted ones, but they rarely win.
Nothing has changed or improved in 50 years so it makes me wonder how long the cruelty will continue. Absolutely unacceptable behavior.
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Too many “show” people in all disciplines have no regard for the horses well-being and when they are done with them, off to auction they go.
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I saw this on the news last night. Disgusting!
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I watched this on ABC last night. The movements are so false. I mean Z may lift her leg a bit lower but it’s done naturally. These people are lower than a snakes belly.
I think each person who had anything to do with this should be prosecuted. Most especially those who applied the caustic chemicals, wrapped the legs, put those chains on and MOST DEFINITELY EACH PERSON WHO STRUCK THE HORSE SHOULD HAVE A CHARGE PER STRIKE!
I apologize for shouting it was meant for emphasis.
Banning them from having any horses in their care is a first step but they need to be 100% BANNED from all equine activities. No second chances, it’s for life.
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Abuses like this run rampant in many, many areas of the competition world. For A LOT of people, winning is EVERYTHING, not only for the glory, but in many cases, it affects peoples bank accounts, their “position” in the horse world, etc.They also know that if they do not do those things to the horses, other people certainly will, so they do it to be competitive.
Its also VERY COMMON at Breed shows, but also Open shows to a lesser extent, to do what I call “fad showing”. It starts with the “movers and shakers”; powerful owners, trainers, breeders who will come out with a “new” way of showing. Examples would be what this video shows in TWH’s, but there is also the western pleasure horses with the low, low head and neck sets, also called “peanut rollers” that began to come into vogue in the late ’80’s (thats why I stopped showing western pleasure in 1989, it was ridiculous, abusive and weird to get horses going this way). Not a natural way of going obviously, and it has also been shown that their was a distinct increase in Navicular Syndrome in horses after the onset of this way of going because the horses were traveling so much on the forehand that the impact and horses weight being more on the front legs and hooves was far greater than what is normal, so it damaged the navicular bones in the horses feet, causing Navicular Syndrome in varying degrees. But since the powerful people decided they needed “an edge” in competition, and they are also the ones who set the trends and “fads”, they start winning in the show ring because the judges know who they are and need to please them. Understand also that many, many judges at the top levels may have been trainers/instructors in the past and judged part time, but because of their knowledge and then also their willingness at some point to place the powerful peoples horses when they would come out with yet another “fad” way of showing, they now make their living solely as a judge (judging pay is very, very lucrative at the top levels). If a judge at those top levels actually had the gumption, inner strength, integrity and true love for horses to say “no, this is wrong, and I don’t care whose horse it is, I refuse to place this horse”, that judge would find themselves “blackballed” from getting top judging jobs because without the new fad that the “movers and shakers” roll out that gives them an edge until the rest of the competitors start using it (IOW, catch up with training “the fad” into their training regimens, which makes them competitive with the “movers and shakers” so those powerful people have to come up with yet another “fad” to give them “an edge” again—and rarely does this bode well for the horse-like rollkur in dressage for instance of the corruption of a so-called “pure” way of training–not any more in competitive dressage I’m afraid) these people would actually have to rely on GOOD horsemanship and training without the gimmicks and fads attached. They’d have to take their chances with the rest of the competitors. The problem is that the top judges know which side their bread is buttered on, so they actually place the “movers and shakers” powerful peoples horses, even when the “training” is ridiculous, absusive, unsafe for the rider (like the new big thing of riding horses bridleless in big competitions–I’ve had a FEW horses in over 40 years of being around horses, competing, etc, that I would jump courses of fences bridleless and bareback, go on the trail with only a rope around their neck, etc, however, those relationships took years to establish and didn’t happen overnight I refuse to promote this in competition because there will always be those people who will go home and try it, not realizing that quite often it either takes years to cultivate this type of relationship with a horse that would over-ride the horses natural instinct to bolt when threatened because they truly trust their human, and/or the “trainers” sometimes get downright nasty training a horse to go bridleless in a shorter period of time (I’d love to be a fly on the wall at these types of trainers facilities), that they get hurt and/or killed and then the horse suffers as “the horse that hurt or killed someone”-I have one of those horses at my rescue right now-not a bad horse at all-just a horse that was confused, he reacted by bolting and running into a fence the first time, and across a highway the second time and slipped and fell, throwing his rider headfirst onto the asphalt, and he badly hurt two people–I feel that bridleless competing should come with a disclaimer so more horses don’t get tagged as “bad or killer horses” just because they react as a horse whom is confused), because now that they make their livings as full time judges, they can’t afford to be blackballed by the influential people who would boycott any show they are judging. That then hurts the show promotors (who also take the chance the “movers and shakers” will blackball them because they hired a judge that won’t “play the game”), and down the line it goes.
If more judges had the cojones to say “no, this is abusive and wrong” or even “this is downright ridiculous and has nothing to do with good horsemanship or training” we would maybe see other judges grow some courage too and the cycle of corruption could perhaps be broken. However, as long as the almighty dollar is involved, the corruption and abuses will continue at the top level competitions, Breed and Open shows, in racing, etc. Exposure helps, but if the judges would actually step-up and tell whats going on and promote correct training and not place the “fad” trainers, perhaps the trainers who feel that they have to train this way to be competitive would also step-up, stop doing these things to horses, and we just might be able to go back to a truer way of training and competing that actually promotes unity, harmony and a TRUE PARTNERSIP between horse and human instead of the phony crap we see now in so many areas of the horse industry that almost always is abusive and/or fatal to horses.
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that is pure horse s–t that u dont have to do this to win. They all abuse their horses. What horse would go like thay without extreme measures. Check out a walkong horse that has normal shoes and you will see nothing like this.
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The natural gait of a Tennessee Walker is a thing of wonder , so beautiful so flowing it defies imagination…. each one of them is slightly different , wouldnt it be wonderful just to watch the Natural Gait, instead of some fabricated horror some human has put the Walker through to achieve a false walk which in many ways is grotesque, and very painful for the Walker………….Only selfishheartless coward Human would ever torture a horse in this way !!!! If I had my way they would all be in Jail and the key thrown away !!!!
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I used to trail ride a wonderful tennessee walker. He had an incredibly fast running walk and I always felt like I was being thrown backward. And it was all natural. He could do that – and did – when others were galloping. There is just something wrong with letting people get away with this stuff. And it wouldn’t surprise me if they made equally abusive sports parents. If you’ll hurt a horse for money, I wouldn’t expect hurting a person to be that far behind.
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complain to the gov. bill haslam of tennesse. i messaged chrissy haslam, the first lady.
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Thanks for making these abusive practices known publicly.
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So, so sad!! What has become of the human race? Who’s the real “animal” now??!! Only humans purposely torture & abuse other animals! Wild animals mainly kill for food, or, for protection, out of fear. Humans seem to enjoy causing pain & suffering to other living, breathing, feeling creatures, for the fun of it, & for money. What those poor horses go through, &, to the unknowing on-lookers, they just think they’re beautiful & doing what’s natural! If only they knew. This must somehow be stopped!
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to me, a horse winning a championship would be for him to be removed from these cruel people and placed in a home to be appreciated and not tormented for prizes. then the horse would really win.
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This is so disgusting. I really wonder how we go to horse shows and see this “Big Lick” actions we all clap and yell they say the horses love the attention , Yeah right I can see how much they love being trained to get the attention. This should be outlawed in the show ring and to think that the National Horse show still has it as a class. OMG What is wrong with these people.
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I wonder how many horses do NOT survive this horror!? Severe injury, sickness…a bullet to the head or slaughter? I have watched many videos of cruelty. But this one truly got to me. My body cringed and I cried. Then I woke up in the middle of the night and my 1st thought and so vivid image was of the horse being dragged and crying out. I could not get back to sleep. I felt powerless.
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You expressed beautifully what I couldn’t. This torture must stop!! I can still hear that poor horse screaming. Oh God…. I sure hope something is done to those involved. I went to the Celebration in 2010 with a friend of mine and I will never go again. Matter of fact, I bought a tshirt from there that after watching this video I put it in my closet and I won’t wear it again. I will not promote this torture!! Thank you, ABC for exposing these monsters!!!
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I did not watch the video before I made my other comments. I get depressed if I watch too many of those type of videos, I just can’t take it anymore. I used to force myself to look at them so that I would be able to know what was going on. Now I try to limit watching these kinds of things.
BUT I did go ahead and watch this one and I am so sick and so mad that if I was in the same room with Jackie McConnell I would kick his a**. and would want to do a lot more.
What a sick,brutal,cruel,despicable man. I cry for those poor horses, so frightened and abused and sore that they just gave up and lay down in their stalls, not wanting to get up for fear of another punishment. How can people be so low?
That miserable McConnell was actually named Trainer of the Year in 2010 by the TWHA. I urge everyone reading this or watching the video to contact the Tennessee Walking Horse Association, the Walkinghorseowners.com, walkinghorsetrainers.com and let them know how you feel. Urge them to ban forever Jackie McConnell and to ban any owner or trainer found to use these methods.
Go to http://www.twhbea.com, this is the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Association.
Let all of these people know what you think. You can find all of the officers and board of directors on those various websites and email addresses to email them. LET THEM HAVE IT, THIS IS SO BAD, IT MUST BE STOPPED.
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Most of the top earning judges are indeed corrupt and not going to pick the best horse to win.They are bought and paid for.the same thing happens in nearly all showing of animals to some degree.these horrible practices have been going on for years.TWH are struck and taught not to react to pain when checked for pain by the so-called checkers before the horses go into the ring.Nothing natural about any of the movement anymore-it is all ego trip for owners and riders.I could not watch all of the video-it sickened me too much.The sounds of the horse screaming will not leave me.we must keep the undercover cameras rolling.I hope some of them get locked up with Bubba for awhile and all their monies removed as fines.Disgusting examples of homosapiens!
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