Former Tennessee walking horse hall of fame trainer Jackie McConnell was fined $75,000 and sentenced to three years probation in federal court on Tuesday for using a banned and abusive practice on show horses that was caught on video.
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — One of four men who pleaded guilty to soring Tennessee walking horses will not face more jail time.
According to the Chattanooga Times Free Press (http://bit.ly/MhiyXN ), John Mayes was sentenced Monday to the time he has already served and ordered to write an article about horse soring. Soring is a banned practice of using chemicals and chains to train horses to perform high-stepping gaits for shows and competitions.
Horses hold an iconic place in our nation’s history. Without Paul Revere’s trusty steed, Brown Betty, the colonists in New England might have never known of the British forces’ late night advance toward Lexington. As American settlers moved west to the Pacific, horses pulled covered wagons and plowed fields on new homesteads. Horses accompanied many of our military commanders into battle, and horses still carry our fallen soldiers to their final resting places at Arlington National Cemetery.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the release of its final rule requiring uniform mandatory minimum penalties for violations of the federal Horse Protection Act. USDA-certified horse industry organizations operate alongside the USDA to enforce the Horse Protection Act by conducting inspections at Tennessee Walking Horse competitions. The final rule also clarifies that the agency can decertify a horse industry organization for any failure to comply with the regulations.
The abuse of Tennessee walking horses has been in the news since The HSUS released video footage of one of the industry’s top trainers striking a horse in the face with a wooden handle and pouring injurious chemicals onto the feet of a horse. It was four decades ago that Congress passed the Horse Protection Act to prevent and criminalize “soring” and other abuses of horses. Tennessee state representative Janis Sontany wrote in a column in The Tennessean on Sunday: “Soring has been a well-kept dirty secret in this industry and it’s time for this nonsense to end.”
SHELBYVILLE, TENN. — A blue-ribbon Tennessee Walking Horse stallion might be worth $1 million or more when put up for sale, but it can earn that money back for a new owner in a year through stud fees as others try to cash in on his champion bloodline.
In the wake of The Humane Society of the United States’ undercover investigation into the shocking abuse of Tennessee Walking Horses, notorious trainer Jackie McConnell pleaded guilty yesterday to a felony conviction for charges related to conspiracy to violate the Horse Protection Act. Two of McConnell’s associates also pleaded guilty to related charges.
Shelbyville Farm Center division manager Joe Green, Sr. told The Tennessean, in a story published today, that last Wednesday night’s report on ABC’s Nightline exposing illegal training practices within the show world for Tennessee walking horses painted “a bad picture.” “The good guys have tried so hard to make it right, then that bad guy comes along and tries to ruin it for everybody.”
By Phil Gast, CNN “There obviously is a huge problem…” An undercover video shows horses being struck with sticks and subjected to “soring,” an illegal process in which chemicals are placed on their lower legs in an effort to induce the signature Tennessee Walking Horse high-stepping gait. The […]
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.
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