nytimes.com — Horse show in tennessee ends as USDA disqualified the horses. this lead to the cancellation of the final event in 68 years. Walking Horse National Celebration is a major event in Nashville, and the regulators had to disqualify the horses, to stop the trainers from injuring these horses.
Sep 5, 2006 View in Crawl 4
spktrueSep 5, 2006
As pleased as I was to see the USDA enforcing the laws it has available, it is heartbreaking to read the practices (boots and ankle chains on the horses to force a peculiar gait for the benefit of horse show audiences) that are still permitted. I would love to have a conversation with the people who DEFEND themselves by noting that the ankle chains (legal) can cause scarring similar the the outlawed practice of "soring" (burns, cuts, injected chemicals, and caustic or blistering agents applied to the horses' ankles).
jcidiotashramSep 5, 2006Submitter
the first time i came across the news it didn't strike me as the exploitation/injuring of horses. but when it did i was actually mad at those trainers, who do these so that whatever the horses do might look like a graceful move