What do you think of tennessee walking horses?

Question

i have to pleasure walking horses and i know pretty much everything that happend with the padded horses, i just want to see how many people think that walking horses are the most abused horses.

Answer 1

well i own 3 Walkers but i don't think there the most abused.  Every Breed of horse has some type of abuse weather it be in show or in Labor there abused. TWH's performance horses get the most attention but in reality only 10% of Walking horses are Shown with pads the rest are natural or plantation.  One reason i belevie that the walkers are shown with pads is not becasue it makes them have more action in there gaits but  they are so determined and strong at heart that the mean peopel who do sore take advantage of them.  

if you want a good book n this subject read

http://www.amazon.com/Horses-Mouth-Eugen...

Answer 2

no sorry i think Tb's are...

Answer 3

Personally, I love them. Nothing like riding a high stepper! That said, there are unscrupulous people out there who want to take shortcuts at the horses expense, as seen at the 2006 celebration in Shelbyville. These people should be sored! TWBHEA is doing better at recognizing the signs and disqualifying, but a lot has yet to be done.

I, however, think that they are not the most abused. The most abused are the regular old saddle horse left in the pasture to starve during drought; left in a filthy stall with no excercise, grooming or even the basics of health care; or the one trained through fear and pain, suffering from neglect or just plain ignorance. I have seen too many rail thin, unmanageable, and downright deadly horses that it sickens me. People never cease to amaze me by their cruelty.

Answer 4

we usually raise or have bought QH or QH/TB crosses but some friends gave us a TWH years ago because they were moving and could not take her with them. We did not know much about them but after my mom rode her for the first time that was it! She never messed with any of the QH again! She said it was like driving a nice car all of your life and then one day some one puts you behind the wheel of a cadillac. After that, that nice car you had will never compare with a cadillac. She actually renamed the TWH "caddy" and she never rode another horse for pleasure until after he died.

Answer 5

I used to know a ady who bred TWH and the trainers she knew would put HUGE weights on there front hoofs that where painful for the horses :( Personally I don't like riding TWH but I do belive they are tortured and crule things are done to them. There are many horse breeds that are abused...and all just to win a peice of ribbon.

lol I love winning ribbons too but I don't torture/abuse my horse for it xP

Answer 6

national show horses get the blocks put on their feet as well, they dock their tails, and some through firecrackers under the horse b4 they go into the show ring to give the horse the "right look in his eyes",

there is so many ways to abuse a horse, one breed is not abused more then the next, it's all over the board. anyway, race track horses get butt plugs so they cant p**p, they get trained very young (some consider that abuse).

alot of horses get neglicted and are half starved/forgotten about and dumped off at the auction barns, and usually picked up by the meat market.

one meat market truck a few years ago was full of draft horses (over stuffed in the trailer made for hauling hogs, not horses, let alone draft horses).  shipping horses for meat is abuse b/c it's long trips in over packed trailers with no breaks for feed or water (why feed a horse that is going for slaughter? save money just keep driving)

anyway, point is, abuse happens to horses (and all animals) in many forms, and humans arent picky at what breed/animal to abuse.

Answer 7

i think it's cruel

Answer 8

I get very tired of hearing how walking horses are abused.  Yes the big l**k breeders did abuse some to get the big l**k>  It can and usually is gotten naturally without abusing or soring the horse but as you know when money is involved people get greedy.  What happened with some horses (At one time it was much more common than it was recently) was done by a few people who got greedy.  Not the majority.  The pressure was put on the horse breeders to win big at the world show (I am not sure of the name the TWHBA gives to their world show) because the world champion stallion makes a mint in breeding fees.  Since big money has more say in the registries than little money (true in every registry with national or world class shows) these people put weight on the registry to overlook some practices that contribute to unsound feet.  

This is no worse than the American saddlebred registry pushing the long hooves (I am not sure they still do but they used to let the show horse's feet grow out considerably)  Not every saddlebred will have sore feet form it, most won't but the practice does contribute to foot problems.

Over all the TWH is a great horse.  It excels on flat level ground where they can generally leave the fox trotters like I ride in the dust.  Well actually my horses can all running walk and can just about keep up at that pace and my main riding mare also racks so she can pass them up if I let her.  But the TWH can outdo most fox trotters on level ground.  However in the hills or rough ground the reverse is true.  Of course I have the best of both worlds in my little mare and she can keep up with or pass other fox trotters here too.

You can find a picture of her on http://www.justwrightfarm.com/

Look for belle she is a smoky black with a large blaze.

Answer 9

I don't think there is any MOST abused horse, as far as the breed goes they're nice but i don't see the point in paying extra money just to make your butt feel good.

Answer 10

just depends on the owner or trainer if they are abused

we have one he is one of our best horses and we friesians and they all get along fine and we dont abuse anyone :]]

everything can be done without abuse =D

Answer 11

Well considering that I live near an Indian reservation and have seen hundreds and thousand's of abused reservation mustangs, I can't say that the walking horse is the most abused horse there is.

Granted Walkers have been abused with short trimming and soring and other things, But overall the horses are fed, groomed and otherwise cared for.

When you see a skiny, starving colt with a broken leg forced to live outside on the open range and forced to fend for himself while you try and get some sort of animal control out there to put the poor baby out of his misery that is something totally different.  Overall the show walkers are treated much better than some other horses out there. Yes there is abuse in the show walker circle, but not as bad as in other places.

Answer 12

Personally it's not the horse it's the owner/breeder. Any breed horse can land in the right or wrong hands. In my mind there are a lot of different types of abuse.

~There is breeding abuse, which is where the owner/breeder continues to breed their undesirable mares and stallions back to each other and cause a huge fluctuation in the horse market with their own, unwanted horses. Thus putting these horses in potential danger where they could end up in abusers hands for free or cheap.

~There is training abuse. Where the trainers/owner/breeders are ignorant and continue to use dangerous contraptions on their mounts to establish the desirable traits that most look for in that breed. It could be that the trainer is uneducated or feels the need to call himself/herself a "trainer" and get results no matter what. But a good part of the time, owners and breeders do turn the other way as long as they get the results they want.

~There is nutritional abuse. Where the horse is either deprived of his nutritional needs. It could be for the sport or that the desired clean underline and even some gaited breeds and Arabians where some people think that a little rib is a good look. It could be that the horse is given the wrong kinds or not enough supplements, and the incorrect forage and feed amounts. Then there is the flip side. Where the horse is fed TO MUCH. Yes, I've run across cases where people just haven't been educated enough to know how much their horse needs so they over feed, causing founder, colic, and hoof issues.

~There is health/vet abuse. Where the horse is deprived of proper vaccinations, not properly trimmed and shod, and teeth are not floated. It could be the owner doesn't feel the need for any of these, doesn't have the money, or is ashamed of their horses condition. But either way, the horse is suffering from this type of neglect.

~There is physical abuse. It could be for no reason or it could be because little pony peaches nibbled at someones shirt. It could go as far from hitting the horse with objects such as sticks, rocks, clothing, or tools or go to the point where the horse is whipped excessively or taught a lesson by having to run alongside an ATV at a speed which does not match the horses pace.

~There is emotional abuse. Where the horse is treated as a piggy bank. The only time this horse comes into contact with a human is when he's being worked. He's rarely petted, talked to, or just played with. He is simply there as a yard decoration or for someone to say they have a horse.

So do I think it's just TWH that are abused. No. Most of the time people do put a stigma on other breeds so people won't look at their own abuse going on within their breed selection.