Click for the article, text below: TWHBEA denied participation in WEG
Due to ongoing controversy over federal violations, theTennessee Walking Horse Breeders & Exhibitors Association (TWHBEA) will not be represented at the World Equestrian Games (WEG) in Kentucky later this year.
Instead, the WEG is choosing to showcase the beauty and versatility of the southern walking horse with representatives of the National Walking Horse Association (NWHA), which has a zero tolerance policy for violations of the federal Horse Protection Act, which continues to plague the TWHBEA.
The TWHBEA had already agreed that there would be no horses displayed at the WEG in pads or chains, otherwise known as "action devices", but it was acknowledged that the organization still promotes this antiquated method of forcing horses to step unnaturally as its top level of "performance".
Additionally, the TWHBEA has ongoing difficulties with a leadership that is comprised of a large number of people who have a history of Horse Protection Act violations. Of 115 people on the Board of Directors in 2007, 43 of them had violations, and the trend continues today. Not only do violators serve on the Board of Directors both past and present, but they are also integral in many affiliated Horse Industry Organizations which are responsible for enforcing the very laws that they have been guilty of violating.
Until the TWHBEA can find the willpower and resolve to permanently clean its henhouse of the foxes that have been guarding it, the equestrian community at large will continue to have a difficult time taking it seriously. This is a terrible shame, both on Tennessee, and owners of Tennessee Walking Horses worldwide. As more and more people find out the true pleasure of owning a Walking Horse, they are increasingly turning to other breeds or registries due to the same controversy that influenced the decision to exclude the TWHBEA from the World Equestrian Games.
Instead, the WEG is choosing to showcase the beauty and versatility of the southern walking horse with representatives of the National Walking Horse Association (NWHA), which has a zero tolerance policy for violations of the federal Horse Protection Act, which continues to plague the TWHBEA.
The TWHBEA had already agreed that there would be no horses displayed at the WEG in pads or chains, otherwise known as "action devices", but it was acknowledged that the organization still promotes this antiquated method of forcing horses to step unnaturally as its top level of "performance".
Additionally, the TWHBEA has ongoing difficulties with a leadership that is comprised of a large number of people who have a history of Horse Protection Act violations. Of 115 people on the Board of Directors in 2007, 43 of them had violations, and the trend continues today. Not only do violators serve on the Board of Directors both past and present, but they are also integral in many affiliated Horse Industry Organizations which are responsible for enforcing the very laws that they have been guilty of violating.
Until the TWHBEA can find the willpower and resolve to permanently clean its henhouse of the foxes that have been guarding it, the equestrian community at large will continue to have a difficult time taking it seriously. This is a terrible shame, both on Tennessee, and owners of Tennessee Walking Horses worldwide. As more and more people find out the true pleasure of owning a Walking Horse, they are increasingly turning to other breeds or registries due to the same controversy that influenced the decision to exclude the TWHBEA from the World Equestrian Games.
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