***UDPATE 5/16/2012: The expose was not aired on Diane Sawyer tonight. It will be on Nightline tonight. Check your local listings and set your DVRs. Heck, set your VCRs!
I went on ABC's website this morning, and this is what I found. The photo above of the horse being beaten? That is Jackie McConnell himself beating that horse.
Article concerning the situation and what will be covered tonight. Copied and pasted below.
WARNING: GRAPHIC!!! VIDEO OF HORSES BEING BEATEN
This is from the undercover videos that were taken by the HSUS. I don't know how much more will be shown tonight.
I cannot find words for how angry and upset I am. I truly can't.
Dr. Mullins, if you are "against the stuff," then why aren't you stopping it? Why have you not put your foot down and said enough's enough? Then after saying that, you stand by and have the gall to say that it could be innocent substances the are found on the horse's legs? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU????
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU IN THE TWH INDUSTRY FOR ALLOWING THIS TO GO ON.
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE SUPPORTED AND CONTINUE TO SUPPORT THESE MONSTERS.
TWH INDUSTRY, YOU DESERVE TO SHUT DOWN. YOU HAVE DONE THIS TO YOURSELVES. I HOPE YOU ARE RUINED.
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Video Reveals Torture of Horses Trained to Win Championships
By Megan Chuchmach (@megcourtney) and Brian Ross (@brianross)
May 16, 2012
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.
3 comments:
it is true have seen these things done....have know trainers who do these very things...sick and sad
Congressman Shrader from Oregon gave a speech in the House on Soring today. It's on youtube. Sorry if I mispelled his name--but thanks to him! Barbara
Yes, I found out about that as well! I'll be posting A LOT more information in the coming days, but I want to make sure that everyone sees the list of who to contact to help end this. So keep coming back because there's A LOT more information to come!
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