NEWS and ARTICLES - Black Week and the State of the Industry

LET US NOT FORGET...

Sadly, we're looking down the barrel of this year's Black Week.  It starts on Wednesday and continues through Saturday night of Labor Day weekend.  I call it Black Week because I see this more as a funeral procession and death march for the horses rather than a "celebration."  Perhaps Sorebration is more appropriate...?

I've posted the HSUS video again to remind all of us what these horses go through in order to be shown this week.  

Now the HSUS has done something remarkable this week: they have posted a billboard across the street from the Celebration on how to report soring.  So if anyone is at Black Week and witnesses soring or what they suspect might be soring, all they have to do is grab their cell phone and contact 855-NO-SORING or email equineprotection@humanesociety.org.  The HSUS will protect the identity of all callers.

The industry continues to make fools of itself, which does help our cause.

August 19, 2012: Walking Horse Trainers Association blacklist local diner.  Ah, extortion at it's best.  It's like we're dealing with the Redneck Mafia.

August 19, 2012:  Tennessee Walking Horse industry prepares for Celebration facing unprecedented pressure; Industry is pressed to step beyond the shame of horse abuse

"The answer is a partnership with the USDA," Jeffrey Howard said.  So why not accept the mandated penalties?  I don't understand what you want for a partnership.  OH WAIT..."partnership" actually means "leave us the hell alone so we can continue to sore our horses."  Silly me!  And what cracks me up is that he says that swabbing and the measures TWHSO are taking (which is NOT an HIO and therefore their suspensions have ZERO clout) are more reliable than just inspections.  But wait--the USDA has been performing these exact same measures for the past few years.  How come YOUR measures are more reliable than theirs?  How come your swabs are more reliable than the USDA's?  I will say that at least they are finding chemicals on the horses...at least we're able to prove that is still happening.  I'm surprised they're not faking that as well, though.  Then the cries of unconstitutional and wanting due process...DUDE, if you really had due process, you'd find that most of the violations are REAL, and that most of these people would be out of business.  And I could swear that in the Constitution, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness does not include the right to abuse animals for the sake of fun and profit.

August 18, 2012: Roy Exum: Is Scott DesJarlais Crazy?  Roy talks about DesJarlais from Jasper, TN, who is currently up for reelection on November 6 for Congressional District.  This guy is going to be part of a fundraiser to help fuel the TWH industry.  After all the bad publicity the TWH industry is getting and the above video, you would think that DesJarlais would have the sense to stand up against soring and want to help clean up the mess...but no.  What cracks me up the most, though, is that it seems DeJarlais can be bought for a mere $2000.

August 13, 2012:  HSUS, Don't Waste Your Breath.  The Fugly Horse of the Day Blog is really picking up on the TWH industry and their continued need to shoot themselves in the foot.  Check out this post

August 9, 2012:  Factual reporting doesn't mean lack of "support".  Gotta agree with the newspaper on this one.  No newspaper is going to destroy the TWH industry.  They're doing a fine job of destroying themselves.  And ironically, I know that the quote about the newspaper supporting them came from a Facebook group that continues to encourage bashing and allowing people to treat anyone who does not agree with the BL badly.

Overall, I hope that everyone keeps the horses in their prayers and thoughts this week.  May their suffering be minimized, and may we see lots of tickets given out and classes canceled.  May the horse win a true battle this year: to no longer have to be subjected to man's cruelty for the sake of amusement.