ARTICLES - Clay Harlin's Letter to Congressman Whitfield

Well, this is a blog post, but it's still quite important.

On the heels of my post concerning Time To End This, I found out about this blog post from September 10th by Clay Harlin.  Harlinsdale Farm suffered greatly in 1998 when Clay came out against soring.  From the blog post:

On April 12, 1998 I came out publically on the front page of the Nashville Tennessean stating that “we were at a crossroads”, and “somebody’s got to do something and do it now [referring to soring] or this is going to get out of hand.” The Article went on to say “Harlin worries that the increasing emphasis on the so-called big lick…has led some trainers to use unscrupulous, painful methods.” Mr. Whitfield from that point on I was unofficially “black balled” from participating in the industry. In less than 3 weeks time I had 3 top champion breeding stallions moved from our stables by their owners due to my statements in the press. 2 of the owners told me that this was the case. Our breeding operation at Harlinsdale suffered financially until I made the decision a year later to leave the industry so my father could continue in business. Since that time I have watched the decline of this great breed that was unable to regulate itself. It was obvious to me that unless a federal law was passed prohibiting all acts of cruelty that the abuses would only continue.

Again, another example of the childish and self-destroying acts that the sore horse industry continues to participate in.  Harlin was correct, it has gotten out of hand, and now the industry is incapable of ending it.  This is why we need to vote in the upcoming TWHBEA elections--to get rid of those who are continuing to keep the TWH from stepping into the future and leaving the sore and the Big Lick behind it.

I encourage everyone to read Harlin's blog post and be sure to like, comment on, and share this post so we can get the word out!  The more we like, comment and share, the more attention this gets!