For those of you who have been following what has been happening with the TN Walking Horse abuse you will know that recently the House passed the PAST Act by a by-partisan land slide, which would prevent soring of TN Walking Horses.  If you do not know what Soring is, please watch this undercover ABC investigation: click here. It has been read twice in the Senate and we are hopeful it will pass the Senate and be signed into law.  You can keep track of the progress of this bill at this link: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/693

My biggest fear when it passed the House was that people would think it had been outlawed for good.  It’s in the process of being outlawed, but horses are still being sored and shown in stacks and chains in Tennessee.  I constantly hear people involved with the Big Lick industry say “This doesn’t happen anymore, it happened a long time ago, horses aren’t sored anymore.”  At the last auction we rescued a thrown-away Big Lick horse who had been sored.  It was easy to see the chemical burns on the back of his pasterns, hair loss and scabs that were still healing from chemical burns.  This is still happening and it has to stop.

The yearly grand finale showcasing this horse abuse is happening next week in Shelbyville. They proudly state that  “The Celebration is the greatest horse show in the world…”  I have been to a lot of horse shows, and I can say with most certainty that this is not the greatest horse show in the world that I have seen.  Now I don’t have anything against the flat shod events, that is how this beautiful breed should be shown.  I do have a whole lot against the performance category where horses are forced to wear weighted stacks and chains and are sored with chemicals to achieve an artificial look.

I will be protesting the Big Lick at the Celebration Thursday from 3:00 – 7:00 and I am asking that you will please consider joining me.  If you cannot be there in person, please share this to bring awareness.  The Celebration likes to say that people come from all over the world to see horses doing the Big Lick.  How amazing would it be if the streets were lined with protesters from all over the world standing up against this horse abuse?  People like you can make that happen!  There is an organized protests through the whole event.  For more information, click here. If you can go to any of them, that would be wonderful!  It’s close to Nashville and you can fly in.  I really hope to see you there on Thursday!  ~ Tawnee Preisner, President of Horse Plus Humane Society