Transitions are important, but you need to actually change speed in order to make one...

I did one of my least favorite things tonight and that was watch WP videos on youtube. Seriously, the only thing that pisses me off worse is watching old MASH re-runs while tied to a chair. I found the "official" AQHA video to show how a WP horse should move.




Evidently my definitions of the terms "softness, cadence, and collection" are wildly different from the AQHA. While watching this video I could only think that the AQHA needs to re-label their gaits to trip, stumble, and stagger instead of walk, trot and canter. I'm mortified that this "professional" stood there and tried to bluff his way through the fact that the horse moved like shit. And WP is absolutely *NOT* the foundation of a working western horse. Modern WP goes against every standard a good working horse needs to meet. I almost spit out my tongue when he said English Pleasure is the foundation for working hunter and hunter hack. What fricking planet are you on Mister? I've never seen a horse jump a fence with his head at his knees and a two foot stride. Every single horse in the video looked sore, tired and unhappy. Is this really what the AQHA wants to promote? I thought the registry was named because Qhs were the fastest at a quarter mile, not because they move slower than a snail with an anchor on his ass. ( Assuming snails have asses)

And what about that rule in the AQHA handook that says the horse is penalized if his ears are below wither level for three strides? Every horse in the class should have had the gate for breaking that rule! The riding is terrible too. What is with the leaning back, forward feet and crappy arms. It looked like a class full of drunken floppy stick figures. Like Barbie and Ken Western Pleasure without the cool outfits and long manes on the horses. I am like so totally grossed out! <----- sarcasm

It's obvious that AQHA has no intention of "fixing" western pleasure, because if they did a lot of incompetant trainers and poorly conformed horses would be out of jobs. But they really shouldn't advertise their stupidity with videos like the one above. It's like an infomercial for how not to ride, train your horse or produce a long term, sound animal.

So let's hear some assessments, and make them good! We have to keep this blog as the number one most hated on the Delphi Pleasure forum and with the Equine Chronicle.

Back to blogging and a great re-hab story..

Sometimes real life gets in the way of the fun stuff and I've had to take some time away from blogging to deal with family, health and work issues. This doesn't mean I don't check in and read comments, or visit the other horse related sites. I am especially happy that Fugly outed supreme trainwhore Pat Parelli and his idiot wife, as well as USEF taking a hardline stance on abuse! Just goes to prove that even without me blogging the assholes will get outed, and it's not just me making this crap up.



Now to clear a few things up:



This blog is not anti-show. It is anti-abuse. So the saddlebred rider that whines about it over on COTH is just another one of the people that got her ass handed to her because she wouldn't admit the abuse that goes on in the ASB industry. I love good show horses. I love watching good shows, good trainers and the excitement that people feel when a rider/horse combination just nails it. What I don't like is the rampant abuse that pervades the industry. Denying it exists and accusing us watch dogs about being anti-show just indicated how stupid some of the people in the industry are. Getting pissed at some big trainer whipping a horse over fences does not mean I think show jumping should be banned. It means that I think the trainer should be suspended and get his ass bet with a baseball bat for senselessly beating his horse. Being pissed about soring does not mean I'm anti TWH or ASB. I'm anti-soring and abuse, which are rampant in both sectors. Keep denying it AMWrider, but the truth is out there on video and in photos. ( And speaking of photos: I don't think you need to be pointing fingers at anyone, I've seen yours)


I was extremely gratified when the Equine Chronicle had a poll and this blog was rated one of the worst for the WP industry! Alright! I'm so glad that the WP people know I will be riding their asses, complete with constant checking and suprring, until they clean up the abuse that is so apparent. Right now when I watch the Reichert videos on youtube all I can think of is a field of oil pumpers bobbing up and done in unison, except the pumpers have a lot more expression and cadence than the WP horses do.



But enough about addressing the whiners ( you know who you are, and so do we)

Here's a rehab/success story sent to me by Kristen and how she and her sisters took a sad, traumatized WP horse and turned her into the ultimate can chaser! Looks like Jazz has gotten over being abuse and now enjoys her job.

( Wow, look kids, a nicely tucked barrel horse, no tie down, no whip, cute expression, enjoying the job. It's almost like sighting Bigfoot it's so rare to see)

Jazz and Kristen
Five years ago we bought a 4-year-old western pleasure/halter mare. Jazz was spoiled, angry and prone to amazing temper tantrums. She had been pulled from an abusive barn and trainer by the owners as a three-year-old (Was started at a year and half) and was sitting in the pasture eating hay. Jazz is double Impressive bred and Mr. Conclusion bred, has splints in both her front legs, and would be well behaved for about three minutes at a time, with ten minute spooking, bolting, bucking and rearing episodes thrown in there. She had been shown halter, lunge line and western pleasure and had went to AQHA Nationals(?) as a weanling.
My sisters and I had just lost a leased horse (We had taken care of him for almost two years, and went to the barn one day to find him traded for a car by his irresponsible, dishonest owner) Needless to say we were heart broken, he had taught us a lot, and was a truly amazing little horse.


Our family couldn't afford a horse and so since we were young my sisters and I would climb up on just about anything we could hoist ourselves on to. We had started barrel racing with our leased horse, Curly, and were completely hooked on it, sticking our nose into any NFR riders book and teaching each other on the lawn, horseless, pretending to make our pocket and rate our horse.


Jazz's owners loved her, but the girl was getting out of horses and showing and Jazz was wasting away. We told my dad about her and we convinced him that if we could buy her, we could show halter or breed her to sell the baby for money to buy a real barrel horse. We ate our words. When my dad went to go and meet Jazz for the first time, she looked at him, looked back at her food, and lunged at him, teeth bared ears pinned. The girls and I were shocked...almost in tears, but my dad just looked at her and said “At least she has character". I had to get a job at McDonalds (I applied two months before my 15th birthday) and me, Jus, Em and my Mom took 5 months to pay off the $1500.00 fee, then we took Jazz home.


Our first horse!
For a year I took Jazz on trail rides, her chronic bolting didn't scare me and I just ignored her bucking and rearing until she eventually grew out of it, Jazz was just a lost soul that needed to find something she loved, she wasn't bad, she just hated pleasure and needed to be treated like a horse again.


When I started Jazz on barrels she couldn't run to save her life. She could only do a weird three-beated lope/gallop nasty gait that made people laugh at her and ALMOST every barrel racer in the area tell me that she could never be a barrel horse. Negative people constantly surrounded us, but we ignored them, took care of our horses and always put Jazz first.


8 months after I started her on barrels she won the 1D at a local jackpot, against seasoned rodeo winning horses. I do not consider myself by any means an excellent trainer and I am still learning so much, always trying to improve myself, but Jazz was just such a special horse that she found something she loved and she excelled at it, teaching me and my sisters along the way. By the end of the summer she was winning jackpots and solidly placing in the 1D, and MAN could our mare run poles. She won the all around at the local LBR just by winning poles both days with Jus, and then she won it again the next year (As a 7 year old) by winning poles one day (20.40) and placing top 5 in barrels both days (She knocked a pole to be a 20.41 the first day) By now, our parents realized that this horse deserved more than local events.

(Oh look, a polebending horse with no tiedown, not getting its ass beat with every stride! Ears up, mouth closed, looks like a winner!)

Justine started to compete in high school rodeo. We pulled up to our first rodeo with a twenty-five year old, two- horse bumper pull, Jazz very well wrapped and 6 of us crammed in our truck, our camper tottering on the back. Justine won the poles both days and was 2nd and 4th in the barrels. Her and Jazz went into the BC finals 5th in barrels and 4th in poles, with 3 missed rodeos, unfortunately Jazz hurt herself that weekend and they left 11 and 10th. She still squeezed into the Canadian Finals in poles and won a go-round there.

This year they went to Alberta for the high school rodeos, and she won 7/8 go-rounds in the barrels. In three years of Rodeo (One year of solid rodeo) Jazz has made cheques in LBR, HSR and in the Amateur rodeos with me and ran 14th/200 girls at the Canadian Barrel Racing Finals, with a slip on third (Rider error, got caught up in the moment forgot to RIDE my horse ;) ). Jazz has truly been a miracle to our family, and to her own history, everyone said she couldn't and then darn it, she did. Jazz is still grumpy, cannot be caught by anyone but us sisters, is spooky as hell still, but she when its time for her job, she gives 120% and our family and I are eternally grateful to her. She is my best friend. She will be 9 this year, she is perfectly sound, being conditioned right now, and is going to a pole-bending clinic in three weeks.

Congratulations Kristen, Justine and Em! Jazz looks happy and has definitely overcome her early abuse as a western pleasure horse! Good luck to all of you!

And now onward to search out more abuse, to boldly go where no blogger has gone before.........

Show RIng Heroes

Calling all readers:

Send me your stories about the oldest, sound, show horse you know.
And the oldest person you know still showing.
Pictures would be appreciated.

I want to showcase some of the good things in the show ring and not give all the press to the BNT trainers, who seem to believe any press is good press.

Send stories and photos to tjamouse@yahoo.com

Thank you,

T Jean Maus

Fuckheads of the week! Big Lick Torture!!!!!!!

I'll be nice and post a warning right now for those of you sensitive readers that don't like to read cuss words: Put your sunglasses on now, the venom will be at toxic levels!

This site was sent to me by a reader and I have to say that other than watching the youtube videos of Abu Gharaib I have never seen such a bunch of inhuman torture inflicted on another living being.

This horrible site is called "Freak of the Week". It is part of the Tennessee Walking Horse forum, which you can't get on unless you're thoroughly vetted and can prove you condone horse torture and won't spout off about anything sensible like good riding practices or taking care of your horse.

Freak of the Week
( you'll need windows media player to view most of these videos.

WARNING!!!!!!
Watching these videos will make you puke your fucking guts out. The first thing you'll note is that the horses are mostly young, mostly ridden by big hairy neaderthals and in pain every second of every video. The bits are huge and severe, there are more blinker hoods than you'll find at the Santa Anita meet, and the riding is appalling.
Who the fuck are these people? Why as a society haven't we evolved past this point of blatant vanity based abuse? Seriously, we have congressman worried about gay marriage and they don't give a shit about these poor horses being tortured?

Scroll through the list of horses and look at A Vision of Jose. How the fuck can anyone justify riding a horse in that manner? The hind legs look like they are about to disconnect and fall off!
This is a two year old for fucks sake! At two years old most horses are still growing and thinking about frolicking around the pasture. They aren't bitted up like some sex fetishist and being ridden by some huge bent backed cave dweller!

Scroll down some more and look at I'm Just a Ritz. Yes, that is a wonder gag in that poor colt's mouth. Yes, he looks sore and yes is rider is a bobbleheaded asshole. Most of the videos look like they are taking place at a sale review, but there are a few shot at home. I swear, watching some of them almost made me throw up. I cannot believe that every one of these assholes isn't in jail for abuse. The state of Tennessee has a lot to answer for by allowing, and promoting, this type of crap. I think the US government should put a stop to all funding to Tennessee until they ban the big lick shit permanently!

Once you're done washing out your mouth from puking over the last video scroll down to this the horse called Electrifying Hearbeat. He's about a 1/3 of the way down the page. A Dr. Dale Cannon just bought him and I hope every single one of this guy's patients quit going to him and write him up to the AMA for condoning horse abuse. Watch the video and prepare to be sickened. This colt is unhappy and you can tell that every second of his short life has been miserable. WTF is up with the blinker hoods again? Isn't it bad enough that you keep these horse stalled unless you're torturing them, but then when they are out you restrict their vision? How on earth can anyone justify riding a two year old in that kind of bit? You can see where he falls apart in the video several times and the camera person conveniently quits filming. It's just sickening. Dr. Cannon you should be ashamed of yourself. You are a disgrace to the Hippocratic Oath for buying this colt and giving profit to the people that abuse and degrade horses in this manner.

There are hundreds of videos on this site, each worse than the last. This one site composites everything that is terrible about the walking horse industry. It showcases the abuse, apathy and ignorance that keeps the Big Lick method of showing alive. I recommend that readers take note of the names of the trainers and farms. They aren't an integral part of the horse industry, instead they are all that is bad about it.

I'm sickened by this site, truly sickened. I'm ashamed that the horse industry as a whole has ignored and swept under the rug the abuse in the Big Lick Show Ring. Those of you in the stock breeds, as well as the English disciplines are guilty of agreement by your silence. You refuse to make a concentrated effort to speak out about this abuse because you fear that the abuses in your own industries will be examined more closely. Grow some fucking balls and get together and put a stop to this crap. All of the Natural Horsemanship gurus, Pat Parelli, John Lyons, Monty Roberts, Clinton Anderson and others should all be taking a break from shilling their mystic sticks and dvds and get their asses before congress and tell them to STOP this fucking abuse. A little celebrity goes a long way towards getting a cause recognized. Paris Hilton and the rest of the "I'll show my hoo-hoo if I want too" group need to get off their collective useless asses and put some of their money into stopping this shit!

Let's get this shit banned, there is no excuse for it!

No wonder horses burn out!: Updated

This photo was sent to me by a reader. It's an item she found at a rather prominent tack store in north Texas.

Before I say what it is I'd like to see some guess as to what the blog readers think these two devices are and what purposes they serve. They are training devices and not allowed in the show ring, but they are definitely used to create competition horses.

Update:
The readers are on the ball! These are indeed gag bit headstalls The metal crown pieces are thin and in the case of the one to the left it is a twisted wire. Hanging above these little gems were the various gag bits you could use with them, most of them twisted wire, all of them public indicators of how sorry-assed a lot of trainers are. My niece said the gadgets were hanging on a wall of "bits for people that have no clue how to train horses", which the store proprietor was not happy to hear. These two items can be purchased at Dennards in Aubrey, Tx, which is pretty much the horse capitol of Texas. Glad to know that the BNTs there have access to such crappy equipment and can use it on client horses. I wonder if Cleve, Scott or Becky shop there?