TWHBEA email

I've ran into a few amish buggy horses, I don't know exactly what goes on but their eyes have no light. They turn into machines, they aren't horses anymore just an empty shell of what they once were or could of been. Or you get one that is destroyed mentally and has become dangerous(which is much less common) I ws discussing this whole issue the other day with my husband, I can't even remember where it came up. I think I was viewing a website with slaughter auction horses that was full of old Amish horses.

I've heard this too, that they treat their horses like machines and dump them when they're through. I know it's off topic (not gaited), but does anyone know what they're doing to the horses?

This is pretty much correct. But in their culture the horse is a working part of making a living, not a pampered, luxury good. Maybe a working analogy would be comparing the life of a stock protector (Pyr, Kuvaz, Anatolian, etc.) or military/police working dog to that of a "lap dog."

G.

It goes beyond that. When I say I grew up amongst them, that means we had had a dairy farm in between a couple of their farms. When I moved from OH to PA and lived near another Amish community, things were not any better, regarding the buggy horses.

There were some Amish families who treated their buggy horses with respect but, for the most part, they were (and most likely still are) nothing more than lowest-on-the-totem-pole pieces of replaceable livestock.

Once they literally got "driven hard and put away wet", you could always find them at the next auction. In my area, as an adult, it got to where they were running out of their typical Standardbred stock and they started going after the ASB's that came thru the sale barns.

Sorry but having lived amongst two different sects of Amish in my liftetime and having seen what they do to those buggy horses, comparing the Amish buggy horse mindset to military/police working dog is an insult to the Military.

When I still lived in PA, there was a Sect about 15 miles from me that had a horrendous outbreak of Strangles. Not only did they refuse to involve the vets in our county, they refused to report any of the incidents. Just let the horses die and they would quietly bury them, in the hopes nobody would find out. They didn't count on the Yankee farmer with field glasses that was watching their every move

That was the year I had to get Strangles vaccines for my horses - it was the brand new one that Ft. Dodge had just come out with and the horse in my avatar still got pretty sick from the new and improved version.

The Amish that broke my friend's SSH brothers BEFORE she bought them caused one to be blind in one eye and the other one's tongue was so nearly severed off, the vet marveled that it healed closed. It left a huge amount of scar tissue and he has to wear a special bit. THIS happened in Tennessee

Again, in all fairness, not all Amish treat their horses that way --- just the majority of them. I love the baked goods the women produce but I have no use for the men and how they treat their animals or their women.

Southern Horse Bonanza

About TWHBEA

The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' and Exhibitors' AssociationSM (TWHBEASM ), headquartered in Lewisburg, Tenn., is the oldest and most prestigious organization devoted to the promotion and protection of the breed. Founded in 1935, the breed registry was established to record the pedigrees of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Its goal is to maintain the purity of the breed, to promote greater awareness of the Tennessee Walking Horse and its qualities, to encourage expansion of the breed and to help assure its general welfare.

The TWHBEA is a breed registry. They do everything that the Livestock Act requires in order to register an animal. They are not a governing body when it comes to horse shows, soring, cruetly or whatever else is dreamed up. That is not what a registry is about. If you don't like their not being involved then do something about it yourself. Start a letter campaign not to the registry but to the show stewards and advertisers. If you want the TWHBEA to do this be prepared to have the cost of registering and transferring to go sky high. Why should we schmucks pay because people want the registry to be a police force?

I have to say I see military working dogs and their handlers EVERY day. The handlers have the upmost love and respect for their dogs. In fact you have to work hard just to have the opp. To work with a dog so you know that the soldiers have to love dogs to begin with. A new law passed earlier this week that the military working dogs now have to be seen as a soldier not a dog. Which means when they retire they are put up for adoption to approved homes or if temperament or training insist they get a new job. They used to be killed or sometimes adopted but a new outcry from their handlers helped push this law. Like I said the military themselves have the upmost respect for those animals. Police dogs aren't just seen as working animals either but as officers of the law, yes they are trained to give their lives for the officer yet the officer adores that dog and many if not most take their dogs home after they retire. I can't say anything for livestock dogs, my livestock dog worked my neighbors cattle then came home for a nice bowl of chow and some good lovins, but he was a pet first who decided he wanted to be a cattle dog my neighbor appreciated it. Wow now I"m really off topic.

How much would it cost to bar offenders from ever registering a horse again? How much to NOT promote the lickers in their licker magazine? Um, NOTHING. Zero out of pocket costs.

I thought offenders were banned? I saw this a few years within the Arabian world. A very well known trainer who was responsible for a very well known farm including a very very well known stallion. All the horses ended up with surgery for "cribbing" well it just happened that the cribbing surgery also enhanced the neck of all those horses. Well a few other things happened and the well known trainer got a 5yr ban from showing. Of course he's back now still working with the same farm.

Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' & Exhibitors' Association
the Official Breed Registry





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About TWHBEA

The Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders' and Exhibitors' AssociationSM (TWHBEASM ), headquartered in Lewisburg, Tenn., is the oldest and most prestigious organization devoted to the promotion and protection of the breed. Founded in 1935, the breed registry was established to record the pedigrees of the Tennessee Walking Horse. Its goal is to maintain the purity of the breed, to promote greater awareness of the Tennessee Walking Horse and its qualities, to encourage expansion of the breed and to help assure its general welfare.