For Big Lick listings start with the Walking Horse Report:
Welcome to The Walking Horse Report Online
Here's the sale page:
Tennessee Walking Horses for sale, Tennessee Walking Horse Stallions at Stud - Walking Horse Report
Get a copy of the
Voice and look there, too.
If you're not familiar with Big Lick practices be
REAL careful. It's not uncommon for yearlings to be in "colt packages" by 12 months of age and under saddle by 18 months (so that they can compete as two year olds). A lot of damage can be done very quickly (even without the use of illegal practices). Chronic lameness and life long difficulties in movement often result.
Shopping around the Big Lick barns is not a bad idea, but they're going to try and sell you a show prospect. If you make it clear, up front, you want a trail horse they'll find something for you but somebody pays for the upkeep and pampering on those fancy places; be prepared for some "sticker shock."
And don't even
suggest that you want to "rescue" something. You'll likely be escorted off the place.
Good luck in your search.
Guilherme
Thank you SO much!
there is TONS IN TENNESSEE!!!! i know of some if your intrested. its a big thing down here. but expecially in my area and in shelbyville. theres also a lot on kentucky around louiville area. but the best quality are always i tennessee!!! ive got one that im planning on making into a big lick horse.and no im not planning on any abuse!!!i dont know why people get stirred up about that. it all depends on the handler. the shoes arent bad as long as there used rght!
Well, people get stirred up because it's completely unnatural. Even IF there happened to be a BL Walker who is NOT sored, was NOT started at twelve months old, and is not abused in any other way, they are still being forced to move like giant spiders. You will NEVER find a TWH without pads that moves even remotely like they do. It's bad for their body, plain and simple. If you walked around with your knees bent, they would start to hurt pretty quickly. If you did that every day for years, you would start to develop some serious problems.
And I'm not somebody coming from QHs or TBs or another low-stepping breed saying that it's abusive just because I think it looks weird compared to MY breed. No... I'm coming from Saddlebreds and I think that's abusive. Want to know why? Because Saddlebreds move like that naturally! TWHs do not.
I'd steer clear of that one for the reason that he has almost definately been sored most of his life. It says "Good Feet" that equals minimal to no scarring from the chemicals. I do want to say that Walkers West is an amazing place with amazing horses. And they would never sore their horses. That is why they note the 'non-resident' horses.
Thanks for the heads-up. I wasn't really considering him... I'm looking for something younger.
However, I work at a BL barn in Fairview, TN sometimes and they have some horses for sale most of the time. If you'd like I can get some info on some of the padded ones for sale and let you know. I'd need your price range though.
That would be great if you could do that. I'm not ready to buy right now - I just want to get an idea of the average price.
I think that is the reason she posted him, she wants to take a big lick horse and "rehab" it into a normal horse again... correct me if I am wrong CM.
Yeah, that's right, but I'd rather not have one that's already permanently ruined, since I want it to be a trail horse. That's why I'm looking for something young. I wasn't even really considering the horse I posted... I was just saying that he was the only one I could find.
To me I would think that you would be dealing with a lame or unsound horse for the rest of its life. Moving like that (and they start them young) has to do a lot of damage to the horse's joints. Plus I would think that after being trained to move like that they would continue to move similar even after the pads and chains were removed, and I am not sure that is something I would want to ride down the trail.
Well, I've talked to a few people who have rehabbed them and they use them for trail horses. They move just fine (although they're pacey... another way the big lick industry is ruining the breed... but that can always be fixed). It's so unnatural that they pretty much go right back to normal as soon as the pads are taken off.
The last sale I went to there were two TWHs in the kill pen, and one in the saddle pen. The two in the kill pen went for $45 and $100 (and both were decent looking horses) and the one in the saddle horse pen went foe $300. Why don't you look there instead of spending 6000 on a trail horse?
The reason I want to do this is because there are thousands of people out there rescuing horses at auctions. For them, they either get rescued or shipped to slaughter. It's all over in a matter of days. These Walkers have to deal with this **** for their entire show career, and by the time that's over they're lame and ruined. There's hardly anybody out there rescuing them.
It doesn't have to be $6,000... That was just one I posted. And I'm going to turn it into a trail horse a resell it. A good trail horse can go for at least a few thousand around here.
I think you've gotten good advice - if I were you, I would consider a younger one, but then you wouldn't be rehabbing it, you'd be saving it from its further training down the road. So if you want a trail-horse, I'd say get a baby - if you want just a rescue (not for trail/heavy riding), get a BL. A horse shown its whole with a possible chance of leg/joints issues has a higher chance of future problems that rougher riding may worsen over time.
Well, they aren't all "good" enough for the show ring. So by getting one that has already proven itself as a prospect, I KNOW he's going to go on to be a performance horse. If I get a baby, I have no way of knowing if he was going to end up as a trail horse anyway. But by "prospect," I mean a horse that's a month or two under saddle. Not a couple years or anything. And anyway, there are
plenty of people out there who are looking for a sane trail horse they can do mostly walking and a little trotting on.