TWH horses, cruel or not?

That seems to be the opinion on gaited horses in general. I went to look at a TWH that was for sale once, and (before I knew better :roll:) asked for a canter. The owner flipped out on me. Personally, I don't want a horse that can't canter, so even my gaited horses learn to as soon as they are set in their gait. I will say, when I first started cantering my Rocky, he would try to skip gaiting and go right into the canter. I'm told cantering is easier for them, and that is why that tends to happen. We are working on gaiting again, but will definitely continue to canter as time goes on.

i disagree, with respect. Putting these stacks that are inches high, and put so much pressure on the joints of the leg, and even the integrity of the hoof itself (i've heard of hooves bursting open from the top!), is cruelty, no matter how 'nice' and 'kind' the trainer may otherwise be. Horses are crippled at young ages because of this type of shoeing alone, soring or not!

And also, we are not talking about saddlebreds, this discussion is about TWH.

The breeds get lumped together all the time. Just like this^^^. Im tired of people who think they know, but don't. The heaviest shoe/pad combo in asb's is still lighter than the smallest stack for TWH.

Not all walking horses wear those! Its one division that wears them. I don't like them either, but its not cruel. The soring that SOME do, that's whats cruel.
Don't bash a whole breed for one division they offer. I know of many TWH folks that absolutly hate the stacks and such. So no, its not all of them. Should they quit a breed the love just because of the stacks or soring. Id hope not. One must stand up for their belifs and leaving a breed they love because of controversy is a silly.


OP, there is cruely in EVERY breed and every dicipline. Please don't judge the TWH because of people. They are good solid horses that have got caught up in the rediculiousness of people. If the TWH wants motion like that they could have bred for it, but instead the bred for the RW and lost the motion. Now they want it back and the only way to get it is breed for it and wait or 'stack 'em high'.

you are right, its not all classes, but its is the big lick classes and trainers that we are discussing here in this particular thread, and in my opinion, as I said before, its cruel.

FYI, Title doesnt asy big lick. It says "TWH, cruel or not?"

Nobody is saying quit the breed, I love the breed, I say quit the shows, and quit the companies that sponsor the shows until the shows change. And make sure the sponsors know why you are not buying from them.

Oh we are not bashing the breed. The breed is AWESOME! It is just the morons who interfere to make them "pretty" that tick me off.


And yes, cantering a TWH can make them canter happy. But then again, if they haven't been cantered before for how ever many years, of course they are canter happy. If you only walk and trot a non-gaited horse for 10 years,and then ask it to canter, it will likely do the same thing.

My point being, it is not inherent to the breed that they like to canter more. It is just something novel to them at first. With training (just like any other breed) they can do any gait without breaking for a long time. It takes skill and practice to be able to get the proper gaits out of TWHs, but then again, so does getting the proper trot out of a QH.

Agreed we are not bashing the breed. I put the title that way to keep it short an simple. I actually plan on buyin a nice big TWH when I get older for trails. I enjoy to breed, just not that aspect of it
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Thats my walker in my Avatar, I'll never own anything else.

I think the training is cruel....love the horses only experienced one but I fell in love!

The trainers go to horrible lengths. I have heard of trainers using chains with spikes in them(not in shows) and also poking pinholes on the back of their foot under the fetlock and rubbing cyanne(Sp?) pepper onto the holes before a show to get that ugly exaggerated gait.

Here's a vid (sorry if it was posted on here before.) of a COMING 2 year old so the poor girl isn't even 2, her joints are going to be detroyed well before she sees the double digits.

And another video from the same training facility. Another COMING 2 year old. The poor babies.

The trainers will do whatever to win and if they have to cover their @$$es to do it they will the entire way.