McConnell indicted again in Fayette Co on animal cruelty charges relating to horse soring

PHOTO BY DOUG STRICKLAND / CHATTANOOGA TIMES FREE PRESS
Horse trainer Jackie McConnell, right, leaves the Joel W. Solomon Federal Courthouse downtown with his attorney Hugh Moore.

The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports:

Former Tennessee Walking Horse trainer Jackie McConnell has been indicted by a Fayette County grand jury on 22 counts of animal cruelty related to alleged horse soring actions.

McConnell pleaded guilty last year to similar charges for the same actions in federal court here after Humane Society investigators captured video footage of him abusing horses and federal agents later alleged that he and two co-defendants transported the horses for a show in Shelbyville, Tenn.

McConnell was sentenced to three years probation and a $75,000 fine for the local federal case.

McConnell’s co-defendants in the federal case, John Mays and Jeff Dockery, also pleaded guilty to violations of the federal Horse Protection Act.

RELATED READING

Jackie McConnell

– Roy Exum: Finally a day of reckoning but a sad verdict; Tuesday’s Horse; Sept 21, 2012
– Tennessee Walking Horse abuser McConnell gets probation and a fine; Tuesday’s Horse; Sept 18, 2012
– Soring: Prosecutors say horse protection law lacks teeth; Tuesday’s Horse; Sept 9, 2012
– Judge reschedules McConnell sentencing to Sept 18 in horse soring case; Tuesday’s Horse; Aug 29, 2012
– Defendant in horse soring case gets probation; Tuesday’s Horse; Aug 7, 2012
– Tennessee Walking Horse trainer caught on video abusing horses offered probation in plea deal; Tuesday’s Horse; May 22, 2012

Mitch McConnell

Could they be related? In their contempt for horses they are. See below.

– Senator threatened USDA over horse inspections (Ky); Tuesday’s Horse; Sept 9, 2008
– McConnell opposed USDA inspectors of sored horses (Ky);

UPDATE

Mitch and Jackie McConnell may not be related as in “kin”, but check this out from the sainted (by us and others) Roy Exum:

The top two equine veterinary groups in the United States have openly called on the nation’s lawmakers to ban the built-up pads, or stacks, that shady Walking Horse owners use, as well as performance devices and tight bands around the hooves. Legislation is pending but the “Big Lick” crowd is fighting back. Not long ago they held a reception for a disreputable Senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell (not believed to be kin to Jackie).

The Kentucky senator has bullied the USDA to “lay off” the Shelbyville “Big Lick” crowd and was the subject of a scathing series in the Lexington newspaper this summer. But, just like the defiant and now-battered Big Lick hierarchy, the Republican Senator doesn’t seem to realize or even care he is a “bought” puppet of treacherous people.

Read the article here >>

Sale of Tennessee Walking Horses at Kentucky Horse Park proceeds quietly

WRITTEN BY JANET PATTON

Cross-posted from The Lexington Herald-Leader at Kentucky.com

Tennessee Walking horse watches worriedly from his stall during horse soring inspections following an undercover operation by HSUS that exposed some of the gross cruelties perpetuated on these gentle animals for the sake of human greed and ego. Photo: HSUS.

After online drama and official angst, the Kentucky After Christmas Sale of Tennessee walking horses opened quietly at the Kentucky Horse Park on Friday.

Jerrold Pedigo, president of the sale, said the crowd was a little lighter and the early prices were a little lower than had been anticipated.

Some sellers were unable to get their horses to the sale because of winter weather. Would-be buyers also said they had difficulty driving into Lexington. That might have affected prices, which seemed to mostly be under $1,000. About 220 horses were cataloged to be sold.

After a delay due to the weather, dozens of horses began to make their way into the Alltech Arena to go before a crowd of a few hundred potential buyers looking mostly for trail horses.

Tennessee walking horses are Kentucky’s third-most-populous breed, behind Thoroughbreds and quarter horses.

Anti-soring advocates had expressed concerns before the sale that sore horses might be part of the sale, but that appeared not to be the case. USDA veterinary medical officers were on hand to inspect horses before the sale, alongside paid inspectors from the International Walking Horse Association.

By late afternoon, all the horses going to auction had passed inspection.

There appeared to be no padded horses at the auction. Pads have become controversial; the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the American Veterinary Medical Association have called for them to be banned because vets say they facilitate soring. Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Hopkinsville, has filed legislation to beef up the Horse Protection Act and ban pads.

Almost all of the horses offered for the sale appeared to be flat-shod, but “performance” or padded horse enthusiasts point out that they can be sored as well.

In the world of Tennessee walking horses, padded horses wear thick front horseshoes used to help create an exaggerated, high-stepping gait known as “the big lick.” The big lick is often associated with soring, the deliberate injuring of walking horses’ front legs. Painful treatments that trainers sometimes use to encourage the big lick include painting caustic chemicals on the horse’s front legs, piling on heavy chains that bounce on tender spots, applying huge padded shoes, or inserting objects (including nails, tacks or golf balls) under the pads to create sore feet, a practice known as “pressure shoeing.”

An analysis of the sale catalog by the Humane Society of the U.S. found that about half of the horses were entered by owners previously cited for Horse Protection Act violations; a third of the owners had multiple violations. Two horses in the sale were previously cited as being sore at horse shows, including one cited twice in 2012.

Read full report >>

Thank you Ms Patton for your unbridled coverage of this issue. — Ed.

Kentucky Senator and Big Lick queen ‘Just Like Lance’ says Roy Exum

Cross-posted from The Chattanoogan
WRITTEN BY ROY EXUM

ROY EXUM. Source image.

Robin Webb, a Democratic state senator from Kentucky, just became “the Lance Armstrong of the Tennessee Walking Horse industry” after it was revealed two of her horses were ticketed with violations of the federal Horse Protection Act at a North Carolina horse show in October. There was evidence of scar-rule violations on both horses, which means the horses had been sored and, in the Walking Horse world, to sore is to cheat.

As unbelievable as it may appear, Senator Webb (D-Grayson) was even lauded as the 2012 Performance Horse Ambassador by the industry’s Breeders and Exhibitors group in December ,but now she has been shown to be “just like Lance” after two of her horses, Showstopper and Air Force One, were found in violation of the scarring rule and banned from competition last fall in Creedmoor, N.C.

In a scathing story that appeared 10 days ago in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, Webb was portrayed as a typical “Big Lick queen” who still favors the scurilous padded hooves and action devices that the American Veterinarian Medical Association, the American Association of Equine Practitioners and many other animal rights organizations want to ban.

Kentucky State Senator Robin Webb. Google image.

Of course, Senator Webb denied everything at first, telling writer Janet Patton, “I don’t sore my horses. I love my horses, and they love me.” But as she was interviewed, Webb called pending Congressional legislation to end soring as “extreme” and even defended the horrifying tape that showed Jackie McConnell, who is now a felon, beating and torturing horses.

Webb had the audacity to tell the newspaper the tape that has now been viewed by millions of horse advocates around the world “was taken out of context” and that Tennessee Walking Horses are “dangerous” animals. “You don’t know what happened five minutes before or five minutes after the tape was made. These are animals that are very dangerous. Every breed has training techniques that animal rights groups find offensive.”

And this woman was just chosen as the Performance Horse Ambassador of the Year? Sweet mother of pearl! Lance wouldn’t have said something that stupid to Oprah! Asked about the violations, Webb said “the scar rule is very subjective,” but her trainer, Donald Stamper of Richmond, hung up on the reporter rather than demonstrate his ignorance. But he was also ticketed for violating the Horse Protection Act.

Asked why she didn’t challenge the tickets, Senator Webb said she was unaware she had been ticketed and, as far as she knows, she has not been suspended. But the Lexington newspaper article left no doubt she is a proponent of the padded, or “performance,” horse and that her Ambassador award was for her work in the discussions with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Read more >>

RELATED READING
– Tuesday’s Horse Posts on Horse Soring >>