Attendance at “Big Lick” Animal Cruelty show at a 50 year low

Clant Seay and the people who protest at “Big Lick” animal cruelty events with him — plus every one of you who contacted your U.S. Representative making that historic landslide victory in the U.S. House 333 to 96 possible— are the true heroes of the “sored” Tennessee Walking Horse. Take action in the U.S. Senate.

Mr. Seay reports the following regarding this year’s Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, where horses are “sored” to give them an unnaturally high stepping gait:

SHELBYVILLE, TN – (c) A devastating landslide vote (333 to 96) in the U. S. Congress, along with the determined protests by “WE, The People” – Citizens Campaign Against “Big Lick” Animal Cruelty (CCABLAC), have cut attendance at Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration to a shocking 50 year low — fewer than 25,000 actual attendance (persons occupying seats at the Celebration events).

Based on eye-witnesses and photographs, the 2019 Celebration attendance was under 25,000 for the ten (10) nights of the event.

A lifetime Celebration patron said, “A ten night event has essentially now become a one night horse show”. The 2019 Celebration actual attendance was paltry, except for the first Saturday and the second Friday and Saturday.

Read more, view all the empty seats at Mr. Seay’s “Billy Go Boy” website »

Here is this year’s Grand Champion. Look at the horse. Look at the rider.

Rodney Dick and Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Champion I’m Mayhem. Photo by Gary Johnson (Times-Gazette).

You can watch this part of their hideous show featuring the eventual winner pictured above and the still frame of the video below. You can also see how sparsely attended it is now. Let’s get rid of it altogether.

No rational, decent human being can perpetuate these atrocities and inflict the endless, daily suffering on these horses in order to get this gait without being socially and morally challenged, and in some cases have shown to be dangerous to humans as well.

Case in point: On more than one occasion, “Big Lick” participants enraged at protesters have tried to run them down with their trucks. These protesters were doing nothing more than standing out of the way on a patch of grass, holding up signs.

FOSH President Teresa Bippen is nearly run down and killed by a black truck pulling a trailer during a peaceful protest of horse soring at a Big Lick event in Columbia, Tennessee. That’s Teresa in the pink top on the right, behind the sign she is holding. Photo: Billy Go Boy.

• Learn more in Clant Seay’s full report about this year’s “Celebration” »

New to the issue?

Horse soring is a painful practice used to accentuate a horse’s gait to win big prizes, such as Tennessee Walking Horse competitions.

This is accomplished by irritating the hooves and forelegs through the injection or application of chemical or mechanical irritants.

As a sored horse tries to escape the intense pain in his front feet and lower legs, he snatches them up giving the “desired effect” known as the “Big Lick.”

• See full Fact Sheet on The Horse Fund website » • Take Action for Sored Horses »