"Freak of the week"?

To be honest, this makes me feel ill, but besides that, does anyone have any idea of how long these horses have for a usuable time frame?
I watched a couple of the videos, and would have to guess their backs and/or hocks would go bad at a young age?

And what kind of industry calls the animals that make them the big money, "Freaks"? Ugh. Disrespectful IMO.

http://www.walkinghorsechat.com/forum/freakoftheweek1.htm

I watched two and was absoltuly disgusted, I can't beleive someone would do that to a horse!!

I agree - this is horrible. And it's made even worse by those in the industry ridiculing (spelling?) them. I only watched the first two videos. The first one totally turned my stomach.

So let me get this straight... THEY WANT THEIR HORSES TO MOVE LIKE THAT???? Amazing! Can't they see that this is not natural? I have not read everything on the site, but they are proud of the way they train their horses?

I agree that this must be SO hard on the horse's body. I bet they are "disposable" horses, when this horse is no longer able to preform, they would ship it and get another one to train to be the same!

How do you think they would move when turned out? Would the horse walk normally? Or maybe they might not have that luxury? (you know being turned out and all...)

Also did you notice that the people riding have overalls on? That would be uncomfortable...

Has anyone on this forum worked in the saddle horse industry? If so, please try and explain this to us.

TC where do you find this stuff????

Totally totally disgusting! These horses are ruined for life. And have you noticed the hicks that ride them?...definitely some inbreeding in there...and I'm not talking about the horses.

I actually worked in an Arab stable many years ago as an assistant to the trainer and as groom. One of the trainer's specialities was Park training. To acheive the exaggerated motion needed for Park or rack gait, the horse was trained with wooden rollers on the feet to swing his feet into the higher motion. In the Arabs, the gait was not as animated as in the video but similar and I can see that they have the front feet weighted or something in a few of the videos which is very similar to what was done in the situation I was in. The trainer I worked for has gone onto exhibit at the top level in both the Morgan and Saddlebred industry.

I am not saying that this is right but I can tell you that after being raised with Quarter Horses going into the show world of Arabs was a real eye opener.......totally different. I am sure the Saddlebred scene is entirely different as well and apparently this must be considered the norm in that area...it sure would be nice to hear from someone who might be able to give us more insight.

I got my breeds mixed up...we are talking Tennesee Walkers in the videos not Saddlebreds....sorry.

I thought the one guy was riding a llama and another guy a giraffe.........my eyes are a little back to Rose Colored glasses but Good Lord..............what the rose are they thinking :36_1_15[1].gif

I have see this before on video's...I don't see any beauty in it....It looks stupid...I agree to with saying look at the riders they are complete hicks!!

If you go to you tube and search this you will see lots of these types of videos...And how some people are trying to stop it!!!

yes I also bet half these horses end up on the meat truck when the owners are done with them or they get injured, because they are really for SHOW and nothing else...Your not going to go for a 2 hour trail ride like that are you??????

I don't see why anyone would want a horse to move like that it looks so unconfortable for not only the horse but also the rider as they have to lean forward to stay in the saddle. I can't imagine how hard on the horses joints it must be to move like that poor things and yes even in the show ring they wear overalls hicks for sure

I'm afraid i could not even bare to finish watching the first video, it just makes me want to cry, the poor poor thing, look at the back legs, it is sickening, how can people do that, you do not see horses walking like that in the wild so WHY would they make them walk like it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!, this is why i prefer animals to people !!!