I’m really glad that this incident is causing quite a stir. Here in Tennessee we’re all too familiar with the abuse taking place within the ‘big lick’ Tennessee Walker community. We’d like to think that Dressage riding would somehow be ‘above’ that. But, not so.

For some years now, it is scary to think of the parallels to what happened to the TWH, certain individuals in high level international competition have been advocating for ‘hyperflexing’ the horse’s neck during training. This was purportedly to further enhance the super bred horse’s already extravagant movement. Unfortunately, the reality is while the legs might get ‘flashier’ the bottom line result is the destruction of the horse’s natural paces.

Evidently, humans being who they are, if some is good, then more must be better! Today riders are not just ruining the horse’s correct way of going they are torturing horses in the name of More More More. Does this not have a sickeningly familiar ring to it? (Thinking big lick here.) For those of us who love dressage for what it is supposed to do FOR the horse, this is abuse and it has to stop.

If you can’t play the video you can go here to read the article associated with the footage on Epona.tv. Actually, you should read the article anyway since it provides more details about what was filmed and answers some questions people have had. You can also go straight over to YouTube to see the video.