With deepest and heartfelt sympathy to Jennie Jackson, Nate, and their family in the sudden loss of their legendary naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse stallion: Champagne Watchout, who passed away on July 17, 2017 at the age of 24.
In the 1980s Jennie Jackson began applying and perfecting dressage methods of training to gaited horses. Then in 1998 she introduced dressage as a humane training alternative for Tennessee walking horses. She began to apply dressage training methods with her naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse stallion Champagne Watchout. The two defied the critics and rose through the levels of dressage [en gaite].
Jennie Jackson and Champagne Watchout performing the Spanish Walk.
In 2006, Jennie and Champagne Watchout were the first duo in history to perform dressage en gaite at The Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, KY. The duo demonstrated never-seen-before Prix St. George movements en gaite as piaffe, passage, half pass, Spanish walk, as well as canter pirouette, and tempe changes.
Jennie Jackson and Champagne Watchout performing at the 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.
In 2010, Jennie and Champagne Watchout were formally invited to exhibit their dressage en gaite musical freestyle at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games. Champagne Watchout became the official Tennessee walking horse breed representative.
Video: Jennie Jackson and 16-year old Champagne Watchout performing their dressage en gaite musical freestyle at the 2010 Alltech World Equestrian Games at Lexington Kentucky Horse Park in 2010
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npJRFu7M1Ks
As a life-long student of dressage, I have always longed to achieve piaffe, passage, canter half pass, pirouette, and tempe changes with my trotting horses and now with my naturally gaited horses. In my opinion, Jennie Jackson and Champagne Watchout are naturally gaited dressage legends! They performed these difficult movements en gaite with ease—something many claimed was impossible for a gaited horse.
In addition to his striking looks and athletic moves, Champagne Watchout has a powerful, jaw-dropping, head-shaking, natural flat walk and running walk that turns heads at the rail class events. Champagne Watchout earned the right to compete in the 1999 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration World Grand Championship class. He was the first and ONLY naturally gaited flat shod entry competing among the traditional Big Lick horses.
Video: Champagne Watchout—First flat shod horse to compete at the 1999 TWHBEA World Grand Championship Tennessee Walking Horse Class
Encounters with the Golden One
I was fortunate to have met Champagne Watchout on two occasions. In 2015 I traveled to Tennessee to ride at a Jennie Jackson Dressage for the Gaited Horse Clinic and I got to meet this gentle, golden stallion. Even with his winter fuzzies, Champagne Watchout was a standout.
Jennie Jackson riding her gaited dressage stallion Champagne Watchout.
The next year, I returned to the South to ride with Jennie Jackson as a working student. While I was there I had the privilege of watching Jennie ride her barefoot, 22-year-old gaited dressage stallion Champagne Watchout.
Back then Champagne Watchout was the ONLY Tennessee walking horse still living among those he had competed against in the 1999 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration World Grand Championship class.
I was privileged to watch Jennie ride Champagne Watchout at Amazing Gaits, piaffe and passage along the ocean coast, and dance to the music during the Mardi Gras parade.
How long do you think the beads will last on this head shaking stallion? Champagne Watchout and Jennie Jackson enjoyed throwing beads to the Mardi Gras parade patrons.
Champagne Watchout was the first horse eager to step into the wavy coastline and gave the rest of the Amazing Gait’s horses confidence. In no time all of us were flat walking in the ocean.
And through the Mardi Gras parade at 22 years old Champagne Watchout still had all the moves!
We will never forget you, Champagne Watchout. You have inspired multitudes and left an amazing legacy that will live on.
Videos
Early years: Champagne Watchout at play and under saddle with Jennie Jackson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4anIouEWqhw
2012 Champagne Watchout with Jennie Jackson at the TWHBEA World Versatility Show
Can dressage rehabilitate a former Big Lick Tennessee walking horse? Can dressage transform a tense, high-headed and hollow-backed frame into a relaxed posture that builds the top line? Can dressage break up a hard pace into a natural four-beat gait without heavy shoes and pads? Can dressage mend a damaged mind and help a horse develop trust in a rider, accept a light snaffle bit contact, and respond willingly to leg aids without exploding? Can dressage prolong soundness of a Tennessee walking horse?
Here’s my story…
Sore No More: Rehabilitating a Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horse with Dressage
By Jennifer Klitzke
It was time to apply the “Now That’s a Walking Horse” program grant awarded in 2015 to me and my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse, Makana, by the United States Humane Society.
Cheryl Jacobson, Deputy Director, Equine Protection of The Humane Society of the United States wrote:
“Your application showcases the sort of approach to training of Tennessee Walking Horses that the NTAWH program hopes to promote. This includes correct training of horse and rider without the use of artificial enhancements or aggressive shoeing techniques while focusing on the gymnastic development as a way to improve and establish the gaits of the Walking horse.”
“We are further impressed by your volunteer efforts to “spread the word.” The best promotion for the breed is a good example. It is clear that you have provided that, sharing the good news about the natural Walking horse to the trotting as well as to gaited enthusiasts who have seen the limitless potential in the breed in new ways because of your efforts.”
Becoming a working student under Jennie Jackson
In January 2016, I had the opportunity to further my dressage as applied with the naturally gaited horse when I flew to Theodore, Alabama to be Jennie Jackson’s working student at the Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center. Jennie is the only person in history who has trained and shown a Tennessee walking horse through the highest levels of dressage, and she, along with her husband Nate, have been on the front lines fighting against Big Lick soring and abuse for over 30 years.
Meeting Champaign Watchout
While there I had the privilege of watching Jennie ride her famous 21-year-old naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse stallion, Champagne Watchout! He is the ONLY living Tennessee walking horse who had competed in the 1998 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration World Grand Championship class. Watchout was also the only flat shod entry ridden among Big Lick horses. When horses are subjected to the cruelty and abuse of Big Lick practices, they simply don’t stay sound or live that long.
Jennie Jackson riding piaffe with her barefoot, 21-year-old TWH stallion Champagne Watchout.
My days with Jennie were filled with riding several Tennessee walking horses at various levels of training, flat walking the ocean coast, riding in a Dauphin Island Mardi Gras parade, and being introduced to the challenges of retraining a rescued Big Lick horse.
Big Lick it’s something I’ve encountered in Minnesota. In fact, I didn’t even know what Big Lick or soring were when I bought my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse, Makana. I stumbled upon Big Lick when I searched YouTube for TWH training information.
After watching a few Big Lick videos, I wondered, “Is this how a Tennessee walking horse is supposed to move?”
The horrifying truth behind Big Lick motion
To me, the Big Lick Tennessee walking horses are like a Picasso painting coming to life: exaggerated, disjointed, and unnatural. Picasso once said, “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” While some people might think Big Lick is expressive and exciting to watch and ride, how its motion is achieved unveils a horrifying truth.
The exaggerated Big Lick motion is produced by applying caustic agents to the horses’ front feet. This is known as soring. Then heavy shoes, pads and chains are added to the front feet. Horses are forced forward by the riders’ sharp spurs. With each step the chains slap against the horses’ sored feet. The horses react in pain. Their feet are further propelled by the heavy shoes. To evade the pain, horses learn to shift most of their weight to the hindquarters which produces extreme engagement. The horses are ridden in harsh curb bits to restrain them from exploding. This is the real reason the horses move as they do. Torturous. Sadistic and unlawful. Yet Big Lick still exists.
I made a firm decision after watching a couple Big Lick videos that dressage is all my barefoot Tennessee walking horse would know. Maybe boring to watch in comparison, but dressage is humane and trains the horse with respect and dignity. Then I began to support organizations like Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) who advocate against Big Lick soring and abuse, and I began to meet others like Jennie Jackson who teach and train dressage for the naturally gaited horse.
Thankfully my naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse has never experienced Big Lick. Makana was imprinted at birth and raised by a loving family. I bought her in 2007 as a barefoot, just-turning-three-year-old filly. Natural and humane training is all she knows—no rehab needed.
Not so for many Tennessee walking horses down South.
Sweet Caroline’s story: A Big Lick survivor and given a second chance with dressage
A few weeks before my trip, Jennie had acquired a lovely mare named Sweet Caroline who had sadly experienced “Big Lick” training trauma. Like many Big Lick Tennessee walking horses, Caroline was bred to pace. When the heavy shoes and pads are added, then the horses move into a four-beat gait.
For years, Carolyn had been driven forward with sharp spurs into a harsh curb bit. She developed a habit ofrushing off in a tense, high-headed and hollow-backed frame. The soring scars on her front feet tell the rest of the story.
Now Caroline is barefoot. Could dressage break up her pace to develop a natural four-beat gait? Could dressage transform her tense, high-headed and hollow-backed frame into a relaxed and neutral posture? Could dressage help her trust a rider’s gentle hands, seek a snaffle bit contact, and accept light leg cues without rushing?
If anyone could teach me, it would be Jennie who has been training naturally gaited Tennessee walking horses for decades using dressage. Jennie had been retraining Caroline for several weeks prior to my arrival, so she knew how to coach me as I rode this hot, tense, and sensitive mare.
Jennie Jackson coached me as I rode this former Big Lick Tennessee walking horse with dressage. She is being ridden in a Happy Mouth Pelham bit which functions as a snaffle or a curb depending upon which rein is applied.
Dressage encourages relaxation which helps develop smooth gait for a barefoot former Big Lick TWH
Dressage produces relaxation and rhythm whether a horse trots, tolts, flat walks or fox trots. Relaxation replaces tension and is key to break up pace with a natural four-beat smooth gait like flat walk.
Jennie coached me through a great exercise to establish relaxation with Caroline.
True bend/counter bend transitions on a circle
At a regular walk on a 20-meter circle, Jennie coached me through transitions with Caroline between a true bend and a counter bend. The true bend is along the arc of the circle in a shoulder fore position. The counter bend is outside the arc of the circle. This exercise helped Caroline relax at the poll, lower her head and neck to a neutral position, which began to break up the pacey steps into an even four-beat walk.
The true bend/counter bend exercise taught Caroline to step beneath and across her belly with her hind leg each time I applied my calf lightly at the girth. This engaged her abdominal muscles to lift her back.
As I squeezed and released the inside rein softly, it relaxed the tension in her poll so she could soften and look slightly to the inside of the circle as she lowered her head and neck. The opposite rein (the indirect rein) maintained a light contact against her neck to keep her from moving sideways.
Then I’d squeeze and release the outside rein softly to relax the tension in her poll to soften slightly to the outside of the circle while applying my outside calf at the girth as she maintained a neutral head and neck position.
The true bend and counter bend exercise on a circle also helped to diagonalize Caroline’s foot fall. After she relaxed into the bending exercise at a walk, Jennie encouraged me to move her up into flat walk.
I clearly felt the difference between the tense pace and the relaxed four-beat flat walk. Each time Caroline lost relaxation, she became tense and rushed off into stiff bumpy pace. I transitioned her back to a walk and helped her regained relaxation in the bending exercise before transitioning back to flat walk.
Half halts for the gaited horse
When Caroline began to rush and pace, that’s when Jennie taught me the effectiveness of half halts: squeeze my fists together on the reins without pulling back and still my hips and back. As soon as Caroline slowed down into a smooth flat walk, I immediately relaxed my fingers (without letting the reins slip through my hands), and I followed hermovement with my fingers, hip joints and lower back.
While riding Caroline, I got LOTS of practice with half halts and releases. We had a few soft, round steps of flat walk with rhythm and relaxation. Then she would try to rush off again. I learned that it takes a lot of patience and quiet repetition to rehabilitate a traumatized Big Lick Tennessee walking horse.
Riding up and down hills is a great way to build top line muscles, engagement, and balance.
Cantering the hillside
After Caroline and I became acquainted in the arena, Jennie tacked up Watchout and we rode along the scenic trail system at the Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center. I schooled Caroline in flat walk and canter along the hillside overlooking the lake. We would canter up the hill to develop engagement and walk down the hill to help her learn balance. I switched between the flat walk and canter up the hill so Caroline would listen to my cues instead of anticipating canter.
In the few days I was there, it was delightful to witness how dressage began to rehabilitate a Big Lick Tennessee walking horse into a naturally smooth gaited and barefoot Tennessee walking horse.
Each day I rode Caroline, we had more prolonged moments of relaxation and rhythm. She had more and more consecutive steps of a natural four-beat flat walk. She was beginning to seek a snaffle bit contact instead of curling behind the bit to evading contact, and we began to build some trust.
I grew to love this spunky little mare. Returning home I felt good knowing that Sweet Caroline was in good hands with Jennie and that for the rest of her life she’d be sore no more.
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
Have you ever dreamed about riding along the ocean coast? It’s been a dream of mine, and it came true—but there was a catch. I had to ride in a Mardi Gras parade on a horse that had never been in one.
In January I had a week free before beginning my new job and learned that Jennie Jackson was training at Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center near Mobile, Alabama. So I took a spontaneous four-day trip South to briefly escape the arctic blast.
“Make sure you stay through Saturday,” Jennie said, “so that you can ride the ocean coast and in the Dauphin Island Mardi Gras parade.”
Ocean coast? Wow! Not only would I be Jennie’s working student and ride several Tennessee walking horses at various stages of training each day, but I would be riding the ocean coast—a dream come true!
I didn’t realize how special this opportunity was until I arrived. Dauphin Island only allows horses on the beach once a year and that’s only for horses that are trailered in for their Mardi Gras parade.
Speaking of Mardi Gras, Like most people, I thought Mardi Gras was an annual event exclusive to New Orleans. Turns out Mardi Gras originated in Mobile, Alabama and is celebrated for several weeks throughout the South until Lent begins.
On the third day of riding with Jennie, I met Abbie, a six-year-old Tennessee walking horse mare who reminded me of my naturally gaited Walking horse Makana. Abbie would be the horse I’d ride on the beach and in the parade. Neither she nor I had ever ridden the ocean coast or in a parade, so I did my best to establish trust and team work.
Abbie and I took a nice trail ride with one of the boarders while Jennie taught lessons. We rode up and down hills, alongside a beautiful aqua marine lake with rust colored sand, through the woods, over felled trees, and through creeks. Back at the Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center, Abbie and I negotiated their extensive trail obstacle course . I felt like we had connected well.
The next morning a group of us trailered to Dauphin Island through the grey skies and rain. Thankfully the sun broke through the clouds for our beach ride and parade.
Jennie Jackson riding her famous TWH dressage stallion Champagne Watchout.Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center’s TWH Abbie and I riding on the ocean coast.
The first one in the ocean was Jennie Jackson and her famous stallion Champagne Watchout. He LOVES the water and gave the rest of the horses confidence to step into the wavy shoreline. In no time we were flat walking the ocean coast. It wasn’t as romantic as I had pictured in my mind—galloping carefree through the water in a long flowing gown—but it was FUN!
Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center fosters a community of wonderful people who enjoy a variety of disciplines with their gaited horses: dressage, trail riding, competitive trail obstacles, jumping and cross country, parades, mounted patrol, and more.
Our group from Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center.
After our beach ride, our group dressed up in purple, green and gold, adorned in beads, and rode four miles along the city streets to the beginning of the parade route.
The large beads are called sugar beads.Not your typical between the ears shot.Abbie seemed to like the music and danced to the beat.How long do you think the beads will last on this head shaking horse?Large crowds ahead anxiously awaiting beads, coins and moon pies.Parade patrons caught flying strings of beads.This young parade patron has got the bead technique mastered.Baby’s first Mardi Gras.Front row seat.Parade patrons of all ages having a wonderful time!Love the hat!Kathee’s TWH mare Madison leading our group in the Mardi Gras Parade.Parade patrons caught flying strings of beads.Parade patrons getting a better view!Parade patron festively dressed for the parade.Love the hair!Festively dressed horse and rider.
Thanks to Abbie and the great group of people from Amazing Gaits Equestrian Center, I not only rode on the ocean coast, but I also rode eight miles through cheering crowds, horns, loud music and flying beads and couldn’t stop smiling the entire time!
Getting back to the trailers after four hours of riding, my face hurt from smiling about as much as my body hurt from riding!
There’s no better way to capture “the feeling of right” than by riding a gaited dressage school master under the coaching of a seasoned gaited dressage legend: Jennie Jackson.
The Gaited Dressage School Master
By Jennifer Klitzke
March 2015―I just got back from another Dressage as Applied to the Gaited Horse Clinic with Jennie Jackson. This time I flew to Tennessee. As much as I wanted to ride my naturally gaited Walking horse Makana, I couldn’t squeeze her in my luggage! Words cannot express my gratitude to Jennie’s daughter for her generosity in lending to me her exquisite naturally gaited Tennessee walking horse gelding, Outrageous, who became my second level school master for the three-day clinic. He was like riding a Rolls-Royce!
Outrageous is an organically gaited son of the famous gaited dressage stallion Champaign Watchout. I say, “organically gaited” because he is ridden barefoot and trained without the use of chains, pads, soring, harsh bits, or artificial gimmicks. He is Bonafide USDA approved!
Learning the “Feeling of Right”
Riding a school master is a terrific way to get established in “the feeling of right.” With Jennie’s coaching, Outrageous answered the many questions I have had training Makana in gaited dressage. He clarified the feelings between medium walk, flat walk, and running walk; the feeling of a correct response when applying my rein, seat, and leg aids for leg yield, shoulder in, haunches in, and half pass in flat walk; how to discern the feeling of stiffness within the horse’s body and resolving that stiffness through suppling exercises; the feeling of horse and rider balance; the feeling of riding on a relaxed and round back with deep stride beneath my seat.
Jennie also coached me through the positioning of “on-the-bit” as it relates to the head shaking horse while maximizing depth of stride; she helped me negotiated which of my body parts remain still and which ones follow the horse’s motion to allow the horse to move freely forward; she coached me through the application, timing, and release of aids for lateral suppling exercises; and gave me effective tools in how to regain trusted leadership whenever Outrageous became distracted or tense when away from home with a stranger he didn’t know. All of this learning will help me so much when I get back home to Makana.
The clinic was held at White Stables in Vonore, Tennessee and featured riders as young as 12 on up with a mix of gaited and trotting horses of various levels of training from green broke to well established in dressage.
Coaching riders with their gaited horses
In fact, one of the students, Beatrice came to the clinic with her fiancé’s three-year-old black Tennessee walking horse filly. She has been a long-time dressage rider of trotting horses and brought her fiancé’s gaited horse to the clinic to get feedback from Jennie about which gait the horse was performing beneath her.
This took me back to April of 2007 when I purchased my black gaited filly as a three-year-old and I asked the very same questions. (I only wish that Jennie lived near me so I could take regular lessons!)
By the second lessons Beatrice had her filly performing a smooth gaited rack, flat walk, and canter and leading our trail ride on the final clinic day!
Taking clinic experiences back home
A huge thanks to Jennie Jackson for imparting more knowledge and experience to me as Makana and I tackle the new gaited dressage tests this year. There are no words to describe how honored I am to learn from the only person in history who has trained and shown a naturally gaited Tennessee Walking Horse through the highest levels of dressage and who is willing to share her knowledge with anyone willing to learn.
Now that I’m back to snowy Minnesota, I can’t wait to try out all I’ve learned with my naturally gaited Walking horse Makana. (Come to think of it, she’s organically gaited, too!)
Special thanks to White Stables who hosted the clinic. What a terrific place to ride—situated on 135 acres of wooded trails which we experienced on our last day of the clinic. Plus, a wonderful group of people to ride with!
I hope this is helpful. Let me know your thoughts by sending a message.
After bouncing on non-gaited horses for 20 years, my aging body longs for a smoother ride. Little did I know that my search for a smooth gait would lead me to a jolting discovery.
Natural meets UNnatural
By Jennifer Klitzke
Surfing online ads in the warm comfort of my Midwest home on a wintery February day in 2007, my eyes latch onto a black beautiful, registered Tennessee Walking Horse filly. Her name: Gift of Freedom (a.k.a., Makana, a Hawaiian word for “gift”). Just turning three years old, she has 20 rides on her. Raised on the family farm, she had been imprinted from birth and handled daily. Intrigued with her name, partial to her color, valuing her upbringing, and she is barefoot like my other horses.
My husband and I take the two-and-a-half-hour road trip through the snowscape for a visit. The black beauty meets me at the fence. I instantly know she is the one for me when she wedges her nose between my arm and body. She literally makes me hug her. “What horse does that?!” I exclaim, “She is the friendliest horse I have ever met!”
I love everything I learn about Makana and the family who raised her that day. Driving away, my husband senses my excitement and says, “You already have three horses.”
A few days pass. On Valentine’s Day, my husband surprises me with better than a box of chocolates and says, “Yes, you can get the horse.” Wow, my first naturally gaited horse!
I send in my registration papers and become a member of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association (TWHBEA). A month later the Voice magazine arrives. I page through this thick, glossy, well-produced magazine and am perplexed. Page after page, I notice unnatural hoof angles, thick pads, chains, big shoes, thin shank bits, exaggerated poses and distressed expressions.
Is this how Tennessee Walking Horse are trained?!
I decided then and there, dressage is all I knew, and dressage is all Makana will know.
A couple months pass, and I attend a Midwest Horse Expo. That’s when I meet the Brenda Imus and watch her naturally gaited horse presentation. None of the gaited horses moved in the manner I saw pictured in the Voice magazine. One of the riders was even dressed in dressage attire and rode her horse at a flat walk, not trot. Inspired, I follow Brenda back to her booth for a chat and buy her DVD set.
Looking through information about TWH associations, a television catches my eye. It brings the Voice magazine photos to life. A TWH wearing the big shoes is moving next to a TWH with regular shoes. What a staggering contrast: mechanical and exaggerated movement vs. natural and flowing movement.
I later learn I had been watching Jennie Jackson riding her flat shod stallion Champagne Watchout at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration World Grand Championship class. She was the only flat shod entry riding among performance horses wearing the big shoes. And Jennie had been an advocate against TWH abuse for 30 years.
Soring? What is THAT?
In 2009 I took Makana to her first recognized TWH show, the Minnesota Celebration. Each horse was officially inspected for soundness and palpitated for evidence of soring before entering the show ring. Soring? What is THAT?
I was mortified to learn it was more than big shoes that made the horses move with exaggerated motion. Some people put corrosive agents on the horse’s front feet and add chains around the horse’s fetlocks. When the chains hit the raw skin the horse flicks its sore foot up with each step to produce the extreme motion. That’s what soring is. Horse abuse for a blue ribbon.
How jolting! However, I was thankful learn that soring has been made illegal according to the Horse Protection Act.
Then in 2012 my husband urgently called me into the living room to watch Nightline.I was shocked to hear reporter Brian Ross uncover an investigation about the ongoing soring abusive and inhumane training practices predominant in the TWH performance division.
“This is ILLEGAL! How can this be!?” I exclaimed.
Soring is hard to enforce. The infrastructure needed to police soring is expensive. Those who sore their horses have devised ways around the system, and those who get caught receive light sentences.
In November 2013, House Bill 1518 called the Prevent All Soring Tactics Act (PAST Act) was presented to Congress. It proposes to ban all use of pads and chains from the show world.
According to veterinarian Dr. Haffner, “The fact is the big lick can only be accomplished by soring,” he wrote in a letter to Congress urging them to put an end to this abuse. “When one soring technique becomes detectable, another one is developed. The big lick is a learned response to pain and if horses have not been sored, they do not learn it.
“It takes skill to be able to teach a horse the big lick and then determine the proper amount of soring and the proper timing to have a horse ready on a Friday or Saturday night. The horses must have the memory of the pain, but they must also be able to pass inspection.
“It takes a combination of the built up pads for the weight and the chain to strike against the pastern that has been sored to produce the big lick. Other methods have been developed, but the traditional method is oil of mustard placed on the pastern and a chain put around the pastern to strike against it.
“The hair must be protected and this is generally done by applying grease on the pastern with a stocking over it. Calluses develop as a result of the chain rubbing against the skin. Later, the calluses are removed with a paste made by mixing salicylic acid with alcohol and applying it over the calluses and putting a leg bandage over it for a few days,” he wrote, adding, “This practice is also very painful to the horse. I have seen many horses lying in pain in their stalls on Monday morning from an acid treatment on Saturday.”
To think that all I wanted was a comfortable, smooth horse to ride would lead me to such a jolting discovery about the exaggerated movements seen on the cover of the Voice. My naturally gaited and barefoot Tennessee walking horse might be boring to watch, but at least she’s happy and sound.
For more information about soring, the PAST Act, and ways you can help put an end to abusive and inhumane training methods, visit the links below.
I was fortunate to have met Champagne Watchout on two occasions. In 2015 I traveled to Tennessee to ride at a Jennie Jackson Dressage for the Gaited Horse Clinic and I got to meet this gentle, golden stallion. Even with his winter fuzzies, Champagne Watchout was a standout.
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