Customer Reviews

From the Horse's Mouth

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Every horse lover should read this book. It is so heartbreakingly true it will bring you to tears many times as you read. Someday this abuse has to be stopped. I love the way the book is written, with the horses telling the story. A very powerful book.Thank you, Mr Davis for writing this book. So many people choose not to see what is happening to these beautiful and naturally unique horses.

My family is just getting into the Walking Horse industry, and I felt this book was a good way to find out some of the history of the breed.

I was very upset of find out that these animals are treated in such a manner. It almost makes me embarressed to say that I want to be a owner and breeder of these fine animals.

All I can say, is that now that I know what is actually happening, I can try to do all I can to promote sound horses and help in the fight to get this to come to end someday.

More people need to read this book, and maybe someday there will be enough of a push to make all this torture end.

I showed pleasure Tennessee Walking horses for years and a padded horse on one occasion. I saw most all of the things mentioned in this book done to these wonderful horses, with perhaps one exception. Although I never sored any of my own personal horses, due to the fact I love them too much and a blue ribbon isn't that important to me, I was shown how to do it and encouraged to do it and did show horses which were sore (although I was not their owner but was riding them for their owner). I cared to much about my animals to sore them and was very interested in reading this book when I found out about it. It is pretty painful to read but it is very honest in describing what does happen to these wonderful horses. Unfortunately today the plantation pleasure horses are going through as much as the padded horses, only minus the pads. If only they could talk and Mr. Davis has done a really nice job giving them their due. I hope this book will enlighten many, but at the same time will not turn anyone away from this breed because it is a wonderful breed to own, ride and show; and all these things can be done successfully without abusing the horses. Funny how the characters in this book really remind me of some of the exact big time walking horse trainers and showmen I know of.

Finally, a book that is sensitive and sympathetic to the horse abuse that goes on behind closed-doors everyday in horse barns all over the country, but especially the south. The Tennessee Walking Horse has generated millions of dollars for the economy, and is 'hushed' by powerful lobbyists that contribute to higher political powers. The Tennessee Walking Horse has never had a 'voice', until now. This book exposes the dirty secrets of the trainers and stables through the voice of the horse, as told by the horse. Its about time! An animal lover's book at its finest!

Although this well written book is fiction, it is based upon the SAD facts that many horses in the Tennessee Walking Horse show industry must endure. Very educational for those that are not aware of the abuse these poor horses suffer.

Anyone who reads this book and is not motivated to change the Walking Horse training methods has no soul. The horrors that Walking Horses are put through in the name of beauty are absolutely and without a doubt the most cruel and unhumane practices on the face of the earth. If people would just appreciate the horses' natural ability and gait it would be a much more enjoyable association.

I have owned Tennessee walking horses for years, but I never understood exactly what they went through in the industry's notion of "show training." Now I do. I felt like I came to know the young horse. I read the book in one sitting and then passed it on to another horse owner. It is hard to put down, and even harder to get over the anger it engenders. But it is not all hard reading. It captures the feelings of the show barn and the trainers and owners. Others have told me that this book speaks the truth.

I had to put this book down several times while reading it because the barbaric, medieval things done to these beautiful animals made my scalp crawl. While growing up in the 1950s I heard and saw some things at barns but was too young to understand them or the pain these actions caused the horses. After Congress passed the Horse Protection Act in 1970, I thought that would end abuse of the Tennessee walking horses. How wrong and painfully (for the horses) naive I was. This summer I Googled "Tennessee Walking Horse soring" and was so horrified by the photos, articles, and court cases against prominent trainers and owners that I was unable to sleep for several nights. In 2006 so many horses were abused and sored that no world champion was named at the Shelbyville "Celebration." There's an oxymoron. Then I read Mr. Davis' excellent, heart-rending book, "From the Horse's Mouth" and thought, "So it is true." Not only had all the things I feared happened to this wonderful breed, but the most devious, gruesome devices are still used as I write this to circumvent the intent and purpose of the Horse Protection Act, including beating horses with baseball bats to make them stand still while the inspectors examine their hooves. I would provide more examples of these atrocities, except that someone might glom onto them as "training methods."
I want to add that not every breeder, owner, or trainer of a Tennessee Walking horse is a member of the equine Gestapo. There are several groups trying to preserve the heritage of the walking horse and many fine people who refuse to sore their horses. There are also a few courageous souls who admitted they sored their horses but could not continue to do so and have spoken out about the torture. One trainer said he stopped soring his horses when his 13 year old son asked him not to do it anymore. These are the people who deserve blue ribbons. Out of about 40 "Trainers of the Year" named by the Walking Horse Trainers Association, only 5 have not received suspensions or violations.
"Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody's business to interfere when they see it." Anna Sewell, Black Beauty, 1894.