#Tennessee Walking Horse

[horsefigureoftheday]

Horse figure of the day: My Beautiful Horses C#28 "Prancer"

[jorvikrangerbrock]

[ahedderick]

Bear with us

Yesterday evening my daughter, home from college for the weekend, decided to take Hero out for a quick ride. A while later I heard my husband get a call. His voice raised. "a BEAR?!" . . . ""Well, get back to the barn!"

um-what?

When she returned she told us that Lady, running a little ahead of the horse as she usually does, startled two black bears. She instantly deployed guarddog.exe, and barked furiously at them. K noticed that Lady's barking seemed a lot more than usual for a squirrel, and halted Hero to look around carefully. On of the bears had climbed a tree to get away from Lady (50ish lb, 22kg, WAY more bark than bite). The other ran off. K and Hero froze in place, and the bear decided to come back down the tree. Once it hit the ground, Lady got guarddog.exe confused with herdinginstinct.exe, and started chivvying the bear TOWARD K and Hero. There they stood, in the path of a running black bear, with a screaming hellhound right behind.

Hero, whose exploits have included the Plastic Bag Panic of 2018 and the Frog Freak-out of 2021, was nonchalant and unbothered by the bear. (K much more bothered). The bear turned sharply to get the hell away from everyone, and K was able to disengage Lady from pursuit. They returned home very quickly. Thank heavens Nutmeg wasn't with them.

It is always some damned thing around here.

[schleichoftheday]

Today's Schleich is:

42359 Tennessee Walker Horse Gelding [2017 - 2020]

[theprissythumbelina]

I was looking up gaited horses yesterday for that ask which reminds me of something very important.

If you care for the welfare of horses and are in the US, you can act to contact your senator to support the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (S. 4004), which has been repeatedly introduced since 2021, but has not passed the Senate. The Humane Society of the United States has some information and an email template.

Soring is a practice used primarily in breed specific horse shows of the Tennessee Walking Horse, known as Big Lick. The practice involved tall stacks added to the bottom of a horse's front feet, as well as caustic substances, metal chains, and nails driven into the soft sole of a horse's foot to produce a high-stepping gait beyond their natural movement. Tennessee Walkers exposed to this practice suffer pain, chemical burns, and permanent damage to their bodies as a result, often from ages as young as 2 years old.

"Big Lick" Style Tennessee Walking Horse. Note the extra padding and chains attached to the front feet.

"Flat shod" Tennessee Walking Horse

[virtie333]

National Day of the Horse

My first horse!

Star

Jack

Ribbon girl at a Paint Horse show

Queenie

Smoky

Rancher

Skitt

Flax (and my mom!)

My first 'heart horse,' though he wasn't mine: Pete

April and my uncle's cows

Hobo Day Parade, SDSU. I was on the black horse, R.C., carrying the state flag.

Ari and Patriot

Guess who? The original Virtie! Virtuesandvices, my second 'heart horse,' (who I also didn't own).

Rocky, a Tennessee Walking Horse stallion I took care of for a few years.

Finally, my first horse, Windsor. It only took 28 years.

My unicorn, and my first Arabian, Joe.

My second Arabian, Tariq.

Last, but far from least, Chester.

[horsesarecreatures]

Laura just sent me these pics of Amba watching Eli eat grass. 😍

[burtsmithers]

What do you think. I’m actually going to get to try him before I buy him. Zoom in to the brand. Let me know if you know it.

[countryb4rbie]

Enjoying the sun for the first time in forever☀️

[hippurislonghorn]

Little Tennessee Walking Horse!

[horsefigureoftheday]

Horse figure of the day: Schleich Exclusive Tennessee Walker #72150

[sketch-shepherd]

Relaxing with Summerdrop at the Fort Pinta beach

[ahedderick]

Horse/honse

So, a question from @quite-quirksome about Hero got me thinking about Hero's conformation (body structure) and coloring.

He is, I say kindly, a great example of buying for temperament, not beauty. Number 1: that is a blocky head. If you looked at a show quality Tennessee Walker, it would have a finer, more tapered muzzle. Number 2: a lot of people hate bald (white) faces. Snips, star, blazes etc are considered attractive; bald not-so-much. Excessive white on the face is also linked to deafness (like white cats) and blue eyes. Which brings me to:

Number 3: pink skin, like Hero has underneath the white fur, is prone to sunburn and skin cancer, just like humans. His skin under the gray fur is a dark gray.

See that? It was smaller when we bought him. Three vets looked at it and said not to worry about it unless it grew. When it grew, a vet removed it and biopsied it. Yep, it was cancer. The spot of the excision healed up beautifully, and it has not recurred. However, he gets a careful skin check from time to time! He has plenty of shade to stand in during sunny months, and he does use that.

Number 4: his legs are stocky and thick compared to the breed standard. The next photo, from a TN walker sale site, shows the typical graceful leg. And head. (OMG - that horse is for SALE! Wouldn't he make a marvelous pal for Hero?? Oh, jeez.)

Despite all that, however, Hero is the perfect horse! Because what we wanted was a safe, gentle fellow for fun riding, not a show horse. He excelled at safe and gentle when K was but a 65-pound, 12-yr-old beginner rider. He is 21, now, and showing his age a bit. Still has plenty of pep, though, and should be rideable for a lightweight rider for years to come.

[schleichoftheday]

Today's Schleich is:

72051 Tennessee Walker Horse Mare [2013]

[jorvik-fashion]

Druid costume! my sso blog is @rowan-ravenlake

[that-gray-arab]

we’re gonna have a super late baby this year but I’m so ready for him/her to be here🥹🥰