Tennessee walking horse trainer Jackie McConnell gets three years of probation, $75,000 fine

photo Horse trainer Jackie McConnell, right, leaves the Joel W. Solomon Federal Courthouse downtown with his attorney Hugh Moore after a hearing in federal court in March, 2012. McConnel has been indicted for 52 counts of violations of the Horse Protection Act along with co-defendants Jeff Dockery, John Mays and Joseph Abernathy for allegedly participating in what is known as "horse-soring," an abusive practice which causes walking horses to lift their legs higher for shows.

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Co-defendants in federal horse case get probation

A federal judge today sentenced a former hall of fame Tennessee walking horse trainer to three years probation and fined him $75.000 for soring horses.

Jackie McConnell, 60, said, "I take responsibility for what I've done."

McConnell pleaded guilty in May to a charge of conspiring to violate the Horse Protection Act.

He had been charged in a 52-count indictment after hidden-camera video captured images of him abusing horses to make them lift their hooves in the exaggerated "big lick" of walking horses.

McConnell had started to cry during the statement, though he showed no physical reaction to the sentence.

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