A Tennessee walking horse trainer who has served as a show judge and on an industry group’s ethics committee was indicted Monday on animal cruelty charges related to a soring case earlier this year.
Larry Joe Wheelon, a Maryville, Tenn., trainer, along with Randall Stacy Gunter, Brandon Lunsford and Blake T. Primm, are accused of applying acid to walking horses “in a depraved and sadistic manner” for “competition in horse shows,” the indictment reads.
The only horse specifically named in the indictment that includes Primm is Jose’s Happy Feet/Laura Kate.
A second indictment with the three other defendants includes Los Lobos, Country Bumpkin, Fred/Coach’s Twisted Play, Lady Antebellum, Ferrell Hugh’s Final Score/The Stimulus, Night Shade/Black Night by Choice, In My Pocket, She’s Just Sweepin’/She’s a Sweeper, Sweepover, Shades of Cash/Greg, Sweepstakes Pzazz (sic), Sweepstakes Mare/Sweep Sister, Sweeping Up the Cash, Coach Filly and Neyland.
Similar charges were filed against Wheelon and the others in the spring, but were dismissed after a prosecutor’s misstep during an August probable cause hearing.