Make yourself heardSen. Lamar Alexander – 423-752-5337 or 202-224-4944Rep. Marsha Blackburn – 615-591-5161 or 202-225-2811
It’s almost Celebration time in Tennessee. Again.
The 76th annual 11-day Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville is scheduled to begin in 10 days.
Organizers bill the series of shows as “the premier event” for the Tennessee Walking Horse. It is where the breed’s “World Grand Champion” and another 20 “World Champions” in various contest categories are named, claiming more than $650,000 in prizes and awards and far more in stud fees and foal sales. There’s also a barn decorating contest, a trade fair and a dog show.
It all sounds fun. But it’s not. Especially not for the so-called “performance” horses – the ones with big padded hooves and the “big lick” gait that in the past four or five decades has been artificially exaggerated from a once gorgeous natural high-step to what now looks like a tortured lunge.