THE AMAZING CARL BLEDSOE

Natural Horsemanship Trainer And Teacher

Written by: Kym Rouse Holzwart

If you were not at Carl Bledsoe’s Gaited Horse/Natural Horsemanship Clinic at Spotted Dance Ranch in Brooksville this past December, you really missed something special!

The clinic was Carl’s—and his wonderful wife Tammy’s—first clinic in the central Florida area. The good news, though, is they’re back for a second clinic on March 10-12.

Personally, I’ve been on a long journey to improve the gait of my Spotted Saddle Horses and my gaited horse-riding skills since switching many years ago from trotting horses. After growing frustrated when presented with “old school” gimmicks, which are cruel and wrong, in my opinion, to correct gaiting issues, my continued search for knowledge and better methods in recent years led me to natural horsemanship methods.

There are many good natural horsemanship trainers out there but very few that specialize in gaited horses, even fewer that are good teachers.

I met the Bledsoes in early 2022 while observing/auditing one of their clinics for a day, and immediately invited them to Spotted Dance Ranch to put on a clinic. Carl, with help from Tammy and his Tennessee Walking Horse gelding, Jazzy, is that rare person that is both an amazing natural horsemanship trainer and teacher.

Getting to where he is today has been a long and hard journey. With over 40 years of experience, Carl Bledsoe knows horses. As a third-generation horseman and secondgeneration trainer of champion and world champion Tennessee Walking Horses, he was born into the world of Big Lick show horses. The Big Lick is a forced, unnatural, high-stepping gait of Tennessee Walking Horses, and other gaited breeds, seen in some horse shows that is caused by the cruel and inhumane practices associated with “soring.”

The craze for the Big Lick movement of Tennessee Walking Horses started around 1950; the exaggerated front leg action at the running walk drew spectators to horse shows and was rewarded by judges. Since it took natural ability and time to train horses to perform this gait naturally, some started using practices, such as weighted shoes, stacked pads or “stacks,” and chains around the pasterns, to enhance the movement in less time or in less talented horses.

As the judges continued to reward horses with even higher and more dramatic action, some trainers started using horrible methods such as weighted chains and stacks, putting tacks under shoes or trimming the hooves too short to cause pain, and the cruel practice of soring, which is the application of caustic chemicals to the pasterns of the front legs to cause pain when the chains bang against them.

Clockwise from the top: A horse is not able to achieve the correct gait without being physically and mentally balanced, Carl working with the writer and her Spotted Saddle Horse mare, Spicey Gravedancer, Carl, with help from Tammy and his Tennessee Walking Horse gelding, Jazzy, is that rare person that is both an amazing natural horsemanship trainer and teacher. Groundwork is an important part of the clinic.

Roundup

Carl Bledsoe Horsemanship, carlbledsoehorsemanship.com, tlbledsoe2801@gmail.com, 770-510-3317 (Carl), 770-403-4635 (Tammy), Just Gait on Facebook

Spotted Dance Ranch, spotteddanceranch.com, kymrouse@att.net, 813-482-4028

Horse World Expo, March 2-5, Harrisburg, Pa., horseworldexpo.com

Equine Affaire, April 13-16, Columbus, Ohio, equineaffaire.com

Prevent All Soring Tactics Act, HR 5441, congress.gov

The result of these inhumane practices is that the horse is in so much pain it picks up its front legs as fast as possible to try to alleviate it. Their rear legs also step under the body as far as possible to get the weight off the front legs.

While these cruel abuses are illegal under the Horse Protection Act of 1970, they are still practiced, and Big Lick horses can still be seen in some show rings today. Over the years, however, measures have been implemented to stop these practices, such as inspections, though savvy trainers have figured out ways to pass those.

As of this writing, the Prevent All Soring Tactics Act, or PAST, was approved and passed by the U.S. House of Representatives this past November. Once implemented, the PAST Act protects Tennessee Walking Horses and related gaited horse breeds from the cruel and inhuman practices associated with the artificial, exaggerated Big Lick gait. Hopefully, very soon, soring and the horrible Big Lick gait will be a thing of the past.

Carl became wealthy and successful training and showing Big Lick Tennessee Walking Horses. However, almost 15

Since the December clinic was so well received,