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 second-generation 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.
WITH OVER 40 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE,
CARL BLEDSOE KNOWS HORSES.
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
years ago he walked away from it all and went from making almost $20,000 per month to nearly nothing. It had become clear to him that what he was doing was wrong and that he was part of the problem.
Since that time he has been doing everything possible to right the wrong, including becoming a fierce advocate to end the practice of soring and the Big Lick gait. Instead of focusing on money and blue ribbons, Carl now chooses the horse. Walking away from the only world he knew came at great personal cost, including losing friends, being estranged from family, even death threats.
Carl’s past is a critical component on who he is now, helping to make him the horseman he is today.
While Carl specializes in gaited horse breeds, he and Tammy work with all breeds and disciplines. It is their life’s mission to educate and speak out against the mistreatment and misconceptions of Tennessee Walking Horses and other gaited horse breeds. He has spent years re-educating himself in classical training, biomechanics of the horse and proper self-carriage.
And he passionately passes on that knowledge. He believes in understanding and education founded on compassion and empathy for the horse, with the horse and rider developing a strong relationship. A horse is not able to achieve the correct gait without being physically and mentally balanced and having a balanced rider to help facilitate self-carriage.
For the past 13 years, Carl and Tammy have been conducting clinics and participating in expos, conferences, fairs and other horse-related events all over the country. At their farm in Talking Rock, Georgia, they give lessons, hold clinics, rehab and train horses. Carl will be the featured gaited clinician at the Horse World Expo in Pennsylvania in early March and at Equine Affaire in Ohio in April.
Do not miss out on an opportunity to watch or participate in one of Carl’s clinics or see him at an expo or similar event. Hopefully, Carl and Tammy will be become regular visitors to Florida in the future.
If you are able to watch or participate in Carl’s clinic at Spotted Dance Ranch in Brooksville in March, it will be an amazing opportunity. FCM
