Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) most recent campaign has taken $50,000 out of the coffers of the ONLY Children's Hospital in the poorest state of these United States. In doing so they never affected the Horse Show their campaign was directed at. By harassing the administration at Blair Batson Children's Hospital, FOSH headed by Teresa Bippen has caused the refusal of approximately $50,000 in donations this year from the Mississippi Charity Horse Show. This Horse Show in the past 4 years has donated $175,000 to the Blair Batson Children’s Hospital in Jackson Mississippi.

The sinister part of the FOSH campaign is that in the same sentence where they are enlisting others to harass the administration of the Blair Batson Hospital; they ask for donations to FOSH. Aiding FOSH in this endeavor is The All American Walking Horse Alliance headed by Jeannie Mcguire and their paid mouth piece Clant Seay, Jr.
 
With a $175 million dollar yearly budget and 50,000 children walking through the hospital every year, every donation counts, according to Blair Batson CEO Guy Giesecke.
"Here at the Children's hospital we have a lot of needs. It's very expensive to run our organization," said Giesecke. "We use these donations, these very important donations for medical equipment, that's very expensive, also improvements."

Even though every horse that enters the show ring is fully inspected by USDA trained Horse Industry Organizations and by USDA personnel themselves, the harassment and threats caused to the administration of Blair Batson Hospital by those enlisted by FOSH has caused the Hospital to regretfully decline the donation from the Mississippi Charity Horse Show this year.

As a horse owner, breeder and former exhibitor I am for the legal showing of sound Tennessee Walking Horses. Each year the owners of the stallions I manage have donated stud fees to help the Mississippi Charity Horse Show to raise funds for the Blair Batson Children’s Hospital. This has always been a project that I hold dearly.

As a father who has spent a great deal of time at our Vanderbilt’s Children Hospital with a daughter, not knowing if she would leave with me, I have walked in the shoes of a parent that needed a Children’s Hospital to save my child. I’m extremely offended by FOSH’s actions by using the CHILDREN as pawns in their campaign against the legal showing of performance Tennessee Walking Horses. It is apparent by their actions they care nothing about children, sick children, or poor sick children.

Who in these organizations is going to replace these funds much needed by the Blair Batson Hospital? Who will tell those parents of a child looking for comfort and a cure that they will have $50,000 less to help their child this year?

To refute my claim I challenge FOSH and the All American Walking Horse Alliance to donate $50,000 to the Blair Batson Children’s Hospital this year and every following year that the Mississippi Charity Horse Show has been committed to do.

This has nothing to do about horses and everything to do about Children. It is quite apparent the dividing line of those of us who care for children and those who do not.

David W. Williams