NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & SportsAttendance Drops in Walking Horse Celebration

SHELBYVILLE, Tenn.- It's an event steeped in tradition, but marred by controversy. Organizers of the 73rd Annual Tennessee Walking Horse Celebration say the economy played a big role in decreased attendance this year.

The numbers at this year's Celebration dropped to about 168,000. That's down from nearly 177,000 last year, a 4.5 percent drop.

The number of horses entered, also dropped, but organizers are optimistic, and hope to boost attendance in years to come. Five years ago, a fight between inspectors and handlers over soring, shut down the Celebration.

Soring is the illegal practice of inflicting pain on a horse's front legs to exaggerate the animal's gait.