USDA SHOULD ACT NOW TO END SHOW HORSE CRUELTY
From my early days riding to my service during World War II to even today, horses and ponies have always been a part of my life.
It was during my tenure representing Maryland in the U.S. Senate, however, that I first became aware of a sickening practice all too often inflicted on Tennessee walking horses.
Soring is an inhumane process that involves intentionally injuring a horse’s hooves and legs to get him to perform an exaggerated, high-stepping gait known as “the big lick,” which is a big ribbon-winner at horse shows across the South.
But the U.S. Department of Agriculture could soon end this shameful tradition.
I took a stab at doing just that in 1968, when I authored the Horse Protection Act, which Congress passed in 1970, making it a crime to exhibit, sell or transport a sored horse.
What I didn’t realize then, though, was that many owners and trainers in the walking horse industry are so corrupt and so addicted to the trophies produced by an artificial, pain-based gait, that they’ll do anything to evade detection and avoid prosecution.
The trainers go to great lengths to avoid detection, applying numbing agents to the horse’s legs the day of the show and using beatings to train the horse not to react to pain during inspection.
The Horse Protection Act authorizes the USDA to inspect horses at shows, but a 1976 amendment to the law established a self-policing scheme under which the walking horse industry has been allowed to select its own inspectors, many of whom have inherent conflicts of interest. This system has been such a failure that a 2010 audit by the USDA office of the inspector general called for its abolishment and for the USDA to resume full oversight of inspections.
In recent years, undercover investigations and media coverage have shone a frightful and tragic light on this abuse — and in the absence of USDA action to implement necessary regulatory reforms, Congress once again got involved. It introduced new, tougher bipartisan horse protection legislation.
The Prevent All Soring Tactics Act, co-sponsored by more than half of Congress, would amend the Horse Protection Act to end the failed system of industry self-policing, ban the torture devices used in soring and stiffen penalties to provide a more effective deterrent.
Support for the PAST Act is vast and includes America’s entire veterinarian community, almost every major horse breed and show organization, animal protection groups, as well as law enforcement associations.
Unfortunately, Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the majority leader of the U.S. Senate, has prevented any vote on this bill. And opposition from a handful of congressmen from Tennessee and Kentucky has effectively thwarted enforcement of existing laws.
The USDA has now finally stepped forward to use its clear authority to propose a rule that would implement new regulations consistent with key elements of the PAST Act.
These reforms will save the true, uncorrupted walking horse industry from further deterioration caused by a few wealthy and powerful horse show exhibitors. The proposed regulatory changes will allow those who are playing by the rules to finally be free of the stigma that soring brings on this beautiful breed of horses.
The USDA must move swiftly during this presidential administration to implement these needed, long-overdue reforms. For nearly a half-century, violators have thumbed their noses at federal law in their pursuit of this blatant animal cruelty. It’s time to finally close this cruel chapter in American history, once and for all.