Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) commends the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for implementing new technology in the battle against soring.
Iris scans protecting horses
The iris scan technology ensures that a sore horse brought up for inspection is not reentered into another class at the same horse show and also retains permanent information in a database.
Soring of horses is the cruel and deliberate infliction of chemical or mechanical pain upon a horse’s hooves and limbs to create an unnatural, exaggerated, high stepping gait for the show ring. Soring is a major animal welfare issue that has been illegal for over forty years under the federal Horse Protection Act (HPA) yet the practice is still widespread in some show rings of Tennessee Walking Horses, Spotted Saddle Horses and Racking Horses.
The iris scan technology ensures that a sore horse brought up for inspection is not reentered into another class at the same horse show. The technology also retains permanent information in a database on all horses scanned so that a horse with a record of abuse from Horse Protection Act violations can be more easily tracked.
One result of the technology is that potential horse buyers will be able to learn if the horse they are considering purchasing has ever been sored.
FOSH is a national leader in the promotion of natural, sound gaited horses and actively fights against abuse and soring of Tennessee Walking Horses. To become a member of FOSH and help in its efforts to fight soring or for more information about FOSH