Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) commends the United States Department of Agriculture for issuing final regulations that require minimum, mandatory penalties be adopted by horse industry organizations (HIOs) for soring violations.
Tennessee Walking Horse
Weak penalties had led to a show horse industry with thousands of individuals accumulating multiple soring violations over the years.
Soring, which is illegal under the Horse Protection Act (HPA), is the cruel and deliberate infliction of chemical or mechanical pain upon a horse’s hooves and limbs to create an unnatural, extreme action, high stepping gait for the show ring. As an HIO, FOSH adopted the penalties in 2010 when first requested by the USDA.
Although soring has been illegal for over forty years under the HPA, the practice is still widespread in show rings of Tennessee Walking Horses and Spotted Saddle Horses. Recent foreign substance testing results published by the USDA confirm that soring is a common practice in some areas of the U.S.
With passage of the final regulations, violators with multiple violations will be assessed years’ of suspensions from the show ring instead of a few weeks or months, and penalties will be served consecutively and not concurrently.
Weak penalties had led to a show horse industry with thousands of individuals accumulating multiple violations over the years. It is hoped that the mandatory penalties will lead to much greater protection of all gaited horses and permanent elimination of HPA violators from the show ring.
FOSH is a national leader in the promotion of natural, sound gaited horses and in the fight against abuse and soring of Tennessee Walking Horses.