Data released this week from the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) shows that every horse randomly sampled at last year’s Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration tested positive for illegal substances.
Horse grooming products = illegal substances?
A number of "illegal substance" items found in the tests were common equine products such as shampoos and bug sprays.
Dr. Steve Mullins, the veterinarian speaking on behalf of the horse industry, explained that a number of the items found in the tests were common equine products such as shampoos and bug sprays, stating that an animal rights group was engaged in “a PR ploy,” referring to the press release that included the data, which was released by the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS).
Dr. Mullins also said that some of the chemicals found on the horses by the USDA “are disturbing.”
“We as an industry have got some problems,” Mullins said. “But all of those chemicals that are listed as positive, are they illegal? According to the Horse Protection Act, they probably are,” explaining that you can only have Vaseline, mineral oil and glycerin on a horse’s hoof and pastern area.
The HSUS press release, issued Wednesday, stated that APHIS had conducted random testing at various Tennessee Walking Horse competitions.
“Most troubling, of the 52 horses tested at the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, the largest and most prominent walking horse show in the country, every single horse tested positive for illegal agents,” the press release stated.
USDA spokesman Dave Sacks stated Thursday that they had received the HSUS petition, and would “evaluate it thoroughly.”
“Our first step will be to share it with USDA’s Office of the General Counsel, in order to measure it up against the Horse Protection Act regulations, so that we can properly determine if the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has the authority to act upon what HSUS has suggested in its petition,” Sacks said.
Sacks also stated that when the USDA inspects horses, “we are looking for any signs of soring. Numbing agents are a significant problem, but we can and do detect them.
The USDA’s swab test is so sensitive that substances such as shampoos, paint residue, bug sprays, medicines, as well as Vitamin E creams, are showing up on the lab results.
“Are they legal? By the strict letter of the law, they aren’t legal,” Mullins said. “We have to define and find a baseline of ‘OK guys, how can we prevent these residues from being down on the horse’s pastern areas,’” explaining the substances are allowed on the animal’s back, but not its feet.
One of the topics that HIOs are looking into is would a horse test positive for an illegal substance “even though the substance detected is a soap or shampoo,” Mullins said.