Time to end show-horse cruelty

By Joseph Tydings

Tribune News Service

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 the stoic creature known as the Tennessee walking horse.

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.

The practice results in docile, trusting horses being tortured day after day, with many winding up effectively crippled for life after their show days are done. An abusive segment of the horse show industry has subjected hundreds of horses to such suffering, nearly decimating a great American horse breed in the process.

But the U.S. Department of Agriculture could soon end this shameful tradition.

Protection act

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. And, with their political influence over powerful U.S. senators in Kentucky and Tennessee, they’ve been able to maintain the status quo.

This small subset of owners and trainers has developed a variety of gruesome tactics to inflict pain and force horses to “hit the big lick.” The methods include cooking caustic chemicals into the horses’ lower legs and then strapping on metal chains that strike the inflamed skin. Further, the horses are forced to wear and perform in heavy, stacked shoes that conceal hard objects jammed into their tender soles.

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 congressman from Tennessee and Kentucky determined to protect the interests of their law-breaking campaign contributors 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.

Ban implements

All horsemen and animal lovers should support this rule. It would end the failed industry self-policing system and replace it with a team of USDA-licensed and trained third-party, independent inspectors who will be monitored by and accountable to the agency for enforcement of the Horse Protection Act. It would prohibit the use of the implements known to be an integral part of the soring process.

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.

As the American public has learned the horrible truth about soring, they have overwhelmingly supported this reform. 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 dark chapter in American history, once and for all.

Joseph Tydings, a Democrat, represented Maryland in the U.S. Senate from 1965 to 1971. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.