The Obama Administration is going out with a regulatory jab at the Tennessee Walking Horse. On Friday, the USDA released a batch of stricter rules to prevent a practice known as soring.
Broadly, soring is the injuring of a horse’s front legs to get them to kick higher. Historically, the practice involves irritating a horse’s ankles with cuts and chemicals. But it could also be sneaking something like a golf ball between a hoof and an oversized shoe.
The federal government has steadily cracked down on such techniques. But the new regulations go substantially further. The USDA will no longer allow the industry to police itself, providing its own inspectors. The agency is also banning the use of even the lightest chains as well as stacked horseshoes. The wedges are seen as necessary to get what’s called the “big lick.”
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See the new USDA rules added to the 1970 Horse Protection Act
“It will eliminate the ‘big lick’ as we know it,” says Keith Dane, an equine expert with the Humane Society of the United States, which has hounded the Walking Horse industry for years. “We may have a protracted battle ahead of us, but this is the first major step.”
Animal welfare groups praised the decision, as did Memphis Democrat Steve Cohen. He has argued for more oversight of the industry centered in Shelbyville while Republican Congressman Scott DesJarlais has accused the Obama Administration of overreach.
The Walking Horse industry is expected to push back swiftly, especially since the rules won’t become final until the Trump Administration takes over.
“These midnight regulations are not unusual. We call those a ‘parting gift’ from one administration to the other. And you just want to review it,” says Mike Inman, CEO of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. “We’re prepared — because we were expecting this — we will be issuing a legal challenge as well.”
Inman says that the walking horse industry is open to independent oversight, but he contends pads and chains aren’t hurting horses.
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