Soring (Part 3): Serious Challenges To Ending Soring

It will take a large amount of additional dollars and more industry and government intervention to solve today’s pressure shoeing and soring concerns.

While soring has been banned for 38 years under the government’s Horse Protection Act (HPA), Donna Benefield maintains there’s been a lack of desire to bring about needed change.

“As an industry, we’ve spent a great deal of time and money in coming up with ways to whitewash a terminal situation,” says the administrative director of the Horse Protection Commission in Gallatin, Tenn. “We’ve tried to sell this to the public by saying, as we have all heard many times, ‘We’ve come a long way.’ Well, we certainly have, we’re still soring horses!”

Benefield believes soring will continue as long as the punishment does not exceed the reward. As an example, she says many Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) people on the violation lists from 2000 to 2008 were also chronic offenders in the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

“Congress mandated the enforcement of the HPA to the USDA in 1970,” she says. “Here we are 38 years later, and soring continues to plague this industry. The responsibility for its success or failure rests squarely in the lap of the USDA and its field people, Veterinary Medical Officers, Horse Protection Coordinators and USDA deputy administrators.

“They continue to be faced with the primary reason enforcement is failing. That is because the USDA undersecretary’s offices have continued to acquiesce to political influence peddling. Without their support, this program will continue to fail.”

The USDA also has refused to decertify any Horse Industry Organizations (HIO) that are not enforcing the law. “When asked why, we’ve been told by government officials that it would be political suicide because the non-compliant HIOs are heavily backed by certain senators and congressman,” says Benefield. “As a result, the USDA has never decertified any HIO.”

The USDA enforcement of the HPA is also erratic. As an example, the USDA did not bother to file a case when a trainer applied mustard oil to a show animal in the holding area after the horse had passed inspection and before entering the show ring, says Benefield.

“There have been a few suspended trainers who have gone out of business, but this isn’t well known in the industry,” adds Rachel Cezar, a veterinarian and Horse Protection Coordinator with the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

Show Inspection Lacking

In mid-August, the Friends of Sound Horses (FOSH) released an analysis of soring violations. It indicted that USDA inspectors attended only 7% of the TWH shows in 2007, with the remainder self-regulated by the industry. Yet HPA violations for all HIO shows were 15 times higher when USDA officials were present. At one show, the violation rate was 69 times higher when USDA staffers were on hand.

“If the USDA had the resources to attend 100% of these shows, the number of HPA suspension tickets could reach 4,000 per year instead of the present 600 to 800,” says FOSH’s Teresa Bippen. “If exhibitors and trainers were not allowed to exit the show grounds without inspection, there’s no estimate of the number of violations that would occur.”

Congress passed the HPA in 1970 due to the public outcry in regard to the soring of the TWH, says Keith Dane, Director of Equine Protection for the Humane Society of the United States. Soring still persists despite the fact that Congress intended for the HPA act to end soring rather than regulate it.

He maintains the HPA has failed to end soring due to numerous cultural, financial and political factors.

Cultural Reasons

He says the industry’s reasons include an addiction to the artificial “Big Lick” gait and breed leaders who won’t admit that soring takes place. There are also numerous conflicts of interest and the fact that violators are allowed to participate in shows while under HPA suspension.

“There’s no public knowledge of soring violators and no stigma associated with soring violations among participants,” says Dane. “The HPA only applies to show grounds and transport. Judges can be — and are — past violators. In addition, the presentation of horses is less graphic than in the past, leading to a perception of improvement.”

Financial Reasons

When the HPA was passed in 1970, it had a congressional cap of $500,000, the same as today. However, this $500,000 appropriation should have grown to $2.7 million based on Consumer Price Index changes over the past 38 years.

While there’s a relatively small minority of the TWH industry that has much at stake financially with soring, many don’t want to change.

“In the middle-Tennessee area where the industry is strongest, local newspapers protect the status quo rather than advocate reform,” says Dane. “The negative impact of the stigma of soring is ignored — not to mention animal welfare concerns. Many of these folks believe that without the extreme gait, the TWH would no longer be exciting and would not attract crowds, participants and customers.”

He says soring is against the law and is as much animal abuse as cockfighting or dogfighting. Based on the negative pubic reaction to dogfighting in the case of former National Football League player Michael Vick, Dane doesn’t think the general public will continue to tolerate soring.

Political Concerns

Dane says there’s been cyclical and erratic federal government enforcement due to political influence by TWH lobbyists among members of Congress.

“The industry questions the credentials, credibility and findings of licensed doctors of veterinary medicine hired by the USDA to monitor and oversee the inspection process. Instead, the industry asks the public to put its trust in its inspection system, which allows HPA violators to serve in leadership and oversight roles.”

Dane has seen mixed results from having the HIOs handle enforcement. “Some HIOs have virtually no sored horses and a zero-tolerance policy,” he says. “With non-compliant HIOs, the violation rate soars whenever USDA inspectors are present. Unfortunately, there’s a lack of resolve on the part of some HIOs to effectively enforce the HPA or to address serious issues.”

Through congressional pressure, Dane says, the industry has kept the USDA from inspecting horses in barns, trailers or elsewhere on show grounds. A lack of a central database to monitor performance keeps penalties from being recognized among all of the 14 HIOs, with each have different tracking and reporting systems.

Dane says there’s also a lack of annual reporting on HPA enforcement. The last report to Congress in 2000 stated that 42% of the horses USDA veterinarians inspected at 56 shows had pathological abnormalities indicative of soring. Among horses wearing stacked pad packages, the rate was 79%. It was 17% among flat-shod horses.

National Group Formed

Dane says one of the biggest concerns has been the lack of a national united voice against soring. However, a new group, called the Alliance to End Soring, is being formed. Its goals are to communicate with Congress, monitor enforcement by USDA, mobilize members to action and to educate the public.

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