Summary timeline: What's behind US Equestrian, American Horse Council calls for delay of USDA's new Walking horse soring regulations?

UPDATE: On January 24, the US Equestrian Federation announced that the US Department of Agriculture had indeed pushed back new rules to prevent soring in Tennessee walking horses and similar breeds until April 1, 2025. The article below describes the background to this decision. 

Since then, however, sweeping changes in Washington, DC have affected many cabinet agencies, and are expected to impact the USDA. Whether these changes will impact the APHIS horse inspection program remains to be determined.

Readers in the USA may be aware that long-anticipated changes to the federal Horse Protection Act are scheduled to go into effect on February 1. These new rules change the way that Tennessee Walking horses will be inspected at horse shows, and by whom, in an effort to prevent deliberate "soring" practices to enhance gait.

If only it was that easy.

As some may recall, similar changes were scheduled to be enacted at the close of the Obama administration in 2016, but were administratively delayed during the transition to the first Trump administration. They were withdrawn from the Federal Register on January 24, 2017.

It has taken eight years to get to the point of these new regulations, but they were once again scheduled to go into effect just a week after President Trump is inaugurated. No one knows how or if the new administration might impede or facilitate the new rules, but when President Trump took office for his first term, he froze all pending rules and actions of the Obama administration.

The American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Association of Equine Practitioners have been supportive of updating the rules and improving the inspection process to eliminate soring. In May 2024, the AVMA issued a press release saying it endorsed the USDA's new rules.

Among the new rules are that inspectors who are not USDA employees must be veterinarians, veterinary technicians, or state or local animal welfare officers; all must have equine knowledge and experience. In September, JAVMA referred readers to the USDA website to apply for the program.

The new rules also prohibit all "action devices", including non-therapeutic pads and wedges. Walking horses are traditionally shod with "stack packages" to extend the front hooves length and weight. 

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This is a transcript of a 52-minute video of a USDA public webinar explaining the key points of the new rules.

On November 20, 2024, Kentucky Congressman James Comer, chairman of the powerful Oversight Committee in the US House of Representatives, issued a subpoena for a USDA official to answer charges that the agency had overstepped its authority. According to Comer's website, the subpoena was necessary because the USDA had not responded to his request for documents.

Comer said he had previously asked the US Inspector General's office to investigate enforcement of the Horse Protection Act. Kentucky and Tennessee are the two states with the largest number of Walking horses. 

On January 9, the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) posted a balanced Facebook message to its members, saying that it was "actively engaging the Trump transition team to ensure that the HPA will not negatively affect AQHA and its members".

The January 10 recommendation from the American Horse Council urged the USDA to postpone the regulations except for the banning of action devices.

Interestingly, the AHC's first recommendation is that, while they were recommending a 60-day delay, they implored the USDA to go ahead with banning all action devices on the horses' hooves on February 1.

Today, the US Equestrian Federation (USEF) issued an open letter to its members.  USEF President Tom O'Mara and CEO Bill Moroney used the letter to clarify some points, but ultimately joined the AHC in calling for a 60-day delay, which would back up the start to April 1.

USEF appears to have proactively worked on procedures for its affiliated events to be able to understand how and if the new regulations might affect them, and assured them that the organization was acting on their behalf as a go-between with the USDA.

The USEF letter may be read in full at this link.

The USEF letter includes a link to a short USDA video of what is involved in an inspection:

 

Also today, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller published an opinion statement suggesting that the new regulations do more harm than good. According to Miller, the new rules will be felt across the horse industry and "devastate the equine industry, punish responsible horse owners, and destroy rural communities across the nation". 

At the same time, vocal opponents of the rule changes have stepped up efforts to paint a negative picture of the changes, predicting sweeping effects on other areas of the horse industry. A group called Western Justice Legislative Fund , whose branding tagline is "NRA For Those Who Live Western Lifestyle", has been a leader in these efforts.

The US Polo Association also issued a statement calling for more guidance on the new regulations, concerned that the new rules would cover polo. On January 7, a USDA official made a request that polo be excluded, according to the organization.

The USDA has not publicly responded to the AHC or USEF calls for a delay, so we don't know if the new rules will: a) go into effect on February 1; b) be partially enacted; c) be delayed 60 days, or d) be withdrawn altogether. If they do go into effect, it is likely that legal challenges will follow.

This story has very little to do with the painful practice of deliberately soring a horse to exaggerate the running walk. It has come to be a reflection of the cultural, political, and geographic rifts in our nation. And it just won't go away.

Who remembers the fabled lone horseshoe nail that determined the outcome of an entire war...."all for want of a horseshoe nail"?

This story just isn't over yet.

--Fran Jurga

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