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APHIS seeks equine professionals for inspector roles

July 31, 2024

One of the changes to Horse Protection Act (HPA) regulations earlier this year, in an effort to end horse soring, meant the elimination of industry self-regulation and the role of lay person inspectors at horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions.

Going forward, only U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) inspectors and independent non-APHIS–employed horse protection inspectors (HPIs) who are screened, trained, and authorized by APHIS will have inspection authority, beginning with the 2025 show season.

These third-party inspectors must be veterinarians, veterinary technicians, or state or local animal welfare officers; all must have equine knowledge and experience.

Updates to the Horse Protection Act remove the ability for horse industry organizations to train and license inspectors for horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions. Instead, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will screen and train applicants, preferably veterinarians, to be horse protection inspectors.

“This puts the welfare of these competing horses in the best trained, knowledgeable, ethical, non-biased, and most qualified hands possible to conduct these important inspections,” said Keith Kleine, director of industry relations with the American Association of Equine Practitioners.

Individuals interested in applying to become an HPI can complete an application on the APHIS website.

While HPIs may not conduct inspections until the new rule goes into effect February 1, 2025, APHIS began the HPI application process on June 7, so that training and authorization of HPIs can occur beforehand.

Currently, horse show managers can voluntarily hire USDA-trained lay inspectors, known as designated qualified persons (DQPs) as chosen by certain horse industry organizations (HIOs). APHIS also has its own veterinary medical officers (VMOs) who perform inspections at some venues.

“While APHIS attended only a fraction of the events at which DQPs were appointed to inspect horses, APHIS consistently reported much higher rates of noncompliance at these events based on its VMO inspection findings when compared to DQP findings. Moreover, virtually all noncompliances were found in padded horses competing in the Performance division,” according to the Federal Register notice. This is also backed up by APHIS inspection data from 2017-22.

Soring is the practice of applying a substance or mechanical device to a horse’s forelegs that will create enough pain that the horse will exaggerate its gait to relieve the discomfort. The resulting high-stepping running walk, or “big lick,” is rewarded by horse show judges, although showing a sored horse is illegal.

Tennessee Walking Horses commonly suffer from the practice of soring. Other gaited breeds, such as Racking Horses, Spotted Saddle Horses, Rocky Mountain Horses, and Missouri Fox-Trotters, may also suffer from soring.

“The gaited horse discipline(s) and the equine industry cannot afford the risks and costs of continued ineffective supervision and enforcement of the Horse Protection Act,” said Kleine. “The independent inspection process in the new rule should strengthen the competition at these shows and benefit the many owners and trainers who do right by their animals.”

This change is one of the recommendations from the 2021 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Consensus report regarding, “A Review of Methods for Detecting Soreness in Horses.”

Now, all regulatory requirements concerning DQPs and HIOs will be removed. APHIS will take on program administration, HPI training, and HPI disciplinary actions as needed for enforcing the Horse Protection Act.

Because horse protection inspectors are not USDA employees, they set their own rates and schedules. At an event, the HPI will, at a minimum, physically inspect every Tennessee Walking Horse and Racking Horse in each gaited class. They will also inspect the first-place finisher of each gaited class. Each HPI will follow APHIS procedures to detect and diagnose soring and the use of any prohibited substances or devices, according to the USDA.

HPI applicants must abide by a Code of Conduct that includes complying with USDA-related laws, regulations, and policies. Applicants must agree to document and report all noncompliances

USDA files Motion to Dismiss in Wright’s vs. USDA
Monday, July 29, 2024

Walking Horse Industry Files
SUMMARY OF NEW LAWSUIT CHALLENGING

HORSE PROTECTION ACT PROPOSED RULE

On July 1, 2024, the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Association (“Association”), along with horse owners Kim Lewis and Tom Gould sued the U.S. Department of Agriculture (“USDA” or “Agency”) challenging a Final Rule (“Rule”) amending the Agency’s current regulations enforcing the Horse Protection Act (“HPA”). The Rule makes a number of sweeping changes to the existing regulations that would not only fail to address soring in any meaningful way, but would also potentially devastate the Tennessee Walking Horse show industry. The lawsuit was brought to stop these changes.

The Ban on Action Devices and Pads is Unlawful. The lawsuit argues that USDA’s decision to ban the use of all action devices and pads is beyond its authority under the HPA and is arbitrary and capricious. Numerous studies—including those USDA has, itself, relied on—show that this equipment does not cause soring. The USDA even admits that the pads and action devices do not cause soring. USDA tries to justify the ban by arguing that there is a higher incidence of soring violations found among horses that compete using this equipment. But the data on which the USDA based that conclusion is fatally flawed. It was not based on a random sample of horses using that equipment. Instead, it was based on inspection results for a set of horses singled out for inspection because they were already suspected of being sore. The USDA’s data is also unreliable because (i) it was obtained by a subjective inspection protocol that does not yield reproducible results, and (ii) the Agency has no data or evidence that allows it to distinguish Tennessee Walking Horses from the other breeds that may continue to use pads to warrant this different treatment. USDA also fails to consider the devastating impact the rule would have on the Industry, given that it would essentially wipe out the entire Performance Division of competition.

The Modified Scar Rule Is Unlawful. USDA’s modifications to the existing Scar Rule (which is being challenged in a separate lawsuit) are arbitrary and capricious and unconstitutional. The USDA ignored calls by the National Academy of Sciences to conduct more research and base any revisions on objective criteria grounded in science. Instead, it created a rule that provides even less guidance to inspectors, as it leaves it up to each inspector to decide what conditions are sufficient to “deem” a horse sore. The rule provides only a non-exhaustive list of conditions that are “indicative of soring,” but at the same time states that these conditions “are not, in and of themselves, always necessarily indicative of soring.” The result is a rule that leads to inherently arbitrary decisions by horse inspectors. It is also unconstitutionally vague, given that horse owners and trainers have no notice of what criteria will be used to deem whether their horses are sore.

USDA’s Elimination Of The DQP Program Is Unlawful. USDA’s elimination of the DQP program is at odds with the HPA, given Congress’s vision of an Industry that will work with USDA to police itself. USDA replaces DQPs with new “Horse Protection Inspectors” (or “HPIs”), who must be trained veterinarians. USDA shifts the higher cost of hiring these HPIs to show management, despite acknowledging that many shows will not be able to afford the increase in cost. And it effectively forces shows to accept USDA’s own inspectors, who it will provide to shows at no cost (but only to the extent they are available). The elimination of the DQP program is also arbitrary and capricious. It is based on USDA’s use of faulty and unreliable data. It shows

inconsistent reasoning by requiring that private inspectors have veterinary credentials where USDA inspectors do not.

The Ban on Substances Is Unlawful. The lawsuit argues that USDA’s decision to ban all substances is beyond its authority under the HPA and is arbitrary and capricious. This sweeping ban irrationally includes substances that are designed to prevent a horse from becoming sore.

USDA Does Not Provide Due Process To Owners And Trainers. The Rule is unconstitutional because it fails to provide due process to horse owners and trainers. Those owners and trainers are not provided with any hearing prior to a horse being disqualified and excluded from a show. Even though a federal court has already decided that this practice is unconstitutional, USDA continues to prevent horse owners and trainers from having any means to challenge a pre-show disqualification before the ability to compete is irrevocably taken away. The new provision in the Rule for a post-show appeal does not solve the problem. Even if an owner or trainer wins an appeal, there is no way to retroactively change the fact that the horse was not permitted to compete at the show.

USDA Fails To Consider The Devastating Economic Effect Of The Rule. USDA’s failure to do a proper economic analysis also makes the rule fundamentally arbitrary and capricious. The economic data relied on by USDA is over a decade old. And, as noted, USDA fails to consider the devastating impact the ban on pads and action devices will have on the Industry, given that it eliminates the entire Performance Division. This division is the main draw for the industry and attracts fans and support for most shows. USDA waves off these concerns, but it fails to rationally explain any basis for ignoring them.

* * *

For all of these reasons, the lawsuit asks the Court to declare that the Rule is unconstitutional, arbitrary and capricious, and beyond the Agency’s authority as explained above. In addition, the lawsuit asks the Court to prevent USDA from enforcing the challenged portions of the Rule.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q: How does this lawsuit relate to the Wright lawsuit challenging the current USDA rules?

A: Although the two lawsuits challenge different regulations, they work hand-in-hand. The Wright litigation challenges aspects of the existing rules, including the Scar Rule. The lawsuit challenging the new Rule builds on the Wright lawsuit. If we win in the Wright case, we will have convinced a Court that the existing Scar Rule is unlawful because it produces arbitrary results. Given that the new Rule provides even less objective guidance, a win in the Wright case will help our argument that the new Rule is unlawful. Similarly, if we convince the Court in the Wright case that USDA’s failure to provide appeals for pre-show disqualifications is unlawful, we will be able to point to that in the new lawsuit, given USDA’s failure to make any changes.

In addition, if we succeed in the challenge to the amendments to the Scar Rule in the new Rule, the result would be to leave the old Scar Rule in place. The challenge to the old Scar Rule in the Wright lawsuit is essential to ensure that the USDA cannot simply go back to the status quo.

Finally, the Wright lawsuit raises a challenge to USDA’s policy of disqualifying horses for any signs of post-show inflammation. That policy is not part of the new Rule, so the Wright lawsuit is the only way we can challenge it.

Q: When will the court rule on the lawsuit?

A: That depends on several factors, some of which will be up to the judge and the government. We hope to press for a ruling before the end of the year.

WASHINGTON, April 29, 2024 – In an effort to end horse soring at Tennessee Walking Horse shows, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is announcing strengthened Horse Protection Act regulations. Soring is a cruel and inhumane practice where some owners and trainers chemically or physically irritate or burn horses to provide an accentuated gait that gives them an unfair advantage in walking horse competitions and fraudulent purchase prices at horse shows.

Walking horses are known for their naturally high gait, but to be more successful in competitions some owners and trainers use cruel methods to exaggerate a horse’s gait. These inhumane methods may cause the horse to suffer physical pain, distress, inflammation, or lameness while walking and moving.

“For far too long, some within the Tennessee Walking Horse industry have sored and abused their horses, despite the industry’s inspection process and our own enforcement efforts,” said Jenny Lester-Moffitt, Under Secretary for USDA Marking and Regulatory Programs. “This abuse must stop. Eliminating this cruel practice will help protect horses competing in these shows and level the playing field for the industry. The independent inspection process should strengthen the competition at these shows and benefit the many owners and trainers who do right by their animals.”

The stronger regulations include:

Eliminating industry self-regulation and the role of industry-backed Designated Qualified Persons as inspectors at horse shows, exhibitions, sales, and auctions. Only APHIS inspectors and independent non-APHIS-employed horse protection inspectors screened, trained, and authorized by APHIS will have inspection authority.
Prohibiting any device, method, practice, or substance applied to a horse that can cause or is associated with soring.
Prohibiting on Tennessee Walking or racking horses all action devices and non-therapeutic pads, artificial toe extensions, and wedges, as well as all substances on the extremities above the hoof, including lubricants.
Removing the scar rule from the regulations and replacing it with a more accurate description of visible dermatological changes indicative of soring.
Amending recordkeeping and reporting requirements for management at covered events to better enforce the HPA.
In 2017, APHIS withdrew the initial Horse Protection Act final rule from public inspection per a memorandum issued by the Executive Office of the President. Following a lawsuit based on that action, the agency withdrew the 2017 rule on October 30, 2023, and published a new proposed rule, receiving 8,787 comments. The new rule builds upon information we have learned since the 2017 rule was drafted. Notably, it incorporates lessons and science-based recommendations from the 2021 National Academies of Science review of the inspection program.

The Horse Protection Act is a Federal law that prohibits sored horses from participating in shows, exhibitions, sales or auctions. The Horse Protection Act also prohibits the transportation of sored horses to or from any of these events.

A copy of this rule may be viewed today, and the rule will be published in the Federal Register in the coming weeks. This rule will be effective February 1, 2025.