US friends, protect horses from horrifying abuse

Warning: Graphic Footage

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It’s not legal, but on today’s Tennessee Walking Horse show circuit, trainers still engage in the cruel practice of “soring”—using chemicals and devices to cause extreme pain to horses’ legs and hooves to exaggerate their special gait. Trainers may also file down horses’ hooves to expose the nerves, then insert sharp objects into hooves to cause further suffering.

Please email and call your U.S. representative and ask him or her to cosponsor H.R. 1518 to better protect horses from the cruelty of soring.

Majestic Tennessee Walking Horses have long been cherished, both for their unique four-step gait and their gentle dispositions. Unfortunately, these same traits make these horses vulnerable to extreme exploitation and abuse at the hands of unscrupulous trainers.

On today’s Tennessee Walking Horse show circuit, trainers still engage in the cruel practice of “soring” to force horses to exaggerate their gait. Despite laws against this cruelty, trainers use chemicals and devices that cause extreme pain to the horses’ legs and hooves. Trainers may also “pressure shoe” a horse by filing hooves to expose the nerve, and inserting sharp objects into the hooves to cause further suffering. Desperate to escape the constant, intense burning and sharp pain, the horses unnaturally fling their legs in the high-stepping “big lick” gait that ironically wins prizes at shows.

To evade detection, these trainers often condition horses to remain still during inspections by beating, torturing or burning them beforehand. This conditioning to extreme pain deadens the horses’ reaction to the soring-related pain in their feet. This brutal practice of “stewarding,” exposed in an ABC Nightline report, masks the fact that trainers are soring the animals.

The Prevent all Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 1518, will address inadequacies in the current law by amending the Horse Protection Act and improving protections for horses. The bill, introduced by Representatives Ed Whitfield (R-KY) and Steve Cohen (D-TN), will require horse show organizers who engage inspectors to use only USDA-licensed inspectors; prohibit the use of action devices that intensify the pain caused by soring; and increase the penalties for violations.

you tried to put your feet on the ground,
the pain so much, you ache and pound.
all you want is some relief,
from this misery and disbelief.
you did it to horses,
now it happens to you,
as the tables turn.
in horror you
turn blue.

Karen Lyons Kalmenson