Howdy Folks,
Today we are honored to have the President of Friends Of
Sound Horses (FOSH) drop by as a guest blogger to tell us all about her trip to
Washington, D.C. to testify before a Congressional Subcommittee regarding the PAST
(Prevent All Soring Techniques) Act. ... FOSH has been, and is on the forefront of
the effort to stop the horrible practice of torturing Tennessee Walking Horses
known a soring. This very important bill is gaining support in the halls of Congress
but, if you can believe it, there are elected officials who oppose it. Please read
Teresa's story and then share it, and contact all your legislators and tell
them to enact the PAST Act (H.R. 1518, S. 1406). – Many horses are counting on us to end their pain and suffering ... We can do this, for the horses. … Thanks ~ Dutch Henry
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Dear Friends,
On November 13, I was honored to testify about the PAST
(Prevent All Soring Techniques) Act before the Congressional Subcommittee on
Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade. The
PAST Act amends the federal Horse Protection Act (HPA 1970 and 1976) which was
enacted to prevent the soring of Tennessee Walking Horses. (Soring is the deliberate infliction of pain
upon the front hooves and legs of a horse to create a highly animated gait in
the show ring). Despite being illegal for over 40 years,
soring is still widespread in some show rings.
I was invited as President of Friends of Sound Horses
(FOSH). FOSH is a nonprofit, all
volunteer organization that focuses on ending soring. My contribution that day was to present the
bleak picture of the current soring situation in the Tennessee Walking Horse industry. Luckily for me, FOSH has collected and
analyzed data for many years that reinforced the urgency of this animal welfare
issue. With my testimony, I shared with
the Subcommittee that soring is thriving and even more brutal than ever.
Despite the industry’s claim that there are only a few bad
apples, the Subcommittee was informed that the FOSH-produced Repeat Violators
list, single-spaced, is 260+ pages in length—quite a bit more than a few bad
apples. They also learned that the
industry’s claim that self-regulation works was totally false—when the USDA
oversees inspections of some show rings, violations shoot up dramatically,
sometimes 300% greater!
Whenever the industry explains how “clean” they are, I like
to point out that 76% of the horses swabbed by the USDA at the 2012 Celebration
tested positive for foreign, prohibited substances! Let me mention that using these substances is
cheating. How many equestrian sporting
venues have that many people cheating?
PAST provides three major changes. First, it eliminates stacks and chains on big
lick horses. Why is that relevant? 93% of all USDA cited violations this year
were on big lick horses. Another major
change is an increase in penalties for violations and to make soring a
felony. This will have a major impact on
those repeat violators and also the Rider’s Cup contenders where the top 5
share 94 Horse Protection Act violations!
Finally, no more industry self-regulation which has been a disaster from
the beginning or else there would not be hundreds of violations every year
along with horses suffering from raw and scarred pasterns.
On a lighter note, my best memories are from the many
well-wishers who sent emails cheering me on before that big day. I was stunned. I was also astounded that day in Washington,
D.C. to meet many of those well-wishers for the very first time—they drove and
flew to the hearing to support the efforts to fight soring. Most of them went onto meet their very own
legislators that day and ask for them to cosponsor the PAST Act, and I thank
them for their passion and efforts to work towards the end of soring.
I encourage all horse lovers to keep the pressure on their
legislators to enact PAST (H.R. 1518, S. 1406) and to support FOSH in its
battle against soring by becoming a FOSH member. For more information on FOSH, please visit
our website,
www.fosh.info.
Thank You,
Teresa
Bippen
