New Soring Inspections Beef Up Celebration Plan
by: Pat Raia
August 13 2008, Article # 12509
Exhibitors at the 70th Annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration will be scrutinized more closely than ever before. Officials and organizers have adopted new inspection measures to send the message that Horse Protection Act (HPA) violations will not be tolerated at the event.
"We're aiming for 100% compliance," said Celebration Chief Executive Officer Doyle Meadows, PhD, a professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at the University of Tennessee.
The new strategies expand the event's operating plan from 2007 to include pre-performance tack inspections, specifically to detect pain-causing foreign objects hidden beneath girths, and eye screenings for the presence of atropine, a chemical that ophthalmologists use to dilate patients' pupils. Use of the drug is thought to make horses step higher in order to compensate for their limited vision.
Random barn inspections, drug screenings, hoof inspections, restricted access to inspection areas, and other measures will carry over from the 2007 plan.
"We're starting to see social change. Young trainers want to be compliant. They love this horse and they want to be a cut above what some people were doing in the past."
--Celebration CEO Doyle Meadows Directors beefed up security and inspection rules last year to restore the Celebration's image, potentially tarnished in 2006 when inspectors temporarily shut down the event after finding a high rate of noncompliance with the HPA and violations of Tennessee's anti-soring laws. When several top competitors declined to participate, no World Champion was crowned that year. (Read more.)
Stricter rule enforcement and meticulous inspections resulted in a 98% HPA compliance rate at the 2007 Celebration.
But Meadows wants to do more than pick up two more compliance percentage points. This year, he aims to use the event's high profile to persuade remaining intractable trainers and owners that there is no benefit in clinging to soring and other suspect practices.
"We can afford to do the drug testing and adopt the security measures smaller shows can't," Meadows said. "We can set the example. We can let them know that if they're noncompliant, they're cheating."
However, USDA National Horse Protection coordinator Rachel Cezar, DVM, has reservations that a single event can foster industrywide change.
"The Celebration is the biggest event for this breed," she said. "And the public attention it gets can make a difference. We always hope for 100% compliance, but ending soring and other HPA violations is a work in progress."
Still, Meadows believes the tide is turning.
"We're starting to see social change," he said. "Young trainers want to be compliant. They love this horse and they want to be a cut above what some people were doing in the past."
The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration takes place Aug 20-30 in Shelbyville, Tenn.
Petition Calls for End to Soring
by: Pat Raia
August 12 2008, Article # 12496
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An Illinois-based equine welfare organization has launched a Web-based petition campaign aimed at creating pressure to abolish the practice of soring in the gaited horse industry.
"Our goal is to submit the petition to government representatives from Tennessee and Kentucky to increase the United States Department of Agriculture budget for inspections at gaited horse shows," said Gale Mott, president of One Horse at a Time, the nonprofit organizing the effort.
The drive for signatures began July 13, with the goal of collecting 5,000 names. To date, 765 people have signed the petition online.
Soring is the use pain-causing caustic chemicals, cutting, and other techniques to achieve an exaggerated gait in Tennessee Walking Horses and other gaited breeds. The practice is outlawed by the Horse Protection Act of 1970. USDA personnel and other trained inspectors examine horses at some shows for violations of this law.
You know what would be the BEST deterrent? Having judges who do NOT give high points to horses with "exaggerated gait". Train your judges to look for the things that were prized in the TWH in the first place ... and that was a ground-eating gait that was smooth. Judge on the rider's ability to, say, not spill champagne and cover a distance the most quickly.
This "exaggerated gait" business makes me want to vomit.
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Posted: Fri Aug 15, 2008 11:43 am
caliber
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I also think! Judges have the ability and the responsibility to maintain and protect a breed at all times.
But then again! the entire system sucks! how can a judge say that is only judging the moment......without putting in consideration the commitment of protecting and preserving the breed for years to come.
IN MY OPINION! Judges now days are involved in way too much politics and are lacking the COJONES o OVARIOS (testicles or ovaries) that takes to be a judge!
I dunno if I would believe the CEO of the Celebration to self-monitor the Celebration. I'm with USDA. It's a good sign, but needs to be across the board to work, not just at the championship show.
Well, honestly, a show is nothing more than a glorified political ponitification using a animal instead of a podium to get votes.
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Soring Inspections Stepped Up at Walking Horse Celebration
by: Pat Raia
September 12 2008, Article # 12682
Compliance with the Horse Protection Act (HPA) appeared to decline at the 70th Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, dropping from 98% in 2007 to 95% at this year's event, according to USDA figures. The Celebration took place over 10 days in Shelbyville, Tenn., wrapping up Aug. 30.
The HPA forbids soring, which is the use pain-causing chemicals, cutting, and other techniques to achieve exaggerated show ring movement in some gaited horses. This year, officials from the USDA and the National Horse Show Commission issued 187 violation citations after a total of 693 inspections at the event. That's 83 more than the 104 violation citations issued at the event in 2007.
The high-profile event has been under a microscope since 2006, when it was temporarily shut down due to tensions between inspectors and trainers over enforcement of HPA rules. No World Grand Champion was crowned that year.
Since then, Celebration management have stiffened security rules and added mandatory drug testing, eye examinations, and tack inspections to raise the event's compliance rates. (Read more at "New Soring Inspections Beef Up Celebration Plan.")
Celebration CEO Doyle Meadows, PhD, credited stricter inspections overall for the rise in the number of violations.
"These horses were photographed, poked, prodded, thermographed, and radiographed," Meadows said.
Humane Society of the United States Director of Equine Protection Keith Dane said USDA inspectors' performance at the high-profile event demonstrated the agency's willingness enforce federal anti-soring rules.
Despite the violation increases, Meadows said rules adopted by Celebration management to encourage compliance at this event indicate that competition managers are also serious about discouraging soring.
"Those things show we're committed to going forward," he said. "I'm not happy with the violations; I want (the show) to be 100% compliant."
According to Celebration statistics, a total of 2,188 different horses represented 4,689 class entries during the event. Of those entries, the USDA reported that 2,744 were actually presented in the show ring.
It will be 100% compliant when the TNW industry decides the current practices do not have the best interest for the breed. Until then stricter rules, bigger violations only slow it down.
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