By Keith Dane
Over the weekend, the 86th annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration concluded in Shelbyville, Tennessee, and we are determined that this be the last Celebration with abused walking horses on display. A rule finalized earlier this year by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and slated to take full effect in February 2025 gives us reason to hope our decades of work to end this practice will come to fruition. However, there are last-ditch efforts to block this essential rule through lawsuits and political pressure, which is why we must continue to press the issue. Members of the Humane Society of the United States’ Equine Protection team traveled to Tennessee to evaluate the condition of the horses at the show, and here, Keith Dane, senior director of Equine Protection, gives an account of what they saw.
I have just returned from the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration in Shelbyville, Tennessee, with several colleagues. We have attended this event for over a decade to bear witness to the abuse that drives us in our campaign to end horse “soring.” What we saw confirmed our long-held position that this event that labels itself a “Tennessee tradition” is nothing more than a celebration of cruelty.
As in previous years, we witnessed the “Big Lick” stacked, chained horses straining, crouching on their hind ends, some clearly lame, with eyes bulging and ears pinned back throughout their competition, which are all indications of discomfort and pain. Horses in the pleasure classes (those shod with normal horseshoes and performing the natural walking horse gait) moved freely and displayed no such signs of distress; showcasing such natural beauty is surely the way forward for future Celebrations.
Prior to the show, we learned that Rep. John Rose, R-Tenn., and a handful of other Tennessee and Kentucky congressmen acting on behalf of the Big Lick faction of this industry had sent a letter to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack complaining about two of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Veterinary Medical Officers’ diligent identification and citation of Horse Protection Act violations at previous shows this year. They even requested that the officers be removed from the team assigned to inspect horses at the Celebration.
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Consistent with the views of a majority of the members of Congress who support increased protections for horses from soring, leaders in this fight, Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., and Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill. sent their own letter to Vilsack urging strong enforcement during the show and beyond.
Although many horses at the Celebration exhibited the gait that is commonly produced by soring, we observed several Big Lick horses being disqualified before their class and we also heard of many others. In one championship class only one of the eight horses entered to compete made it into the showring. In the grand finale only four of the 10 entries did—but not Justified Honors, the three-time World Grand Champion whose owner Dr. Jim Baum had hoped to make history by winning the prize for a fourth time.
Buoyed by the seemingly strong enforcement of the Horse Protection Act by USDA officials, we left this spectacle with the overriding hope that this will be the last Celebration with abused walking horses on display.
The primary reason for this hope is a USDA final rule under the Horse Protection Act announced by the agency in April and published in May. If all goes according to plan, starting in February 2025, the rule will upgrade USDA regulations to prohibit the use on Tennessee walking and racking horses at horse shows of action devices (including chains) and stacks (heavy high-heeled horseshoes), both of which are integral to the process of soring. These devices torment the horses, causing the animals pain to force them to perform the high-stepping Big Lick gait. The rule will also end the failed, conflict-ridden system of industry self-policing that has allowed soring to persist.
We worked for over a decade to urge the USDA to make these changes, through public and congressional pressure, lobbying, agency engagement, petitions and legal action—and the Biden administration finally got the job done.
However, relief for these horses is not certain. The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration Association (represented by the Torridon Group, a firm in which former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr is a partner) has filed a lawsuit asking a Texas judge to set aside the rule and bar the USDA from implementing it, despite the overwhelming evidence of the need for the rule and vast public support for it.
To make matters worse, we’ve seen some congressional interference by a small handful of elected representatives doing the bidding of those who want to keep the Big Lick (and soring) alive.
The House of Representatives Agriculture Appropriations subcommittee proposed slashing FY25 funding for the USDA’s Horse Protection Act enforcement to $2.5 million, down from $3.5 million in the current fiscal year, and included report language (thankfully, non-binding) directing the agency to withdraw the rule. This is despite over 115,000 supportive public comments for the rule and overwhelming bipartisan support in Congress; appropriations report language enacted in each of the last four years urged the USDA to finalize the rule, and nearly half the Senate and House again requested such language this year. Plus, there’s been strong congressional support for the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act (H.R. 3090/S. 4004), which goes even further than the rule in advancing protections for horses and is cosponsored by a majority in both chambers, with 245 House and 52 Senate cosponsors currently. Fortunately, the Senate’s version of the appropriations report contains no such language, and we are working with lawmakers to ensure it is not retained in the final legislation.
The forces working to protect the interests of the sorers (rather than the horses) have not stopped there. Rep. Rose also filed an amendment to the appropriations bill that would prohibit the USDA from using any approved funds to implement the rule. Thankfully, Reps. Fitzpatrick and Cohen along with 11 others from both sides of the aisle filed a competing amendment to emphasize the importance of implementing the rule. House action on the appropriations bill stalled, so neither amendment has been considered yet.
The evidence is clear on the need for the reforms contained in the rule and the PAST Act— and these bad faith efforts to block the USDA’s strengthening of its regulations underscore now more than ever why the PAST Act should become law—to codify the reforms contained in the rule and enact additional protections.
Here’s the thing: no one in the broader equestrian world thinks the Big Lick gait and the soring it involves are humane, acceptable or anything resembling proper horsemanship. They all know it’s a gimmicked, artificial gait produced only through pain and force, and that it is a scourge on the entire horse industry. That’s why every major horse industry and veterinary organization in America supports the USDA rule and passage of the PAST Act.
We are optimistic that the right thing for horses will prevail, and that the USDA will be successful in defending its rule so that it will be implemented next February on schedule and before the start of the next show season.
Whatever the outcome, we are in this for the long haul, as we’ve always been. Our fight to end soring will not end until every horse is protected from the cruelty that has tormented these animals for generations, despite the enactment of the Horse Protection Act over a half century ago.
Like horse slaughter, animal fighting and other organized forms of abuse of animals in the name of profit or entertainment, it is long past time to send soring to the dustbin of history. Contact your federal legislators today to tell them it’s time for the will of the people, including the horse industry at large, to finally be honored. Because there is no room for horse soring in the kind of humane world we’re determined to create.
Keith Dane is senior director of Equine Protection for the Humane Society of the United States.