Horse Protection Act

[susanne]

People ARE attempting to enforce laws against soring and other forms of abuse, especially with the Tennessee Walking Horses. Unfortunately, with the good ole boys network, many governing agencies look away.

Perhaps the best answer is bad publicity and boycotting any companies that support this so-called sport. Rhreatening their pocketbooks is one sure way to make them listen.

It's a shame that PETA, HSUS, and other such groups attack carriage driving and farmers, when there is such real and obvious abuse as in the Tennessee Walking Horse world.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

The latest Journal has some information about this on page 89. They appear to have reservations about the Act.

It seems to me that a lot of proposed legislation introduced nowdays is deliberately ambiguous. Why can't proposed laws be written in precise language? Maybe they don't want to, so "they" can have loop holes for future control.

The Journal suggests visiting this site for more information. www.shetlandminiature.com

They also give the url for the regulation docket.

Seems like killing a fly with a baseball bat to micro-manage an entire industry because of what is happening to Walkers.

 

[Cayuse]

I agree. From what I gather it is very vaque and open to interpretation. I have a medium pony who has tender feet on the hard ground from the drought we've had and he just start wearing Vettec quick set shoes as he has not much foot to nail to. They are unconventional looking but make a huge difference. What would the inspectors make of that? They are not a standard shoe so I suppose they might think something nefarious was going on when actually they are theraputic and the pony is better for it.

I dunno. Seems like the "powers that be" have to intervene in every aspect of day to day living.

 

[Minimor]

I actually am not opposed to the proposed changes. It doesn't forbid shoes, just pads, and I would be happy to see all breeds shown more naturally. People insist their show horses need pads to cushion and bands to preserve the foot and pads to build the heels up and balance the foot--but all those issues would be helped if the horses were trimmed to have a natural foot, not an overly long one like we see on so many show horses. That position doesn't make me popular with many but that's okay. I don't care who owns the horse, when you see a horse or pony laboring and JERKING his front feet up off the ground, he is shod too heavy.

 

[Cayuse]

I don't like to see them shod heavily either. My concern is with the pad issue as sometimes pads can be beneficial. I had an older gelding that wore pads, little leather ones, because he had thin soles and was super uncomfortable without them (he was not shod long, just pleasure shod) We tried lots of things but that's what "fixed" him and made him comfortable and was done under the vets advice. I would not like to see someone be unable to show their horse because a plain pad (vet recommended) might be interpreted as soring device or something like that. I guess my concern is not the legislation itself but rather how it is interpreted.