U.S. House Set to Highlight Horse Protection Legislation on May 26

On Thursday, the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce will highlight two key measures to stamp out terrible abuses in the horse world, and better protect our iconic American equines.

The Save America’s Forgotten Equines (SAFE) Act and Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act are both measures that have consistently been introduced in every Congress for the better part of a decade.

The SAFE Act would ban the slaughter of American equines and the transport of equines across state and federal lines for the purposes of slaughter. While horse slaughter in the United States no longer takes place due to a de facto ban achieved through the appropriations process that has defunded horse slaughter plant inspections for the past 15 years, some 23,000 American horses were exported and slaughtered in Canada and Mexico last year to be served up on foreign dinner plates. Every American equine is at risk of falling into this predatory industry just as the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner, Ferdinand, when he was sold for slaughter in Japan.

The PAST Act addresses the issue of soring – the intentional infliction of pain to Tennessee Walking Horses’ front limbs by means of applying caustic chemicals such as kerosene, mustard oil, and other chemicals to the skin or inserting sharp objects into horses’ hooves in order to produce an artificial high step known as the “Big Lick,” that’s prized at events in the Southeastern U.S.

PAST would amend the Horse Protection Act (HPA) of 1970 to give the law more teeth by banning the use of large-stacked shoes and ankle chains used in the show ring to exacerbate the pain; provide felony level penalties for those convicted of violating the HPA; and eliminate the current industry self-policing scheme, replacing it with federally licensed USDA inspectors.

But despite the bill being introduced over and over for the past decade, and passing the House in 2019, the measure still faces opposition from every single major group in the walking horse world which continues to prevent the measure from clearing the Senate. It’s a political science lesson on what happens when key stakeholders aren’t given the opportunity to have input in legislation that affects them. Despite our view that PAST would help the breed flourish, many stakeholders and a the Senators from Tennessee and Kentucky believe that PAST as written would destroy the walking horse show circuit.

Make no mistake, we continue to support PAST, but the last decade has demonstrated that enactment over the objections of a powerful sectional group of Senators is nearly impossible. In light of that circumstance, we worked with leaders in the walking horse breed in 2020 to make revisions to the bill that would achieve buy-in from walking horse organizations.

The revisions would still eliminate the ankle chains and provide felony penalties as PAST does, but allow a smaller, removable shoe used by other breeds like the American Saddlebred to remain. The PAST compromise would give USDA enforcement authority and set up a supporting enforcement program that would leave the American Association of Equine Practitioners and the U.S. Equestrian Federation in charge of the supplemental enforcement.

The compromise we negotiated in 2020 went even further than PAST by banning the use of treacherous devices known as tail braces that hold the horse's tail in a U-shaped position after the ligaments in the tail have been sliced and severed — all for a certain prized “look.” The PAST revisions would effectively marry the bill with alternative legislation introduced by Senators from Tennessee and Kentucky, the Protecting Horses from Soring Act.

But some animal groups in the "Beltway Animal Mafia" opposed the measure because they want to continue fundraising on the issue. The day the PAST Act is signed into law is the day that some will likely be out of a job.

Continuing to bang our heads against the wall does nothing to stop horse slaughter or soring. We need Congress to pass meaningful, durable, enforceable reforms to protect the horses we all care so deeply about. Congress can and should deliver comprehensive reform with a compromise on PAST and make the necessary changes to the SAFE Act that many advocates have concerns with.

Marty Irby is the executive director at Animal Wellness Action in Washington, D.C., a past president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association, and an 8-time world champion equestrian who was honored by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II for his work to end soring. Follow him on Instagram @MartyIrby.