U.S. Department of Agriculture Proposes Anti-Soring Rule

The United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is accepting public comments on its proposal for new Horse Protection Act requirements that aim to eliminate horse soring.

Soring is the intentional application of substances or devices to horses’ limbs to inflict pain to achieve an exaggerated high-stepping gait, known as The Big Lick, in show rings.

The proposed changes to farriery prohibit “any device, method, practice, or substance applied to any horse that could hide or mask evidence of soring, as well as all action devices and non-therapeutic pads and wedges, and substances applied about the hoof.”

The proposal defines an action device as “any boot, collar, chain, roller, beads, bangles, or other devices, which encircles or is placed upon the lower extremity of the leg, or slide up and down the leg so as to cause friction, or which can strike the hoof, coronet band or fetlock joint.”

The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is accepting public comments on a proposed rule to amend the Horse Protection Act. Photo by: Humane Society of the United States

Artificial toe length extensions are prohibited unless they are prescribed to the horse and it is receiving therapeutic treatment.

“Toe extensions can be used to sore horses by increasing stress on certain tendons and ligaments,” states the rule.

In addition, the proposed rule also prohibits:

• Grinding or trimming the sole of the hoof to expose spongy, sensitive tissues underneath the…