Tennessee Walking Horses aren't especially rare, but you don't see them too often in New Hampshire.
That might explain why the effort to regulate horse soring more vigorously suddenly has a fighting chance.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, a New Hampshire Republican, pushed a bill on soring — the practice of inducing the high-stepping "big lick" by pouring caustic chemicals on horses' hooves or putting painful devices there — through the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation earlier this month.
Her bill bears an uncanny resemblance to legislation offered in the House by Rep. Ed Whitfield, R-Ky. Both are much more aggressive about inserting the federal government into regulating the Tennessee Walking Horse business than the counterproposal offered by Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Brentwood.
But here's the news that jumped off the page the day Ayotte's bill moved forward: She says her bill had 50 Senate co-sponsors, while Whitfield's has 268 in the House.
Those are big numbers. And that's a serious threat to the folks who thought it was safe to go back to letting the walking horse industry regulate itself.
