WHAT IS HORSE SORINGHorse soring is pain-inducing techniques used to exaggerate the "Big Lick" high-stepping gait of Tennessee Walking horses. In addition to the use of heavy weights and stacks, caustic agents commonly used on the horses' limbs include mustard oil, diesel fuel and kerosene. This intentional torture is all done for the sake of winning at competitive horse shows. A particularly egregious form of soring, known as pressure shoeing, involves cutting a horse's hoof almost to the quick and tightly nailing on a shoe. This causes excruciating pressure and pain whenever the horse puts weight on the hoof.
The life of a sored horse is filled with fear and pain. While being sored, a horse can be left in their stall for days at a time, with their legs covered in caustic chemicals and plastic wrap to "cook" the chemicals deep into his flesh. In training barns where soring takes place, it is common to see horses lying down in their stalls, moaning in pain. In addition to extreme suffering from being sored and shown, many Tennessee walking horses die at a young age from colic, believed to be caused by the extreme stress placed on them in training and by exposure to the toxic chemicals.
HORSE SORING OVERVIEW■ Soring has been a common and widespread practice in the walking horse show industry for decades. Today, judges continue to reward the artificial "Big Lick" gait, thus encouraging participants to sore their horses.
■ In 1970 Congress enacted the Horse Protection Act (HPA) to make the abusive practice of soring illegal. Unfortunately, there are many trainers that continue to abuse horses and skirt the law because of various shortcomings in the Horse Protection Act and limited resources from the federal government towards enforcement. ■ The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, would amend the HPA, to end the industry's failed system of self-policing, ban the use of soring devices, strengthen penalties, and make other reforms needed to finally end this torture. FEDERAL LEGISLATIONEfforts to pass federal legislation to end soring through the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R.693 came to a tipping point in 2019 when the bill passed the U.S. House by a landslide vote of 333-96. The companion bill in the U.S. Senate (S.1007) had the support of the majority of the upper chamber, with 52 Senators supporting the bill, but was blocked from receiving a vote.
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