Revise the PAST Act to protect Tennessee Walking Horses, end soring | Opinion
A new reform effort would revise the PAST Act to still eliminate the chains, the large shoes and the industry’s self-policing program.
- Monty Roberts is a world-renowned horse trainer and bestselling author of "The Man Who Listens to Horses," and Marty Irby is the executive director of Animal Wellness Action in Washington, D.C., and a past president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association who was recently recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for his life’s work to end soring.
For the past 15 years, we’ve been working to transition the Tennessee Walking Horse, and the breed's trainers, away from the painful practice of soring — the infliction of pain to horses’ feet by applying caustic chemicals such as mustard oil, croton oil and kerosene to the skin or inserting sharp objects into the hooves to create an exaggerated high step known as the “Big Lick” that’s traditional in Tennessee and Kentucky.
When the principles and methods of nonviolent training were introduced to a group of influential Walking Horse trainers in 2005 in Shelbyville, Tennessee, they were astounded to see the results achieved in a very short period of time. Given that response, we felt we owed it to the horses to press for change and create new opportunities for those who sought reform and wanted to return the breed to its roots — the beautiful stride and head nod that come naturally and are unique to the breed.
Thankfully, the trail pleasure division has grown
The next year, an effort to add a new division to the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association’s National Futurity for 2- and-3-year-old trail pleasure horses prevailed, and we have since continued to see growth in that segment of the breed. Despite our efforts and the continued growth of the trail pleasure division, the tough trainers in the breed continued to insist on using devices — large stacked shoes and ankle chains used to exacerbate pain and achieve that “Big Lick” movement in the showring — that contribute to soring. In 2006, we sat and watched the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration fail to crown a World Grand Champion for the first time since the inaugural event was held in 1939 because the majority of the contenders had been disqualified by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for soring.
When the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act was introduced in the U.S. House in 2013, we spoke out publicly in support of the measure, which would ban those terrible devices on the horses’ feet and would implement serious felony-level penalties for violators. We’ve continued to press for enactment of the legislation, and our belief that the PAST Act will end soring has not waivered.
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The political reality is that despite the bill passing the House in 2019, the measure is dead in the U.S. Senate. Given that reality, the PAST Act as written has virtually no chance of becoming law. To break the gridlock, we’re advocating for a new reform effort that would revise the PAST Act to still eliminate the chains, the large shoes and the industry’s self-policing program, plus upgrade felony-level penalties.
Eliminate gruesome tail braces
Collaborating with leaders in the breed, the revisions, which are still being tweaked to satisfy mainstream equine and veterinary professionals, would require more than a 50% reduction in the use of shoes, go further than the original bill to establish science-based, objective inspections, and eliminate the use of gruesome devices known as tail braces that were used on the first World Grand Champion, Strolling Jim, in 1939 and almost every winner since.
To achieve a certain look that makes the tail stand up over a horse's back, the tendons in the tail are severed, and the horses are forced to live in a contraption that maintains a full break in the tail bone. The horses are then shown in the ring with a metal U-shaped stand under the tail that’s tied down extremely tightly with a shoestring, cutting off the circulation in the tail. This device’s existence predates the use of the stacked shoes and chains by two decades or more and is the foundation for the use of all of the violent paraphernalia in the showring.
Responsible leaders in the Walking Horse breed now understand that foundation of artifice must be eliminated. We see a change in the hearts and minds of stakeholders, and we must stand by those who have demonstrated a desire for change. We must show them, help them and respect their good-faith support for reform.
We applaud those who are stepping up for the Tennessee Walking Horse, and we are grateful to all of the people who have joined together to finally end the scourge of soring. We firmly believe there are no bad Tennessee Walking Horses. It is only the human element that has caused the Big Lick discipline to be a bad one.
Monty Roberts is a world-renowned horse trainer and bestselling author of "The Man Who Listens to Horses," and Marty Irby is the executive director of Animal Wellness Action in Washington, D.C., and a past president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association who was recently recognized by Queen Elizabeth II for his life’s work to end soring.