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Soring involves the intentional infliction of pain to a horse's legs or hooves in order to force the horse to perform an artificial, exaggerated gait. Caustic chemicals—blistering agents like mustard oil, diesel fuel, and kerosene—are applied to the horse's limbs, causing extreme pain and suffering.



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, or standing a horse for hours with the sensitive part of his soles on a block or other raised object. This causes excruciating pressure and pain whenever the horse puts weight on the hoof.



Soring has been a common and widespread practice in the Tennessee Walking Horse show industry for decades. Today, judges continue to reward the artificial "Big Lick" gait, thus encouraging participants to sore their horses and allowing the cruel practice to persist.



Which horse breeds suffer from soring?

Tennessee Walking Horses, known for their smooth gait and gentle disposition, commonly suffer from the practice of soring. Other gaited breeds, such as Racking Horses and Spotted Saddle Horses, also suffer from soring.



The life of a sored horse is filled with fear and pain. While being sored, a horse can be left in his stall for days at a time, his 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.



Whenever the horses are ridden, in training or competition, trainers put chains around the horse's sored ankles. As the horse travels, the chains slide up and down, further irritating the areas already made painful by soring.



Instead of wearing regular horseshoes, the feet of "Big Lick" or "performance" gaited show horses are fitted with tall, heavy stacks of pads to accentuate their gait. These "stacks" force the horses to stand at an unnatural angle, much like wearing high heel platform shoes all day, every day. Foreign objects are often inserted between the horse's hoof and these stacks, adding to the horse's suffering.



Performance horses aren't allowed to go outside to graze and play with other horses. Except when being trained or shown, these horses spend all of their time confined to stalls.



Hasn't soring been outlawed by Congress?

Yes. In the early 1970s, Congress passed the Horse Protection Act with the intent of banning this cruel practice. From the beginning, underfunding and political pressure from industry insiders have plagued USDA’s enforcement of the HPA. Lack of adequate funding prevents the USDA from sending agency officials to every Tennessee Walking Horse and Racking Horse show. As a result, they have instituted a system that allows horse industry organizations (HIOs) to train and license their own inspectors, known as Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs), to examine horses at shows for signs of soring. With the exception of a few HIOs who are committed to ending soring, most of the HIOs are made up of industry insiders who have a clear stake in preserving the status quo.



Despite this and several state laws banning the practice, soring is still widespread in places like Tennessee, Kentucky and other states in the Southeast.



How is soring detected?

Federal law requires all Tennessee Walking Horses and Racking Horses entered in exhibitions, shows, auctions or sales be inspected for soring prior to entering the ring. Any horse that receives first place in a show or exhibition must also be inspected after their winning class.



Typically, an inspector will manually examine or "palpate" the front legs of a horse to see if the horse reacts in pain, and to look for other abnormalities. Any horse that is born after October 1, 1975 is also subject to what is know as the "scar rule": their legs should show no evidence of scarring that is indicative of soring, such as missing hair, scars, or cuts. While inspectors have jurisdiction to inspect horses anywhere on the grounds of a show, exhibition, auction or sale, as well as in transport to these venues, intimidation, harassment and threats from industry participants have kept inspectors from examining horses outside of a designated inspection area, directly before entering the show ring. This system gives trainers ample opportunity to attempt to conceal soring before the horse is inspected.



In an effort to mask soring, some trainers will apply numbing agents to their horses' legs prior to inspection so the horse won't react. Others "steward" their horses at home, putting them through mock inspections wherein if the horse reacts to palpation, he is beaten with a whip, bat or other blunt instrument. The horse learns to be more fearful of the beating than the pain in his legs, and learns to stand quietly. Other trainers will attach alligator clips and other pain-inducing objects to sensitive parts of the horse prior to inspection, causing him to focus on the new source of pain rather than his legs and feet.



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 used for soring.



What is The HSUS doing to end soring?

The Humane Society of the United States is actively working to end soring by strongly urging the USDA to step up its enforcement of the Horse Protection Act; by encouraging Congress to provide more funding for the HPA; by offering awards to bring horse abusers to justice; and by supporting breed and industry organizations that promote the natural gait and humane treatment of Tennessee Walking Horses.

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Where I live in TN soring is still a common use among most horse enthusiasts. One man currently has 52 counts against him for this. Most people who show horses load them up and leave with them when the USDA veterinarian shows up to check on all the horses. Something needs to be done because it is unfair to the animals. They should not be mistreated, but yet no one does anything to stop it.

COMMENTS

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Oceanne
14:49 Mar 10 2012

It always amazes me that some still insist on these methods for TWs .

ANYtime I see a horse that has been sored,I report them.I always try to get the name of the farriers who are in on it as well.

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Oceanne
14:53 Mar 10 2012

BTW,chains around a horses ankle are used for weight, in order to make their action higher.They are not intended to be used to irritate a horse who has been sored.So that part of this article in not correct.

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Oceanne
15:00 Mar 10 2012

Also,the TW people were banned from cutting tails too.Now they simply stall the horses with cruppers on in order to stretch the muscle which clamps the tail.People in the saddlebred world do it too.

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POST COMMENT

I have had it with rude, inconsiderate, selfish and moronic assholes here in Tennessee.



I am trying to work on school work and enjoying the silence when some rude girl walks in with a loud mouth and on the phone. Did I mention I can hear both sides of the conversation? I can because her friend is twice as loud as she is and neither of them know how to lower it down a bit. This is a classroom not gossip hour, but apparently no one realizes this anymore. Wouldn't you know that the conversation is something dumb about what someone said on facebook. Really people grow up and get a life. Preferably one that is not centered around some social crap on the internet. It does me no good to say anything like asking her to shut the hell up and telling her the friend the same as well, but with people around here it does no good at all because it will turn out to be a 'brawl' (pulling hair and scratching on the other ones end). People have no sense of being polite around others and using their manners.



And speaking of damn people that piss me off...



Lottery Winner Stays on Food Stamps

Amanda Clayton was thrilled when she won the Michigan lottery last fall, but that didn't mean she had to stop using food stamps.



After being tipped off anonymously, a local television recently followed the 24-year-old Detroit woman, and discovered she was still using her public assistance card, months after winning $1 million.



"I feel that it's okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay. I have two houses," she said. "I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought maybe it was okay because I'm not working."



Don't you feel sorry for her? After all, she has two houses to pay for! It appears the young woman is not doing anything illegal by using food stamps, however. Despite her found riches, it seems she is still eligible for help from the government. Clayton took a lump sum payout of $500,000, and promptly bought a new house and car.









She really disgusts me!! I do not work, can barely make ends meet and Yes I USE food stamps but at least I am not being dishonest about it. I am a fulltime student and I cannot afford to live, yet she has half a million dollars and can get away with it. WTF people?! My grandparents and others like them barely scrape by and received $40 a month. A MONTH! I really despise the crooked people and those who are in our government because of stuff like this. YALL MAKE ME SO DAMN SICK! There are to many loopholes in the system, but it only works for some and not others. No wonder we are looked down on and laughed at by other countries. Here is a prime reason as to why...



And yet people are proud of their beloved USA. Not me, not anymore. Not when people can get away with any and everything...

A World War II veteran was forced to drag himself from a gas station pump to the check out after a carjacker broke his leg - while people walked past.

Not one pedestrian or driver helped 86-year-old Aaron Brantley after he was attacked at a BP station in Fairfield, Michigan while filling up his car.

Mr Brantley, who was driving home after bible study, was knocked to the ground by a man who then stole his vehicle, leaving him writhing in pain

Surveillance footage captures the elderly man's failed attempts to stand. For two minutes, he is seen dragging himself across the forecourt.

As he nears the gas station, cars come and go but drivers fail to get out to assist the struggling man. At least four people are captured walking past.

The four-minute surveillance video, obtained by the Detroit Free Press, is an astonishing insight into the disregard for the elderly.

Once Mr Brantley reached the gas station, a customer alerted manager Haissam Jaber, who immediately called 911.

Feeling that emergency services were taking too long, Mr Brantley offered a customer money to take him home, the Free Press reported.

The customer refused the money but drove him home, from where an ambulance took him to hospital.

Mr Brantley, who served in the Air Corps in World War II and worked as a welder for Chrysler for three decades, is recovering from a broken leg.

'I thought they ran over my leg,' he told the Free Press. 'I didn't know what happened, I didn't see him. I went to get up and couldn't get up. So I crawled to the filling station.'

He added: 'I noticed when I was crawling to the gas station, people were walking past by me like I wasn't there.

'I said, "Lord, have mercy." I said, "Lord, some of them didn't even look around, just going to get their gas".'

Mr Brantley said he is not angry, but added to WJBK: 'If I saw somebody crawling like that on the ground, I would have stopped myself.'



The thief stole Mr Brantley's Chrysler 200, bought to replace another stolen car. It was later found abandoned with its wheels and radio taken.

No one has been arrested and the case is under investigation.

'Whenever a member of our community - but especially a senior citizen - becomes a victim of crime, it is very upsetting and disturbing," Detroit police spokeswoman Sgt. Eren Stephens said

Mr Brantley's daughter Dena - one of his eight children - told the Free Press: 'We're understandably upset, but it could've been worse. The guy could've shot him.

'We're just upset. You went through this for a set of tires and a radio?'

Of the carjacker, Mr Brantley added: 'He knows it's wrong and he should be caught, but I guess the Lord [knows] best.

'He [knows] what he has done and he'll get it one day ... and I hope the police [catch] him.'





*How can people just walk by and not even assist this man?! Are we that cold hearted here in America that seeing an elderly gentleman (or anyone for that matter) crawling across the parking lot in pain and no one does nothing? What is wrong with everyone?! I am not usually this vocal, but today I am ashamed to admit that I am an American. No wonder we are the laughing stock of the world! This is a prime example. We are too self absorbed and have become careless and heartless assholes. I hate to have said it...No actually I do not hate that I said it... If I were to see an elderly person crawling and in need of help I would lend a hand. People like those mentioned who decided not to help not only disgusts me, but makes me... I do not even know how to express myself other than this is a crying damn shame that people are so hateful and evil towards others like this....I just can't even begin to put it all into words without wanting to say things that I shouldn't besides what I have said already.