Tennessee-walking-horse groups divided over soring issue response; some leaders back new restrictions

The president of what has been the leading Tennessee walking horse group says the industry needs to clean up its image and win back public support in the wake of allegations of soring, the use of chemicals and physical abuse to induce the high step for which the breed is known, reports Duane Gang for The Tennessean. But a competing group disagrees. (Tennessean photo: The 2012 Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship)

Tracy Boyd, president of the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Association, said in a statement, “I believe our modern-day padded show horses are cleaner than they’ve ever been. The problem is that nobody outside our industry believes it. And when you’ve lost the public you have lost it all ... and we have clearly lost the public.”

It is illegal under federal law to transport or show a sored horse. Last year the Humane Society of the United States released undercover video of a well-known West Tennessee trainer beating and overseeing the soring of horses, and he was sentenced to jail.

Boyd posted the statement on the group's website after its board declined to adopt a recommendation from the association’s executive committee to support a ban the use of “action” devices such as weights and chains and strengthen the federal Horse Protection Act.

“It is clear to me that our past has finally caught up with us, and the image currently conveyed by our performance horse is no longer accepted in 2013,” Boyd wrote. “TWHBEA has lost members in droves, and the brutal emails I have received tell me why. It is our reputation. It is soring. It is our image.”

"Terry Dotson, interim chairman of the Performance Show Horse Association, said the testing of horses was thorough and that soring was isolated," Gang reports, quoting him: “While we understand Mr. Boyd’s frustration, the elimination of the weighted shoe, performance package and action devices won’t do anything to eliminate soring as even Mr. Boyd points out, the pads and action devices do not harm the horse. But his endorsement is unfortunate, as the legislation would punish the vast majority of those who are doing the right thing.” (Read more)