From the Editor...

please like our page on Facebook. They have made it extremely difficult to grow our presence organically. We could certainly use your help in liking and sharing some of our posts. That’s how we can grow.

Ella also has her first profile in this issue. She interviewed Julie Lamberton who had great success in 2022 in both Working Equitation and Gaited Dressage. You can get to know her on page 24.

Another first-time author for us is Kym Rouse Holzwart. She wrote a profile on Carl Bledsoe who started his career in the Bick Lick Tenneessee Walker industry. Realizing how bad that was for the horses, he left that industry and has rebuilt his business with a focus on flat-shod gaited (and any breed really) horses. He has become a wonderful advocate for which everything FOSH stands.

Hello FOSH Friends.

I’m excited to announce that we have an official summer intern! A lovely young lady named Ella Barnett, who hails from Wisconsin, just finished her sophomore year at Centenary University in New Jersey.

While she doesn’t have a lot of experience with gaited horses, she was excited to learn more. For the next few months, she is helping with our Facebook page and The Sound Advocate.

By the way, if you haven’t done so,

Not to be overlooked, the PAST act has once again been introduced to the House of Representatives. Read our “Advocacy Update” to find out how it’s going and how you can help make a difference.

Happy Riding! Stephanie

Stephanie J. Ruff Editor editor@fosh.info

By Jo Ellen Hayden

Here is an update on Federal rules, regulations, and legislation to end soring, current as of June 2023. In February 2023, we were waiting for results in two areas:

- USDA Rule: Would a lawsuit force USDA to issue the 2016 version of their anti-soring rule and put an end to sorin?. If you recall, the 2016 USDA rule had been through an exhaustive public comment period taking up much of 2015-2016 and had passed all the checks and balances required for new federal rules. It was swept aside in the first days of the Trump administration when, as is common, the new administration chose to suspend all new rules and regulations that had been issued in the 90 days prior to the inauguration.

- PAST Act: We were also waiting to see if the PAST Act would be re-introduced into the US Congress.

Here are the details:

USDA Rule – The hot potato lawsuit that would have forced USDA to issue the anti-soring rule in its 2016 version was effectively killed a few weeks ago when USDA petitioned the court for permission simply to withdraw that rule completely, and the court granted that permission.

How can this happen, you ask? Well, in the first place, the court never wanted to issue an opinion on whether new administrations could legally pull back rules and regulations issued during the last days of the prior administration. This is a HUGE deal in Washington, and nobody wants to go anywhere near it. This has nothing to do with soring. It just happens that the anti-soring rule was the one that was in front of the court. It could have been a rule about anything. But, unfortunately for the horses, it was the anti-soring rule. The USDA has solved the problem neatly and gotten the court off the hook by saying that they have been intending to issue an updated version of the rule anyhow, and so the 2016 version (and therefore the lawsuit) is off the table. gov/bill/118th-congress/housebill/3090/all-info was reintroduced in the House of Representatives with a strong bipartisan set of 206 co-sponsors. They even have a lead sponsor from Tennessee. This bill passed in the House in the last two Congresses by a wide bipartisan margin, and if it attains close to 300 co-sponsors, it is likely to go up for a vote and be passed again. It would strengthen the Horse Protection Act of 1970, ban the use of pads and chains, eliminate the failed current system of industry self-policing and increase penalties for violators.

So where is the new version of the USDA rule? It was submitted last September by USDA to the President’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) - the first step of the tortuous process of internal and public review for any new rule or regulation. OMB generally gets their part of the process finished in three months, so it is unclear why they have not yet finished their review nine months later and counting. Have they perhaps asked USDA for some clarifications and gotten nothing back? Have they been asked to put this review on the back burner? No one outside of OMB and USDA, and perhaps some of the more powerful offices in congress, has any information. There is no way to even get the text of the proposed rule because it is still not released to the public. But it is clear that USDA has absolutely no intention of making horse protection a priority. They have effectively dragged their feet for seven years now, since 2016, and well before that depending on how far back you want to count.

The PAST Act has not yet been reintroduced in the Senate. This will happen when enough co-sponsors have signed on to make an effective showing.

PAST Act – on May 5, 2023 the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 3090, https://www.congress.

While it may pass in the House of Representatives again, it has no more chance of passage in the US Senate than it ever had in earlier years because Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will not let it be brought up for a vote. Nonetheless, it is worth keeping PAST in the sights of the congress – quite likely, those same educational efforts to try to get votes for PAST are what has resulted in increased funding to USDA for enforcement over the last few years. It takes a huge amount of time and education to bring newly elected representatives up to speed on the problem of soring – most of them have never heard of the problem, and there are no sored horses in their states. So, if the bill is going to be passed, it will be mid-to-late in the two-year session. But we are better off than in the last congress, when the bill was not introduced until the second year of the session.

As in prior years, the legislators from Tennessee and Kentucky have quietly introduced a “rival” bill https://www. congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/ house-bill/2648/all-info to counter the PAST Act. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, (R-TN) introduced the rival bill, which has only ever gotten a handful of sponsors, all from KY and TN. Nonetheless, it is a distraction to the many members of congress who know nothing about the issue, and it allows the KY and TN delegations to say that they are doing something about soring, just not exactly what PAST does. The DesJarlis bill has no chance of passage, which is a good thing since it would replace the current failed Health Information Organization (HIO) system with an even more biased governing body, which they also call “the HIO.” This new HIO would have appointees only from KY, TN, and the Walking Horse Industry and would be the sole source of inspectors to all horse shows, sales, and auctions.

What can you do?

o Write to your representative and ask them to co-sponsor the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 3090 (or thank them for already being a co-sponsor). You can check the official US congress website at https://www.congress.gov/ bill/118th-congress/house-bill/3090/ all-info for an up-to-date list of all co-sponsors thus far. o Consider writing to Mr. Tom Vilsack, Secretary of Agriculture, asking him why any new Anti-Soring Horse Protection rule has not been issued for public comment. You can use the email link on the USDA website, https://ask.usda.gov/s/contactsupport to contact him. USDA will probably respond that the rule is at OMB, and they are waiting for that office to release it. But it is good to raise awareness at USDA that people are watching this. o Continue to educate your friends in other states about this problem. o Continue to ride and show your sound horses and tell the public about the problem and how your horses are so much more beautiful and happy than the unfortunate Big Lick horses.

Jo Ellen Hayden retired in 2012 from a career spanning 43 years, much of it spent as a civilian engineering program manager with the US Navy and with nearly a decade in clinical practice as a licensed acupuncturist. She owned and competed several horses and is a USDF Bronze Medalist in dressage. In recent years, she has focused on volunteer work with multiple community groups, event planning, historic research and writing, support of veterans and equine welfare, including the fight against soring. She is the author of an extensive web publication on the use of horses and mules in World War I, www.ww1cc.org/horses.