
Washington,D.C. – Julie Broadway, President of the American Horse Council, released the following statement on the pending implementation of the revised Horse Protection Act (HPA) regulation:
“The American Horse Council (AHC) has formally requested that the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) delay the implementation of the revised Horse Protection Act regulation for 60 days. The AHC finds the agency is not ready to implement and/or enforce the revised regulation in a fair and consistent manner. The regulation is currently scheduled for implementation on February 1, 2025.”
It is unfortunate that we must ask for this 60-day delay. The AHC and its member organizations have long supported the development and implementation of strong regulations to protect the health and welfare of horses that are vulnerable to the illegal practice of soring. We stand firmly in that position. However, as a result of consultations with USDA-APHIS that formally began in May 2024, after the final regulation was published, and recent correspondence on January 3, 2025, we remain convinced that clarity, accessibility, resources, guidance, and training—all the elements required for a successful implementation of the revised regulation—are lacking in the agency.
The process of the regulation’s implementation falls short of what the equine industry very much needs and deserves from the USDA-APHIS.
To date, the USDA-APHIS has still not addressed big-picture, fundamental concerns on how the regulation applies to certain disciplines or how event managers will submit the required notifications and reports, and it has not disclosed details on the availability and training of inspectors. Inspector training needs to be institutionalized with comprehensive and well-structured training materials to ensure staff interpretations of the regulation are guided by clear definitions and standard operating procedures, removing subjectivity and providing continuity of enforcement standards and procedures. We are especially concerned with the seemingly substitute of “hands-on” training for online instruction.
Without answers to these questions and concerns, the equine community is attempting to figure it out on our own. We are left with crossing our fingers and hoping our inventory of horseshoes will be our lucky charms to avoid noncompliance or a violation and result in penalties and fines.
By setting clearer guidelines, publishing understandable and accessible guidance documents, and offering informational briefings, the USDA-APHIS can empower the industry with the tools it needs for compliance and a sense of confidence.
Instead, we are currently navigating an environment where the lack of clear information presents opportunities for individuals and organizations to purposely take advantage of the weaknesses of a vague and complex implementation process to potentially undermine the regulation and its foundational law.
Link to the Amercian Horse Council article on this: https://horsecouncil.org/project/american-horse-council-formally-requests-usda-delay-new-hpa-regulations/
Link to the USDA APHIS information on the act: https://www.aphis.usda.gov/hpa
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