The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s testing revealed that at the 2012 National Walking Horse Celebration in Shelbyville, 145 horses out of 190 tested, or 76 percent, were found positive for foreign substanes, the Humane Society of the United States said.
"That is In contrast to the two foreign substance violations reported by the Tennessee walking horse industry," Humane Society officials said.
The HSUS has requested that Tennessee Attorney General Robert E. Cooper, Jr. "open an investigation into the veracity of public statements made by officials connected to the Walking Horse Trainers Association Enforcement Initiative, the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration and the Tennessee Walking Show Horse Organization about their initiative to detect unlawful horse soring at the 2012 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration.
"The HSUS maintains that this discrepancy raises a serious concern that participants and spectators at the Celebration were falsely assured that horses entered were compliant with the federal Horse Protection Act, when evidence of cruelty and cheating may have been concealed by the organizers of the event. The foreign substance testing is used to detect the presence of painful caustic chemicals that trainers apply to horses’ legs. Other cruel training methods – collectively referred to as 'soring' – are used to obtain the prized high-stepping gait of the walking horse.
"Before the event, both the TWHNC and the TWSHO issued press releases assuring the public that every horse entered at the Celebration would be swabbed and tested for illegal foreign substances used to sore horses or to conceal that a horse was sore. They also promised to release test results promptly during the event and to immediately and severely punish any violators. However, it appears that the industry groups did not swab and test every horse, nor did they release the complete results of the testing, adding to suspicions that some positive test results may have been suppressed to protect the perpetrators."
Keith Dane, director of equine protection for The HSUS, said, “The show organizations involved with the Celebration’s swabbing program failed to deliver on promises about protecting the welfare of horses and compliance with the law. We are urging Attorney General Cooper to fully investigate the industry’s deception.”