Editor’s Note: The following summary of the enforcement of the HPA appears on the APHIS web site.
With respect to alleged violations of the Horse Protection Act (HPA), in fiscal year (FY) 2017, APHIS initiated cases involving 380 individuals; issued 213 official warnings; obtained 88 administrative orders assessing $113,000 in civil penalties; and disqualified 85 individuals from participating in activities regulated under the HPA. In one case, APHIS entered into a consent decision in which the individual acknowledged entering or showing five different horses, on five separate occasions in 2013, 2016, and 2017, while the horses were sore, in violation of the HPA. The consent decision disqualified the individual for a period of two years from showing, exhibiting, or entering any horse in any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction; and assessed a $6,000 civil penalty. In another case, after filing an administrative complaint alleging nine instances of entering, showing, and/or transporting six different horses, while the horses were sore, APHIS entered into a consent decision assessing an uninterrupted seven-year disqualification.