On April 25, 2023 the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) released a new five year strategic plan. As part of that plan, APHIS oversees the enforcement of the Horse Protection Act.  The HPA is a very small part of the overall APHIS budget.

As part of the enforcement of the HPA, APHIS cited three goals for enforcement. Those were support a strong focus on enforcement, increase the number of HPA events attended by 50% over fiscal year 2022 and continue ongoing outreach efforts targeting both competitors and event attendees. The USDA veterinary medical officers have been attending a number of events at the beginning of the 2023 show season, clearly striving to meet the goal of attending 50% more events versus fiscal year 2022.

For a complete review of the 5-Year Strategic Plan click here. The relevant HPA material is on page 25 of the report.