TWHBEA Executive Committee member Loyd Hall "Buster" Black, Jr. has resigned his assignmment to serve as the Association's liaison to other industry groups in coordinating a response to the recently filed USDA petition. Black is a director from Georgia and serves as the Vice President for By Laws.
Following an August 15 conference call of the Executive Committee, Black was asked to serve as the Association's liaison in working with industry organizations in a coordinated response to the humane associations' petition to the USDA and prepare a news release concerning the controversy generated by their earlier quote to The Horse magazine that appeared to endorse the petition.
In preparing the news release, Black "made not one but two detailed inquiries by phone and was assured by TWHBEA officials that TWHBEA absolutely had no knowledge of the petition at the time the quote was made."
On August 16, Black took the lead in drafting the official TWHBEA news release, which was edited by the TWHBEA officers he had spoken with and released as "TWHBEA Responds to Industry Accusations" in which it stated "In fact, the petition came to light, as far as TWHBEA was concerned, only after the "quotation" was offered, and the "quotation" therefore is misapplied to the petition."
Black has since discovered that his August 16 news release is factually incorrect since several TWHBEA officials were in fact aware of the petition and the ill advised quote provided by Executive Director Stan Butt in The Horse magazine.
Through no fault of his own and relying on assurances from others, Black now finds himself "amid a firestorm of controversy" and has been "left to work to rebuild a shattered personal reputation."
Black has been a long time supporter of the breed at the highest policy levels in Washington and was the first person to call the industry's attention to the subleties contained in House bill HR503. His family has been involved with Tennessee Walking Horses since the 1940's and he carries on that family tradition by serving the industry and showing in the English Pleasure division. He is unable to show padded horses due to extremely uncomfortable side effects from heart surgery.