Due to the scrutiny of the Tennessee Walking Horse and its compliance with the Horse Protection Act being at the forefront of the industry in recent years, the good start to the show season is a positive sign for the 2015 show season. At the Mississippi Charity Horse Show in Jackson, 350 entries were inspected pre-show by SHOW HIO and 99 entries inspected post-show. The USDA was present with its Veterinarian Medical Officers (VMOs) all three nights in Jackson.
SHOW Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs) issued violations on five entries. Pre-show violations consisted of two scar rule violations and one unilateral sensitivity. Post-show violations were two heavy chain tickets issued. Those weight violations were tenths of an ounce overages. The compliance rate of 98.9% with SHOW DQPs was evident of the emphasis on the welfare of the horse by participants.
The USDA took information for possible violations of the HPA on four scar rule post-show, one scar rule pre-show, two bilateral sensitivity pre-show and one unilateral sensitivity post-show. When adding these potential violations to the SHOW violations the compliance rate was still 97.2% at the Mississippi Charity.
At the National Trainers’ Show, SHOW inspected 281 entries pre-show and 57 entries post-show. SHOW DQPs issued four unilateral sensitivity violations, one bilateral sensitivity violations and two scar rule violations. The total compliance with SHOW DQPs was 98%.
The USDA took information on seven additional horses. The VMOs took information on a possible one bilateral sensitivity, four unilateral sensitivity and two scar rule violations, one of which was post-show. If you add the seven additional horses that had information taken by the USDA the compliance rate remained 96%.
The SHOW HIO compliance rate for the two shows combined was 98.5%. When adding the possible violations from the USDA in these numbers the rate of compliance was 96.6%. Given the subjectivity of the inspections and the high level of scrutiny placed on the inspectors for both the USDA and SHOW by humane groups, the high compliance figures represent a very solid start to the show season.