SHOW released inspection numbers for September and year-to-date.  For the first time, SHOW issued separate numbers for Horse Protection Act violations and well as violations of the SHOW rules. The September monthly numbers are as follows:

Total horses inspected – 1,310
Total HPA violations – 6 or 0.4%
Total all violations – 11 or 0.8%

The 2013 year-to-date numbers are as follows:
Total horses inspected – 11,179
Total HPA violations – 310 or 2.7%
Total all violations – 345 or 3%

SHOW officials continue to be pleased with the efforts of the Designated Qualified Persons under the direction of Mitchell Butler, Head DQP with administrative support from Rachel Reed.  The quality and consistency of the inspections is better than ever and the working relationship in the field with the Veterinary Medical Offices from the USDA has been mutually beneficial in keeping horses not incompliance out of the show ring.
 
Last month SHOW announced that it will become inactive after the Tunica, Mississippi Horse Show but has extended that time to Dec. 31, 2013 in light of additional events.  The Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, owner of SHOW, will keep SHOW alive but inactive as was the case prior to being asked to take over enforcement responsibilities April 1, 2009 by the Walking Horse Trainers' Association and the Walking Horse Owners' Association, partners in the National Horse Show Commission HIO
 
SHOW was formed over 10 years ago as a backup HIO for Celebration sponsored shows in the case of an emergency but was never activated until 2009. The announcement is being made at this time to enable another group to step up and take over these responsibilities.

"While the Celebration was willing to activate SHOW to help the industry during a difficult time, it has been demanding and expensive and its time we concentrated on our horse shows, particularly The Celebration," said SHOW Board Chairman Buddy Nelson. "We will support any other responsible group that implements an effective HIO program to enforce the Horse Protection Act in the future."

The Celebration loaned SHOW money to get it started in hopes it would be self-sustaining, but that was not the case. The Celebration has loaned SHOW over $500,000 as others HIOs came into existence and started affiliating shows in competition with SHOW.

SHOW has affiliated 147 events this year, up 35 over 2012 or 31%.