By Jeffrey Howard

On Friday, United States District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk issued his ruling with regards to the USDA’s rule to amend the Horse Protection Act regulations. The industry, through plaintiffs the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration, Tom Gould and Kimberly Lewis, were successful in challenging the USDA’s new rule. The Celebration had made comments to the 2023 proposed rulemaking on behalf of the entire show horse portion of the industry with regards to each of the areas it challenged in Federal Court, but the USDA dismissed those comments and pressed forward with their original rule.

In his ruling, Judge Kacsmaryk agreed with the plaintiffs and vacated the areas of the rule that imposed a ban on pads and action devices as well as the ban on all substances. He agreed with the plaintiffs that the USDA’s new scar rule, termed Dermatological Conditions Indicative of Soring (DCIS) did not afford participants due process and granted plaintiffs' motion. Judge Kacsmaryk did not agree with the plaintiffs’ challenge to the removal of Designated Qualified Persons through HIOs, thus allowing the USDA to institute its new Horse Protection Inspectors (HPI) program. This is currently set to take effect on April 2, 2025.

Over the weekend, questions began to come in with how this ruling affects the upcoming show season. One thing none of us are good at is exercising patience, but in this case, we will need to show some patience and wait for the response from the USDA with regards to Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling. At the current time, his ruling means that the same rules that we showed under last year are in effect for 2025, and until April 2nd it will be the same HIOs conducting those inspections.

The Walking Horse industry has not been the only equine industry opposing the implementation of this Horse Protection Rule. Other breeds have sent letters, made phone calls and tried to get a better understanding from USDA on how the rule would have been implemented. The major area of concern for those other breeds has been the HPI program as well as the reporting requirements for horse shows and for reporting violations of the HPA found at their shows to the UDSA. At issue for those other breeds, and the Tennessee Walking Horse, is that the court ruled in favor of the USDA and the HPI and reporting provisions are set to go into effect April2, unless the USDA takes some additional action.

Until all of us see what direction the new administration at USDA takes with regards to Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling, as well as how they intend to move forward with the portion of the rule that was ruled valid, it will be hard for the industry to make appropriate plans and take next steps. The attorneys representing the plaintiffs in the challenge are working through Judge Kacsmaryk’s ruling and will be looking to develop action items as a result.

The order had extremely beneficial language for the industry with regards to the lack of due process as well as the new DCIS to replace the old scar rule. The USDA attempted to address the problems with the existing scar rule and due process in the current regulations with their 2023 rulemaking. The full attention will now switch to the industry’s challenge to several items in the current HPA in the Wright case in Jackson, Tennessee. This order will be included in filings by attorneys representing the Wright’s in Jackson. A reminder, winning the lawsuit in Texas simply reverted everyone, all breeds of show horses and USDA alike, back to the same rules and enforcement that has been in place, a system that left industry participants in 2024 frustrated and ready to throw their hands up.  

A win in the Tennessee case will deem the current lack of due process, the current scar rule and the current interpretation of post-show inflammation and injuries null and void and allow for more permanent relief to industry participants that have been taken advantage of for so long. A win in the Tennessee case is a must in order for true relief to be sought and a solution put in place that affords fair and objective inspection processes for our horse.

Now you see the importance of my earlier point about patience. The first step is to see the response of USDA to the decision in Texas and to continue our fight in the Tennessee case. Industry leadership can then respond and make next steps known to horse shows, trainers, owners and participants that rely so heavily on the industry. It is true that much of the order by Judge Kacsmaryk includes language very beneficial to many of the issues we’ve had as an industry in how the USDA enforces the HPA.

Work won’t stop to get any immediate relief we can in areas where USDA has stretched its current authority, to work to attempt to keep industry self-enforcement a part of enforcing the HPA and more permanent relief in the enforcement of the scar rule, lack of due process and post-show inflammation by winning the lawsuit in Tennessee. Remember, House Oversight and the Office of Inspector General are still investigating USDA-APHIS’ program and how it was enforced in 2024.

News will be forthcoming in the next several weeks in each of these areas and industry participants and horse shows/events will be kept up-to-speed. Be careful in assuming too much or allowing social media to twist the effect of this initial ruling too much in either direction and wait for facts to dictate the next steps and how we all move forward.