Historically industry has never been good about welfare issues, whether it’s human or animal. That’s why government has stepped in and I suspect that in the horse industry, it will take government intervention also. Of course, I doubt that we will have any government intervention in much of anything other than hot button issues that I’m sure people are aware of, for the foreseeable future. USEF is pretty much the last line and as much as I wish it would do more, I think it’s our only hope for now. Just my thoughts on horse welfare.
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I’ve heard chatter about that a couple of decades ago or likely more. AQHA has never been part of USEF, neither had APHA or ApHC or most of the stock breeds. They all have drug testing, and just like the USEF shows, classes can thin out pretty quickly if word spreads that the testers are there.
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The government hasn’t managed to shut down big lick shows. What do you think they are going to do for the rest of the problems that are nowhere near as obvious?
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Unlike your average PPE drug screen, the drug testing cost for USEF includes supporting the legal fees enforcing it and defending against lawsuits. Does not help that some of the biggest offenders have clients who are successful attorneys who expect to win with their horses as well as the court system.
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Pushing through welfare legislation takes time, a lot of time. It took years and some very terrible incidents to get the government to pass work place safety (think triangle shirtwaist fire) so expecting animal welfare laws to be enacted quickly is unrealistic. But I believe that it is coming, even for the big lick horses. I just don’t expect that any of it will be passed until after 2028 if then. Our current administration is not going to spend any time on animal welfare given its view on human welfare! So you correct, it won’t happen soon. But it will happen.
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World show tests all champions and normally another finalist. AQHA does (AFAIK) use the USEF testing lab and USEF testers, but they are not under USEF rules.
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The main ring Arab people have been talking about this for decades. There are enough sport horse people now that it will never happen.
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I hope you’re right, because, as bad as USEF is, AHA is worse about enforcing its own rules.
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Unfortunately the sport horse people may have the numbers but I’m not sure they have the clout to keep this from happening. I haven’t heard anything about the results of the survey. You can be sure that the biggies of the main ring world can exert a lot more pressure than the biggest of the sport horse people. And, the main ring people have already shown that if they don’t get their way, they create their own shows with their own rules. See also: halter classes at Scottsdale.
Keep an eye on the convention this year as I believe that is where they will vote on it. If I’m not mistaken, it came up last year but was tabled to get member feedback and more information.
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If I read the article correctly they have to pull a fair amount of mane out by the roots. I can hear the uproar now when Dobbin’s mane hairs are collected. Hahahahaha
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Will they use tail hair if someone decides a roached mane looks good
It’s all the same thing. They’d have to shave the tail down to nothing otherwise.
The lab who will be doing the hair testing said that no lab will do private screenings for individuals.
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The amount needed is about the size you get when you are pulling a mane.
Maybe I missed it, but did they explain why?
Back in the olden days, high level competitors would send in carefully timed blood samples under false names to see exactly when and how much anti-inflammatories or sedatives for clipping, etc they could get away with for FEI classes. Or sometimes hunting for EVA titers when that was a border problem. Seeing as the goal here is a 100% dangerous shitty Class IV prohibited how-could-you substance, there is no reason to indulge private parties in their questions about it
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Yes, because that encourages people who want to beat the test to submit hair samples to test their latest cocktail.
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Also prevents one competitor from sending in a sample for another competitor’s horse so they can turn them in and reduce the competition.
That would be complicated, legally speaking. Also the specific reason for for not doing private testing was limited to the situation I described.
