By Sara Amundson and Kitty Block
We are at a tipping point in the fight to end the brutal practice of horse soring, a form of torment to force Tennessee walking horses and related breeds to exhibit the high-stepping gait known as the “Big Lick.”
We have spent over a decade urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the agency that oversees this industry, to close some of the loopholes in its regulations that have allowed horse soring to persist. In April, the agency finalized a rule to do just that. But the management of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration has filed suit in federal court in Texas to block the rule from taking effect in February 2025 as planned.
In its lawsuit, the Association claims that soring is a thing of the past, but we have evidence that clearly shows that soring continues to be business as usual for even highly regarded horse trainers within this industry.
The USDA rule must take effect and be fully enforced. That is why the Humane Society of the United States has moved to intervene in the lawsuit to defend the new rule. Additionally, federal legislation would make the reforms of the rule permanent and go even further in advancing protections for horses by strengthening penalties. The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act must be enacted.
We are providing further evidence of just how common this cruelty still is and the strategies used to conceal it from inspectors. One of our investigators became an employee of Jimmy McConnell’s at his Formac Stables in Shelbyville, Tennessee, in 2022. One of the most prominent trainers in the show world of Tennessee walking horses, McConnell has one of the longest and most recognized careers in the breed’s history, having won a record four World Grand Championship titles. Yet until his October 2023 federal disqualification from participating at horse shows, he has suffered no consequences whatsoever for his abuse of horses, despite having been cited numerous times over the years for violations of the Horse Protection Act.
Our damning report and video show that McConnell’s staff routinely sored horses in their care in assembly-line fashion, then worked to cover up their wrongdoing so they could get horses through federal inspection and into the show ring of the industry’s premier competition.
McConnell and his staff were actively involved in the chemical soring of horses who were shown at the 2022 Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. The horses’ legs were wrapped with plastic or paper wrap and cloth bandages, to “cook” the chemicals into the horses’ flesh, creating heat and pain. Horses showed many signs of pain and discomfort, including resistance to touch on the pastern, facial contortions and head thrashing. Several of the sored horses’ pasterns were missing hair or were scarred, with damaged skin peeling off.
Our investigator collected a sample of the soring solution that burned their skin upon contact. It was tested by Southwest Research Institute and found to contain oil of mustard and a petroleum product (kerosene and/or diesel fuel), which are caustic ingredients known to cause pain and to be used to sore horses.
Our investigation gives insight into how industry insiders facilitate soring: Billy Young, president of the Walking Horse Trainers Association, was observed witnessing soring by McConnell’s staff at Formac Stables during the week of the 2022 Celebration. He was also documented holding the reins of a horse who was being actively sored by McConnell’s staff in the holding area following a USDA inspection.
We documented strategies used to dodge detection of soring in official inspections, as well. Our investigation shows that horses were injected with a powerful sedative to ensure the animals would not react to pain. McConnell and other staff then conducted mock inspections of the doped horses by pushing forcefully into their chemical burns to see if they would pass inspection by not reacting to the pain. Staff used combs to remove dead skin caused by soring prior to inspection. Most of McConnell’s horses did pass inspection.
Directly after inspection, in the holding area, our investigator witnessed several of McConnell’s horses being injected with stimulants to wake them from their sedation and some being subjected to another round of soring. Several horses had a paste of soring chemicals applied in the holding area before performing. Our investigator obtained a sample of the paste, which was tested and found to contain oil of mustard.
Also in the holding area, McConnell, his staff and Billy Young formed a human shield to block USDA officials’ view of horses being actively sored by Earsie Allen, a staff member who was federally disqualified from participating in horse shows at the time.
Since our investigator’s undercover employment, we have continued to track Jimmy McConnell and his Formac operation. Horses who were sored at Formac in 2022 were exhibited by McConnell at the 2022 and 2023 Celebration show. (Some of those horses were cited by the USDA in 2023, but others showed without being cited and won ribbons. And many of the sored horses passed inspection during our 2022 investigation.) Despite his history, McConnell has enjoyed continuing prestige: He was named the Riders Cup Performance Horse Champion of the Year in December of 2022 by the Walking Horse Trainers Association, of which Billy Young is president, and received an accompanying prize of over $15,000. He was also awarded the Living Legend Lifetime Achievement Award by Billy Young’s group in 2024.
Sam Martin—who served as McConnell’s assistant trainer while we conducted the undercover investigation and was directly involved in the soring, sedative injections and mock inspections of horses—continues to train and compete under the stable name Thornridge South. At the recent 2024 Celebration, Martin personally showed 16 horses, while owners of horses trained by him also participated. Several of the horses shown had been subjected to soring during our undercover operation.
In November 2023, the USDA placed McConnell, Formac Stables and Formac employee Chris Alexander on federal disqualification for alleged violations of the Horse Protection Act. In broadly sharing the results of our investigation and evidence with the media, supporters and additional authorities, we are determined for these findings to be used to hold McConnell and his associates accountable to the fullest extent of the law for their abuses of horses. It's imperative that the appropriate authorities use this and any additional evidence to act on any offenses under the Horse Protection Act or other applicable state or federal laws.
But justice served in the case of one infamous training operation will not end the cruelty perpetrated in the shadows of this industry. Only the elimination of the devices that are integral to soring and the corrupt, failed system of industry self-policing will provide long-overdue protection to these horses.
For far too long, a handful of federal legislators from Tennessee and Kentucky have protected trainers such as McConnell by blocking enactment of the PAST Act, despite broad bipartisan support in both chambers of Congress for more than a decade and its passage (twice!) in the House of Representatives. Some legislators doing the bidding of the sorers are even trying to block implementation of the USDA rule, through the annual appropriations process. We will continue to do everything in our power to ensure that both measures are implemented and effectively enforced, and that thousands of horses are finally spared the torment of soring, as Congress intended when it passed the Horse Protection Act over a half century ago.
Contact your members of Congress now to urge them to do all they can to pass the PAST Act. There should never be another horse show in which tormented horses are paraded around show rings in the name of entertainment.
Sara Amundson is president of the Humane Society Legislative Fund.
