WASHINGTON (Oct. 15, 2024)—For over a decade, the Humane Society of the United States has pushed for stronger enforcement of the Horse Protection Act, urging the U.S. Department of Agriculture to close gaps in its oversight that have perpetuated horse soring, an illegal and abusive practice that forces Tennessee walking horses and related breeds to perform the exaggerated "Big Lick" gait. In April 2024, the USDA finalized a long-awaited rule to eliminate the failed system of industry self-policing and the use of devices integral to soring. However, the management of the Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration has filed a federal lawsuit to block the rule’s implementation. This lawsuit threatens to delay or derail that critical rule, which should take effect in February 2025.
The management of the Celebration claims in its lawsuit that soring is no longer an issue in the industry. However, the HSUS has released findings from an undercover investigation at Formac Stables, operated by prominent Tennessee walking horse trainer and four-time World Grand Champion winner Jimmy McConnell, that contradict this claim. The HSUS has also filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit, to help defend the USDA rule.
Until recently, McConnell, one of the most decorated trainers in the world of Tennessee walking horses, has evaded accountability, despite numerous alleged violations of the Horse Protection Act. His brother, Jackie McConnell, was famously convicted following a 2011 HSUS undercover soring investigation exposing shocking abuses.
In 2022, the HSUS conducted an undercover investigation at McConnell’s Formac Stables in Shelbyville, Tennessee. The investigation revealed staff routinely soring horses by applying caustic substances such as oil of mustard and kerosene to their legs and wrapping them in plastic or paper wrap and cloth bandages to “cook” the chemicals into the horses’ flesh. These horses showed many signs of pain and discomfort, including resistance to touch on their pasterns (the sored part of the leg), facial contortions and head thrashing.
Strategies used to dodge detection of soring in official USDA inspections were documented as well. At the 2022 Walking Horse National Celebration, McConnell’s staff was observed injecting intravenous sedatives in horses and staging mock inspections to ensure the animals would not react in pain during official inspections. Most of the horses did pass USDA scrutiny, after which they were injected with a stimulant to reverse their sedation, and re-sored in the post-inspection holding area prior to performing. Walking Horse Trainers Association president Billy Young was documented holding the reins of a horse while the animal was being sored by a member of McConnell’s team. Young also helped obstruct USDA officials' view of the soring by standing with others to create a visual barrier around the horses.
Horses who were sored at Formac in 2022 were exhibited by McConnell at the 2022 and 2023 Celebration show. Despite McConnell’s history and its president’s first-hand knowledge of the abuse at Formac, the Walking Horse Trainers Association awarded McConnell with a Living Legend Lifetime Achievement award in February 2024. He had also previously received their Association’s Champion of the Year award in December of 2022.
Sam Martin, who served as McConnell’s assistant trainer during 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 the undercover operation carried out in 2022.
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.
“We share the results of our investigation and evidence with the media and additional authorities in hopes that these findings will be used to hold McConnell and his associates accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Keith Dane, senior director of Equine Protection at the Humane Society of the United States. “But justice served on one infamous training operation will not end the cruelty perpetrated by so many others connected to this segment of the 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 this reason, the HSUS has moved to defend the USDA rule.”
The HSUS is not only seeking to participate in the legal defense of the rule but is also calling for the immediate passage of the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act. This federal legislation would codify and make permanent the reforms in the USDA’s final rule and further strengthen protections for horses by increasing penalties for violators. Despite broad bipartisan support and previous passage twice in the House of Representatives, the PAST Act has been repeatedly blocked by a small group of legislators doing the bidding of horse sorers.
“For far too long, a handful of federal legislators representing some areas of Tennessee and Kentucky have blocked protections for these horses despite overwhelming bipartisan support from the public and Congress,” said Gillian Lyons, director of regulatory affairs for the Humane Society Legislative Fund. “This investigation provides incontrovertible evidence that the prompt implementation of the USDA rule and enactment of the Prevent all Soring Tactics (PAST) Act to codify and strengthen the rule are urgently needed to protect thousands of horses from the torment of soring, as Congress intended when it passed the Horse Protection Act over a half century ago.”
Concerned citizens are urged to contact their members of Congress now, to let them know of their outrage at the cruel soring of horses and encourage them to do all they can to pass the PAST Act.
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