ARTICLE - OIG's Conclusions

Click here for an article from the Huffington Post about the OIG's audit of the APHIS. It was written by Wayne Parcelle, the president of the HSUS.

A lot of sore horse supporters are going to say well of course it's biased--the HSUS is against us, blah blah blah. But here's the thing: the following highlighted points are not biased because truly point out the facts that contribute to the continued problem of horses still being sored.

• DQPs have clear conflicts of interest, and do not always inspect horses according to the requirements of the Horse Protection Act. They realize that by excluding horses from a show, they are not likely to please their employers -- who are interested in putting on a profitable show.


• Some DQPs -- when they did issue a ticket -- would issue it not to the exhibitor responsible for abusing the horse, but to almost anyone else, including stable hands working for the exhibitor, so the responsible person could avoid receiving a penalty.


• DQPs working independently issued few tickets; they were much more likely to issue violations when they were being observed by an APHIS employee. From 2005 to 2008, APHIS veterinarians were present at only 6 percent of all shows, yet DQPs issued 49 percent of all violations at these shows.


• Many in the horse show industry do not regard the abuse of horses as a serious problem, and resent USDA performing inspections. The practice of soring has been ingrained as an acceptable practice in the industry for decades.


• APHIS employees were subjected to intimidation and attempts to prevent them from inspecting horses. Due to this hostile environment, APHIS employees routinely bring armed security or the police with them when they visit shows.


• APHIS inspection teams at horse-related events cannot ensure that individuals suspended from participating in horse shows due to violations are not participating.

While all of us have truly known this all along, getting the information out into the public is crucial. I think this article is an excellent example of how we can put the guilty parties in the spotlight by presenting the facts and show why this is such a problem.

I also posted the OIG's Audit Report in the sidebar under Stacked/Sored Horse Articles and Information. The information is public and can certainly help everyone understand why the audit was performed and what changes need to be made.