The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) and the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) today (June 14) called for a ban on the use of action devices and performance packages in the training and showing of Tennessee Walking Horses. These devices and packages are often implicated in the practice of soring, the act of intentionally inflicting pain to accentuate a horse’s gait.

"Soring has been an illegal act for more than 40 years," said René A. Carlson, DVM, AVMA president. "Nevertheless, increasingly shrewd and more difficult to detect–yet equally painful–methods of soring continue to plague the Walking Horse Industry.

"America’s veterinarians are asking USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to prohibit the use of action devices and performance packages in the training and showing of Walking Horses, because they appear to be facilitating soring," Carlson added.

"The soring of Tennessee Walking Horses is an extremely abusive practice and it must end," said AAEP President John Mitchell, DVM. "We urge a modification to the Horse Protection Act so that all action devices and performance packages are banned