The United States Trotting Association (USTA) has announced its intention to offer support to Standardbred horses in the care and custody of animal control authorities because of neglect, abuse, or abandonment.

The program, Support Our Standardbreds (SOS), will extend assistance in providing feed, veterinary, and other care to Standardbreds in the legal custody of animal control officials anywhere in the US.

"We believe this program will begin to meet two very vital needs that are either completely unmet or severely underfunded," said USTA Executive Vice President Mike Tanner. "This is a widespread problem that affects horses whose owners have failed to care for them, and government officials are left with little to no funding to step in when care has fallen to a criminally low level. We have anecdotal reports of animal control officials not able to exercise their authority to seize horses because of a lack of funds to do so.

"We want animal control officers throughout the country to know we will help them to restore a horse to health if they believe the best interest of the horse requires them to be removed from their owner's custody. We have $100,000 designated for this program. That is vastly more than is available now, which in many areas is nothing