Animal Care – Animal Welfare Operations | Horse Protection
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Animal Care
2150 Centre Ave. | Bldg. B, Mailstop | 3W11 | Fort Collins, CO 80526
July 1, 2026
Dear Management of Horse Shows, Exhibitions, Sales, and Auctions (Management), Horse Industry Organizations and Associations (HIOs), and Designated Qualified Persons (DQPs); and Owners, Trainers, Exhibitors, Custodians involved in Horse Protection Act (HPA) Regulated Events:
This letter provides an update on U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s work under the HPA to eliminate soring and promote fair competition through the use of modern diagnostic tools to detect soring and masking agents. In 2021, USDA and the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders Foundation jointly commissioned a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) study that, among other things, recommended collecting swabs from the pasterns of horses at HPA-covered events for prohibited substances testing, and, following the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) model, collect blood samples to identify medications that may alter a horse’s pain response during inspections.
To begin implementing these recommendations, USDA will start gathering information to determine the prevalence and types of prohibited substances present in Tennessee Walking horses and racking horses at HPA-covered events. This initial scoping will occur without collecting personally identifiable information about the horse, its owner, custodian, rider, or any other person associated with the horse. USDA will release aggregate findings from each event.
USDA has contracted with USEF to provide experienced veterinary staff to collect blood samples. USEF will follow its standard procedures, sampling randomly selected horses as well as any horse USDA staff or DQPs identify as concerning based on behavior. A licensed veterinarian independently contracted by USEF, assisted by a USEF technician, will collect three vials of blood per horse and record general information about the sample (e.g., pre‐ or post‐show, padded or flat‐shod). As noted above, no personally identifying information will be collected.
USEF will send these samples to Industrial Laboratories, the same independent laboratory it uses for other equine competitions. Industrial Laboratories will analyze blood samples for substances on the Blood Sample Target List of Substances (included below).
For pastern testing, USDA inspectors will swab both front pasterns using a standardized method and send the swabs to Industrial Laboratories for analysis for the Swab Sample Target List of Substances (included below).
USDA will share aggregated findings from both the blood and swab analyses with industry stakeholders and publicly on our website.
We appreciate your partnership as we work together to eliminate soring and ensure fair competition for all participants. If you have any questions regarding this letter, please contact Dr. Emi Roberson at emily.a.roberson@usda.gov or (405) 394-4846.
Sincerely,
Bernadette Juarez
Deputy Administrator
Animal Care
