NEWS

On January 24, 2025, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) postponed its final rule to amend the Horse Protection Act (HPA) regulations for 60 days from February 1, 2025 to April 2, 2025. APHIS published the final rule (89 FR 39194-39251) amending the horse protection regulations to provide, among other provisions, that the Agency will screen, train, and authorize qualified persons for appointment by the management of any horse show, horse exhibition, or horse sale or auction to detect and diagnose soring at such events for the purposes of enforcing the HPA. With the exception of § 11.19, which went into effect on June 7, 2024 and authorized the training of horse protection inspectors, the remainder of the rule was scheduled to go into effect on February 1, 2025.

APHIS will issue guidance to stakeholders for the upcoming horse show season in light of the postponement of the new rule.

The HPA is a Federal law that prohibits sored horses from participating in shows, exhibitions, sales or auctions. The HPA also prohibits the transportation of sored horses to or from any of these events.

In a guidance document issued in December 2024 (see link 1), and a webinar on December 9, 2024 (see link 2), the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) issued guidance that included polo among the equine events subject to the Horse Protection Act (HPA), including new regulations which become effective on February 1, 2025. The HPA was enacted in 1970 to prevent the “soring” of Tennessee Walking Horses and other show horses to affect their gait and show performance.

If polo were covered by the HPA, it would place significant and unjustified burdens on the USPA, its members, and the entire polo ecosystem. Under the new regulations, event managers of all covered events will be required to notify APHIS at least 30 days in advance of their event whether event management has appointed a Horse Protection Inspector to conduct HPA-mandated inspections, is requesting an APHIS Veterinary Medical Officer to conduct inspections, or if event management is opting for neither. Thereafter, at least 15 days before any event, the event manager must notify the APHIS Administrator of any changes to the information previously provided. And lastly, the HPA requires event managers to meet many other general requirements in the management of events, including complying with new recordkeeping and reporting requirements. (See link 3).

In a letter dated January 7, 2025 to Dr. Aaron Rhyner, DVM, Assistant Director of APHIS, USPA Chief Operating Officer Chris Green has urged APHIS to revise its guidance to make clear that polo is excluded from the scope of the HPA and, in the interim, to provide assurances that polo game management will not be subject to the reporting requirements outlined in the new regulations set to take effect on February 1, 2025. The USPA urges you to read the letter (see link 4), and to join it in objecting to this misapplication of the HPA.