Dear future president, 

Horse soring laws need to be enforced to keep horses safe. Horse soring was outlawed more than thirty years ago but is still found in shows today. Now I bet your thinking how is this happening? Well, let me start from the beginning... Horse soring if you didn't already know is a form of animal abuse directed towards horses with the goal to exaggerate the horses gait. This is done but using common harsh chemicals such as mustard oil, camphor, methyl paraben, methyl salicyate, and hydro carbons. These chemicals along with many others are wrapped around or injected into the horses legs. Now why? Simple for money and entertainment. I will explain lets take a football team, how do they make money you may wonder? The people watching the people buying tickets, food, and betting. This is very similar to what happens at these shows. 

Horse soring needs to be stopped because of the danger and abuse these animals are under. The most common way of soring a horse is soaking the horses legs with chemicals and dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) a substance that helps the chemicals absorb. Then sealed with plastic wrap and "cooked" for a few days until tender. That's right cooked! To make matter worse they add chains to the horses legs to rub against the already extremely painful sores. Also "heavy shoes" are put on the horses contain nail digging into the frog of the horses foot. When the horses are put under these conditions they have so much pain in their front feet when they walk or trot the stick their feet this called the "big lick." This is what most people are drawn to not the pain it has caused the horse. The chemicals such as mustard oil, camphor, methyl paraben, methyl salicyate, and hydro carbons are all probated in the United States. Research on these chemicals show why. Camphor is linked to bug, ant, and bee repellents and killers. Similar to, methyl salicyate has been know to poison patients in hospitalizes when it was once used for medical purposes. Horses are suffering from burns, sores, and broken ankles. These horses are being treated unfairly and it's not fair to them.

Horse soring laws need to be obeyed by our country's citizens. Not only are citizen not respecting the animal at risk but the laws of our government and society. In the beginning someone discovered how mustard oil on horses feet accidentally in a show as a result people loved it. The people would pay great money to see the horses like that. That's when people realized that they was a real future in this. Soring was invented about fifty years ago and banned about thirty years ago. Since those thirty years horse soring have become more common and people today are still doing this. An example of this is when Larry Wheelon and his assistant trainer have been thrown out of the barn they were working at in the article Larry Wheelon Soring Case Dismissed. There were signs of horse soring and 19 of the horses in their barn at the were found to be hurt. This happen just last year and there are so many more cases just like this one. This is a horrible subject that needs to be stopped for good.

We need to teach people to follow the laws set about horse soring. It's hard to hide this from officials and farriers because of the pain the horses are in most will not let you near there feet and will stay that way for the rest of their lives. Soring can be hidden with paper towels, thick cotton, and horse leg wraps by wrapping the chemicals between their leg and the wrap material to look like they are just normal leg wrap to help protect the feet of young horses and protect their feet when they are jumping. People also try to hide the scars/wounds from others using screwworm smear to cover the bottom of the horses legs near the ankle. Farriers need to be checking for these things as well as doctors, staff at the barn and riders. Horse soring needs to be eliminated once and for all.

Laws against horse soring need to be enforced. The animals we have brought into our lives are now being treated like toys and not taken serious. Not only will the horses be mistreated our laws and officials are not and will continue not to be respected. What can we do to keep these beautiful animals safe? We need to enforce the law by monitoring  more horse shows and telling people to report weird behavior. 

Yours truly,

Rachael D.