Just last week the Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders’ & Exhibitors’ Association (TWHBEA) announced the introduction of a horse card and exhibitor card for 2024 that will raise funds for the legal challenge to the upcoming rulemaking. The rulemaking would eliminate all pads, action devices, bands and weighted shoes and eliminate all HIOs and turn over enforcement to the USDA at a substantial price increase to horse shows across the industry.

TWHBEA pulled together a committee that had all three performance horse HIOs in attendance to discuss and vote on the horse and exhibitor cards.  During that meeting all three HIOs, SHOW, American Horse Services and Kentucky HIO agreed with the concept and eventually through votes of their boards agreed to honor the horse and exhibitor card.

However this past weekend, the Kentucky HIO received pushback from its shows along with exhibitors and trainers and voted to reverse their decision and not honor the card but to rather make a donation to the legal fund at the end of the year.

To read the full Kentucky HIO statement click here.