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Last Saturday, Americans tuned in to watch the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown. On the same day, the New York Times exposed horrific details of our country’s wild horses ending up at slaughter plants in other nations; Americans who had obtained these

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson The Bureau of Land Management’s Wild Horse and Burro Program is broken. Since inception of the program, the BLM has removed approximately 270,000 wild horses and burros from our public lands, without any significant use of fertility control tools, and without a plan

Rescued in June, six horses thrive at Black Beauty Ranch.

Last week, members of the Humane Society of the United States’ Equine Protection team traveled to Tennessee to evaluate the condition of the horses at the 85 th annual Tennessee Walking Horse National Celebration. In the weeks leading up to the show, we posted billboards in town to expose the

At the 144th running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico racetrack in Maryland this past Saturday, all eyes were on Bodexpress, a horse who unseated his jockey just out of the starting gate. Bodexpress went on to gallop riderless down the homestretch – and got himself disqualified. For those

On the House floor Monday night, the House of Representatives voted 304 to 111 to pass the Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act into law. With just a few weeks remaining in the 117 th Congress, getting a vote in the Senate will take some effort. But with this resounding vote in the House, we’ve

In 1970, the U.S. Congress passed the Horse Protection Act to end the cruel practice of horse soring, which is the use of caustic chemicals, chains, weighted shoes, hard objects, cutting and other painful techniques to force horses to perform the artificial, high-stepping gait known as the "Big Lick

Update 10/1/2021: The PAST Act has now been reintroduced in the House of Representatives (H.R. 5441) with 213 cosponsors. We hope that this is finally the beginning of the end of the extremely cruel practice of horse soring. The myriad forms of animal cruelty make for a large and grim inventory, but

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In recent years, understanding our firm and absolute opposition to horse slaughter in the United States and to the cruelty and inefficiency of the Bureau of Land Management’s wild horse and burro work, frustrated members of Congress have been pressing the Humane

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson A strong team of bipartisan lawmakers has reintroduced a bill to end the cruel practice of “soring” Tennessee walking horses and related breeds, a core priority for us here at the Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society Legislative Fund. The bill

Days before the Kentucky Derby kicks off in his home state next week, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has announced he will introduce a bill to reform horse racing. This is a promising development for the future of race horses in a sport that has increasingly come under a cloud because of the

Update 5/8/23: A total of seven horses died at Churchill Downs in the days leading up to and on the day of the Kentucky Derby, and five horses were scratched. In light of these facts, it is shocking that the race was even run. Lives are on the line: The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act must be

It is a long way from the stable, paddock and winner’s circle at Churchill Downs to the dark, dank and bloody slaughterhouses in which tens of thousands of American horses meet their sad and pitiable end each year. Yet some former racehorses do make that terrible journey, and it’s hard not to think

The recent indictment of more than two dozen people, including racehorse trainers and veterinarians, in a widespread doping scandal has turned a red-hot spotlight on the horseracing industry. And in a welcome development, some long-overdue scrutiny is coming from stakeholders within the industry

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson In a major victory for our campaign to protect wild horses and burros, the United States this week reinstated important safeguards that will prevent unscrupulous kill buyers from purchasing large numbers of these iconic American animals and funneling them to

By Kitty Block and Sara Amundson We have terrific news to report in our long-running fight to protect Tennessee walking horses and related breeds from the cruel practice of soring. The House of Representatives has just approved a bill to end this heinous practice in which violators intentionally

In a blow to horses, the Trump administration has postponed implementation of a long-overdue federal rule to combat horse soring—–the deliberate infliction of pain on horses' legs and hooves to force an exaggerated gait—delaying enforcement until February 2026 and opening the door to even further

Amidst continuing dissatisfaction over its approach to ending the problem of horse soring, a cruel practice that produces an artificial high-stepping gait in show horses, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken a backward step. The agency plans to withdraw a 2017 rule to come down hard on

Our sanctuary in Texas, Black Beauty Ranch, plays an extremely important and inspiring role for animals who have nowhere left to go. Take Chip, the horse who arrived at Black Beauty this week from Assateague Island National Seashore in Maryland. He had to be removed from his home, but through no