House Oversight Committee Investigates Aaron Rhyner, DVM
For the first time in history, the USDA is being investigated and criminal charges are being levied because of the stunts USDA APHIS veterinarian, Aaron Rhyner, DVM has attempted to force the revised HPA into effect. It has been revealed through court documents and by the House Oversight Committee that the HPA published in May and opened for public comment is entirely different than the version that is now in play. Simply put, Rhyner and his animal extremist cronies didn’t want scrutiny of the extreme and unnecessary government overreach they want to implement.
Underhanded Tactics Employed to Push and Ideological Agenda
It is a standard tactic of the animal extremist movement to attack what they perceive as easy targets and to utilize unethical and underhanded tactics to advance their agenda. In an ongoing lawsuit Wright v. USDA, the Department of Justice (DOJ) verified in their Motion to Dismiss that the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) considers injury to a horse while it is being ridden an act of ‘soring’. The source is Dr. Aaron Rhyner, APHIS’s Associate Director for Animal Care. Animal rights groups found a perfect accomplice in the Dr. Rhyner as his personal viewpoint is nothing short of radical. Additionally, the verification provided by the DOJ confirms that Dr. Rhyner’s personal opinion has now been turned into APHIS policy, is part of the APHIS inspection protocols now.
Additionally, APHIS failed to follow the laws requiring a robust and thorough analysis of the impacts of this rule on small businesses across the country. When the true impact of the HPA is revealed, it’s easy to see why Rhyner didn’t want it properly examined prior to implementation.
Egregious Overreach
According to HPA language, each event requires one Horse Protection Inspector (HPI) for every 100 horses. Given all the events involving horses nationwide, it is unlikely that APHIS has the budget to train the thousands of licensed HPIs needed to cover existing shows. APHIS estimates costs to be over $1000 per HPI per day. Event producers would absorb this cost. As a result, it will become impractical to hold most events across the United States, especially those involving youth and smaller communities.
Most egregious is the HPA rule language that states that HPIs are allowed unrestricted access to all areas of barns, horse trailers, stalls, arenas, and other show, exhibition, or sale or auction grounds, or related areas at any horse show, exhibition, sale, or auction to inspect all horses, at any time. They are also allowed to “impound” horses for 24 hours while they are conducting their investigation looking for soring or evidence of hiding soring.
Since the original HPA was enacted in 1970, the Tennessee Walking Horse (TWH) industry has effectively resolved the issue of “soring,” which was confined to a small fraction of the TWH community. The USDA’s own recently published data shows a 98.4% compliance rate. Rhyner admitted on record that since the TWH industry has effectively eliminated soring, the expansion of the HPA to other breeds and disciplines would justify the existence of APHIS and keep Rhyner and his lackeys employed.
Western Justice is Working Hard to Protect the Horse Community
Western Justice is working intensely to prevent the implementation of the revised Horse Protection Act (HPA), because, despite its feel-good title, it has nothing to do with “protecting” horses, and everything to do with the carefully calculated destruction of the horse industry in the United States.
It has been suggested that, because we are fighting this, the horse industry “condones abuse,” when nothing could be further from the truth. Breed, show, and sale organizations have worked very hard to ensure the humane treatment of horses. Incidents of abuse are few and far between and are dealt with by conscientious experts within the various industry entities.
Compliance with HPA Rules Will Set a Dangerous Precedent
Over the last number of days, we have been monitoring discussions within the horse community. It must be made abundantly clear that this type of literal policing of our community is not good for our industry or our horses. USDA APHIS is looking for problems where they do not exist. Making horses sore benefits no one in the horse show, horse sale, or exhibition arenas. By rolling over and accepting the amended rules as suggested by the American Horse Council and put forth by USDA APHIS employees, we are setting a dangerous precedent which will open the door to further rules and unnecessary policing.
The contents of the HPA are just the tip of the iceberg; the animal extremist agenda behind it is what truly needs to be defeated. Today, specific equine events are in the crosshairs. Mark our words, even if your event isn’t affected now, it will be tomorrow. And because animal extremists’ method is to set precedent, the resulting domino effect is intended to abolish all animal ownership and use.