What US Horse Protection Act (15 USC ch 44): Prohibition on Soring, Show Duties and Penalties requires
The Horse Protection Act (HPA), codified at 15 U.S.C. Chapter 44 (sections 1821-1831), prohibits the soring of horses and the showing, sale, auction, exhibition or transport of sored horses, and is administered by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). Section 1821 defines the key terms, including 'sore', which broadly covers the application of an irritating or blistering agent, burning, cutting or laceration, the injection of any substance, or the use of any tack, nail, screw or chemical agent on any limb of a horse, where the horse suffers, or can reasonably be expected to suffer, physical pain or distress, inflammation or lameness when walking, trotting or otherwise moving, except where the practice is for therapeutic veterinary treatment. Section 1822 sets out the congressional findings. Section 1823 imposes duties on horse shows, exhibitions, sales and auctions, including the appointment and use of qualified persons to detect and diagnose sored horses (designated qualified persons), disqualification of sored horses, and recordkeeping. Section 1824 sets the unlawful acts: it is unlawful to ship, transport, move, deliver or receive any horse which is sore for the purpose of showing, exhibiting, selling, auctioning or offering it for sale; to show, exhibit, sell, auction or offer for sale any sored horse; and for show management to fail to disqualify a sored horse. Section 1824a addresses the export of horses. Section 1825 sets the penalties: a person who knowingly violates section 1824 is, on conviction, fined not more than $3,000 or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, for a first violation, and not more than $5,000 or imprisoned not more than two years, or both, for a subsequent violation; the Secretary may assess a civil penalty of not more than $2,000 for each violation after notice and an opportunity for a hearing; and the Secretary may disqualify a violator from showing or exhibiting horses or managing shows. Penalty figures are subject to inflation adjustment by regulation.
Pillar: Agriculture & Agritech · Authority: US Congress / USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2022-title15/html/USCODE-2022-title15-chap44.htm
SHA-256 integrity: 3c7e1588616d14f197de27710b63a6dbcbb8ea5dc8c2965d2c577ed5b0675d2b
Primary Citations — 8 traced to source
- Horse Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. 1821 - definitions, including 'sore' and the therapeutic-treatment exception.
- Horse Protection Act, 15 U.S.C. 1822 - congressional statement of findings.
+ 6 more citations (full bibliography, deterministic workflow, actionable schema and crosswalks) included in the vault unlock — $0.01 via Skyfire / L402 / Direct Base USDC.
Access
- Discovery (free): /api/v1/nodes/us-horse-protection-act.json — 6-field metadata
- Vault (full node): /api/v1/vault/nodes/us-horse-protection-act.json — full 13-key payload, $0.01 USDC (L402/Skyfire/Direct Base)
- Canonical URL: https://bidda.com/intelligence/us-horse-protection-act
- Back to registry: Browse all 10,085 compliance nodes