Most soring occurs for the major events for Gaited horses across the USA and luckily the practice has never taken off in Australia as classes are small and carefully managed. The naturally gaited or 'ambling' horses are renown for their tireless action for long distances at the trot,which is especially popular with those who have back or knee problems as they are reported to be one of the smoothest rides out for riders.

A naturally gaited horse's gaits are walk, amble and canter, where the amble replaces the trot. The amble is a four beat gait generally at the same footfalls of the walk, performed at speed. A correctly ambling horse is extremely smooth to sit to, and coupled with most breeds springy shock absorbing pasterns, no bump at all is produced.

Ambling horses have not been without their share of controversy, with hot topics like the soring of 'big lick' Tennessee Walking Horses still current today. The vast majority of gaited horses not only gait happily, but naturally as well - and are capable of ambling all day with no more than a snaffle and bare feet.

We have a number of gaited breeds in Australia - Peruvian Pasos, Paso Finos, Tennessee Walking Horses, Saddlebreds, Rocky Mountain Horse and Icelandic Pony.

NOTE: Not all Tennessee Walking Horses are sored. Soring belongs to a minority of horses shown in 'Big Lick' classes. The vast majority of the breed compete in other classes including natural classes, and out on the trail as trail horses.

Chemicals and chains are used to make the horse sore.		The shoes that competition horses are expected to perform in.	In showjumping, trainers lift the rail as the horse jumps to teach it to lift it's legs higher.

A USA federal bill, which will protect Tennessee walking horses, racking horses, and Spotted Saddle horses from the cruel practice known as 'soring' was introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on July 28.  The Prevent All Soring Tactics (PAST) Act, H.R. 3268, and its companion bill in the Senate, S. 1121, are endorsed by the American Association of Equine Practitioners and a broad coalition of major horse industry, veterinary and animal protection groups.

Soring is the abusive act of intentionally inflicting pain – through chemical or physical means – to accentuate a horse’s gait for training or show purposes.  Although first banned by the Horse Protection Act in 1970, the illegal practice continues. 

The PAST Act seeks to end soring by increasing criminal and civil penalties for those who sore a horse; eliminating the use of equipment known as action devices and performance packages, which are proven to mask the signs of soring; and allowing for the permanent disqualification of violators from competition. 

Both bills already have strong bipartisan support in Congress with 131 cosponsors in the House supporting H.R. 3268 and 44 cosponsors in the Senate in favor of S. 1121. 

“It is impressive to see such bipartisan support for the bill,” said Dr. Kent Carter, president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners.  “However, this support will only provide real help for these horses if this important legislation is passed.” 

In 2012 a shocking undercover video hit the airwaves showing Jackie McConnell, who pleaded guilty to one count of Conspiring to Violate the Horse Protection Act (HPA), out of a fifty-two count indictment. The video showed McConnell soring, beating, and shocking horses with a cattle prod. To minimise the horses' pain response McConnell is seen in the video "stewarding" a horse or hitting it in the head when it displayed a pain reaction. Documents state McConnell and his associates "would attempt to mask the soring efforts by "stewarding" the horses in order to reduce the level of reactions to inspections." The sobering video has many talking about what reforms are needed to stop the abusive practice sooner rather than later..however abuse such as this it is still occuring in the USA today.