Walking Horse Exhibitors Withdraw from Show

I tried and tried to come up with an appropriate comment for this, but words fail me...

clipped from www.thehorse.com Hundreds of trainers withdrew their horses from competition at a major Tennessee Walking Horse show last weekend after USDA inspectors arrived on the scene to examine horses for violations of the Horse Protection Act. According to Earl Rogers Jr., president of the Kentucky Walking Horse Association, the four-day Owingsville Lions Club Horse Show drew more than 500 Tennessee Walking Horses, many of them contenders for the breed's championship title at the upcoming National Celebration in August. But the prospect of failing USDA testing brought the competition down to just 40 horses in the show's final two days. "If they had been found in violation, they would not be able to show at the Celebration," said Rogers, who also manages the Owingsville show.