Pat Stout, vice president of the Horse Shows Division of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed registry known as TWHBEA, announced that 1,795 association members voted in her polling Initiative and cast ballots "which resulted in an historic record landslide approval of the passage of the HR 1518/S. 1406 legislation before Congress by a 63 percent to 37 percent margin."
The new law will remove the pads and chains from the Tennessee Walking Horses, and make horse soring a felony.
Ms. Stout released a Wednesday letter from CPA Greg Cook which certified his tabulation of the poll results which showed that 1,795 persons or 26 percent of the TWHBEA members voted in the Poll with 1,132 voting "Yes" and 663 voting "No" on the following question:
“I am FOR passage of HR 1518/S. 1406 – “Prevent All Soring Tactics” Act to remove the pads and chains in order to end the public perception of soring and abuse presently associated with the Tennessee Walking Horse Breed, to eliminate HIOs and to increase penalties for soring”.
Mr. Cook’s firm, Cook and Co. of Arab, Ala., has tabulated the TWHBEA director election ballots for the last 10 years.
Ms. Stout said, “I am pleased and gratified by the outstanding response to the poll. “Although I hoped for a good response, I had no idea that 26 percent of the TWHBEA membership would vote. “This remarkable turnout shows just how important this issue is to people across America and the world.”
Ms. Stout expressed her “appreciation for all those who participated and thanked them for voting for the welfare of the Tennessee Walking Horse breed.”