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NASHVILLE - Soft drink maker Pepsi said on Thursday that it wasdropping sponsorship of a prestigious national horse show, one dayafter ABC News broadcast footage of a horse in training for a showbeing beaten by a trainer. The Walking Horse National Celebration said that Pepsi had been asponsor since 2010 of the nation's leading competition forTennessee Walking Horses, a breed known for its high-stepping gait. "We have ended our sponsorship of the event," Pepsi spokesmanVincent Bozek said on Thursday without elaborating. Neither Pepsi nor officials of the horse show would confirm thereason for the cancellation of the sponsorship. But an expert onthe Tennessee Walking Horse show circuit, who asked not to beidentified, said he believed it was because of the ABC News report,which showed an abusive practice known as "soring." The Humane Society of the United States conducted an undercoverinvestigation and filmed the video which was given to ABC News andbroadcast, said Keith Dane, the society's director of equineprotection. An animal rights activist went to work in a horse barn and secretlytaped the abuse in March and April, 2011. It shows the horses beingbeaten with wooden sticks and poked with electric cattle prods. Thehorses' ankles were slathered with caustic chemicals and ankleswrapped with plastic to amplify the pain. The chemicals induce pain and cause the horse to raise its frontlegs high while in the show ring. Soring has been such a pervasive practice among Tennessee WalkingHorse trainers that in 2009 the industry set up an organization andhired veterinarians to tour shows and inspect the horses. Dr. Stephen Mullins, president of SHOW, the organization thatinspects the horses, said he was disgusted by the video. "For any animal to be abused like that ... I totally disagree withthat," Mullins said. The Humane Society video was the latest example of the organizationgoing undercover to expose alleged animal abuse. Animal rights groups have used undercover investigations to filmpractices such as chickens in small cages, diseased cattle draggedby tractors while they are still alive, sows confined in crates.Their aim is to force changes in farming and show practices. Their efforts have prompted egg producers to agree to an increasein the size of cages, and some major buyers of pork recently saidthey would no longer buy from farms which confining mother sows incrates. But the undercover operations also have prompted a backlash fromsome farm state lawmakers, who have passed laws to make it acriminal offense to infiltrate an agricultural business. The Humane Society's Dane said the group decided to go undercoverin the horse barn because the Tennessee Walking Horse industry'sself-policing of the practice of "soring" was not working. Heapplauded the Pepsi decision, which he said might help clean up theindustry. "This procedure of soring has been going on far too long ... theindustry itself has been allowed to self-police and with very poorresults," Dane said. The chief executive of the Walking Horse National Celebration,Doyle Meadows, said in a statement: "The Celebration has workedextremely hard over recent years to gain the trust of our corporatepartners and we would do nothing to destroy that relationship. Asthe Celebration moves forward to promote a sound horse we hope thateveryone will assist in our efforts to promote this magnificentbreed." The Walking Horse National Celebration takes place every summer inShelbyville, Tennessee. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Medical Adhesive Tape , Medical Eye Pad Manufacturer, and more. For more , please visit Pain Relief Sleeve today!
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