Pepsi Cancels Sponsorship of Horse Show after Trainer Abused Horse

Pepsi Cancels Sponsorship of Horse Show after Trainer Abused Horse

Pepsi announced on Thursday that it was cancelling sponsorship of a prestigious national horse show, a day after ABC News broadcast footage of a horse being beaten by a trainer in training.

According to the Walking Horse National Celebration, Pepsi had been a sponsor since 2010 of the nation's leading competition for Tennessee Walking Horses, a breed known for its high-stepping gait.

"We have ended our sponsorship of the event," Pepsi spokesman Vincent Bozek said on Thursday without elaborating.

Neither the Soft drink manufacturer nor officials of the horse show would reveal the reason for the cancellation of the sponsorship. But an expert on the Tennessee Walking Horse show 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 undercover investigation and filmed the video which was then forwarded to ABC News, said Keith Dane, the society's director of equine protection.

An animal rights activist went to the horse barn and secretly taped the abuse in March and April, 2011.  It shows the horses being beaten with wooden sticks and poked with electric cattle prods. The horses' ankles were slathered with caustic chemicals and to amplify the pain, their ankles are wrapped with plastic.

The chemicals induce such pain and cause the horse to raise its front legs high while in the show ring.   Allegedly, Soring has been such a pervasive practice among Tennessee Walking Horse trainers.

Dr. Stephen Mullins, president of SHOW, the organization that inspects the horses, said he was disgusted by the video.  He applauded the decision of Pepsi, which he said might help clean up the industry.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Saturday May 19 2012, 5:39 AM EST. Ref: Yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0