PRESENTATIONS - USDA January 2009 Thermography Seminar Available on DVD FOR FREE!

A few days ago, a video was posted online on the Walking Horse Chat detailing the thermography seminar that the USDA held following their DQP training sessions. Since I am not a member of WHC, I can't view the video. So I asked around, and I found out from a friend that the USDA is giving out this video for free!

This video detailed how thermography is going to be used at horse shows and how it's a fool-proof way to detect soring. Thermography shows via the amount of heat whether or not the horse is in pain. The USDA has conducted studies on themography for several years now, and they have determined that there is a difference between the heat signature of having been worked versus the legs being inflammed from pain.

If you want to see it, email Dr. Cezar, the head of the HPA program, at rachel.cezar@aphis.usda.gov. Please send her your physical address (no P.O. boxes, please) to receive the DVD. I am going to find out if I can post it, but I'm not sure if it'll be allowed or not, so if not, then perhaps I can transcribe it. Either way, I'll report on it more once I receive it from Dr. Cezar.

A very happy THANK YOU goes out to the USDA for making this information available to the public. This is key in the work being done to stop soring: the information has to be out there so both sorers and non-sorers alike understand why the problem needs to end. This change should really make a dent in saving the horse we all so love.