Principal parties in a debate over rules governing horse sales in Florida announced April 22 that they had drafted joint recommendations to be delivered to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.
Details of the recommendations were not included in a press release, which was issued by the Florida Thoroughbred Breeders’ and Owners’ Association.
The release said the recommendations, which came after months of meetings, public hearings, and other discussions, would “promote integrity in public and private horse sales in Florida.”
Horse owner/breeder Earle I. Mack, who pushed the successful passage of 2007 legislation that mandated the FDACS promulgate rules governing horse sales, called the agreement a “giant step forward.”
“We must be diligent in our continued efforts to protect the integrity of the horse marketplace and thereby encourage wider public participation in our great industry,” said Mack in the release.
The recommendations were hammered out in negotiations that included horse owners, breeders, buyers, sellers, FTBOA officials, veterinarians, and representatives affiliated with Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co., among others.
That group “worked together for many hours in order to improve both public and private sales of horses in the state,” said OBS president Tom Chiota in the release.
The FDACS’s Kerry Flack, who drafted the preliminary set of rules governing horse sales, had recently asked the principal stakeholders following a divisive public hearing to get together and find some common ground upon which to stand.
Horse owner/breeder Earle I. Mack
