Editor’s Note:  With the permission of Thomas B. Kakassy, Walking Horse Report is printing his letter to the USDA dated August 3, 2011.

Rachel Cezar
Chester A. Gipson
USDA

Dear Drs. Cezar and Gipson:

At the Tazewell, Va., show last Saturday night, USDA was represented by a Dr. Patatone (I am spelling phonetically and am no doubt wrong). She was knowledgeable, observant, properly discriminating, respectful of the process and the exhibitors, ready to point out problems, and cooperative with the KY-HIO DQPs who were working the show. She simply did the right thing and everyone respected that.

I am more and more convinced that the continued success of shows this year is a direct result of objective and cooperative USDA personnel, working with industry representatives. At your recent question and answer session, it was apparent that USDA’s current proposals are in no way responsive to any positive or negative event occurring within this industry in the last three years. It is unfortunate that your proposed mandatory penalties are about to erase our progress, when the solution in many ways can be as easy as your scheduling of informed and competent personnel for these shows.

Speaking for TWHBEA, we continue to suggest that you work with industry groups to study, share the result of your study with the taxpayers who paid for it, and promote industry standards on palpation and the relationship between callus formation and sensitivity, and note that USDA has not yet responded in any substantive way to this proposal.

Sincerely,

Thomas B. Kakassy, P.A.
Attorney at Law