The Animal Care (AC) program, which is part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), enforces the Horse Protection Act (HPA).   The HPA is a Federal law, and it prohibits horses that have been subjected to a practice called soring from participating in shows, sales, exhibitions, or auctions.  The HPA also prohibits drivers from trans-porting sored horses to or from any of these events.  To enforce the law, USDA and other designated and qualifi ed persons perform inspections at walking horse shows.