A Tennessee man that pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the federal Horse Protection Act was sentenced today.
US District Judge Harry Mattice sentenced Paul Blackburn to a year of probation and ordered him to write an article about horse soring to be published in his local newspaper. Soring horses is an illegal and cruel practice utilized by some in the gaited horse industry.
Paul Blackburn was part of co-defendant Barney Davis’s horse training and boarding operation at Monopoly Farm. According to Blackburn’s plea agreement, he was hired to look like the farm’s horse trainer since Davis is serving a lifetime suspension for soring horses. It goes on to say he sored horses, transported them in that condition, and falsified documents.
Three other defendants in the case, including Davis, are scheduled to be sentenced in late February.
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