Brookings Institute Proposes Cost-Benefit Analysis for Horse Industry of Licensing Horseshoers

18 August 2005 -- On August 2, 2005, horseshoers in the United States attracted the attention of one of the United States' largest and most influential privately-funded think-tank institutions.

If the name of the Brookings Institute sounds vaguely familiar, it is because this is the agency that publishes statistics or impact studies on economic and political issues. Right now they are working on the best tactics for the new government in Iraq and the potential impact of privatization of Social Security.

The Brookings Institute and the American Enterprise Institute jointly fund the AEI-BROOKINGS JOINT CENTER FOR REGULATORY STUDIES. This is basically what would be called a "watch dog agency" that professes to work in the public interest on matters pertaining to regulation of professions and services. De-regulation of airlines, utilities and the like are studied by this group to determine whether lawmakers are voting because of pressure from lobbyists and campaign contributions or because of the true merit that a change in regulation status might bring to the economy or to the quality of life of Americans. (Over-simplified!)

As most of you know, I have an Internet feed that brings to my desk each day articles published in the media around the world containing key words like "farrier" and "horseshoer". I am sure that the AEI-Brookings Institute Joint Center has a similar system in place to catch the word "regulation" in relation to "profession".

Several articles published in relatively small newspapers in South Carolina and Georgia were picked up by the Associated Press, the world's largest press syndicate, on August 2nd. These articles caught the eye of the Brookings Institute because of the subject: an unregulated profession. These articles covered the "debate" within the farrier industry over licensing and/or regulation. The Brookings staff posted quotes from one of the articles on their web site under this headline and introduction:

Some Horseshoers Push for More Regulation
The powerful horseshoe lobby is looking to regulate bad horseshoers out of the industry.

An article from the Associated Press notes, "A task force of the American Farrier's Association, based in Lexington, Ky., recommended licensing, said Bryan Quinsey, executive director of the 3,300-member organization. That licensing would have to occur at the state level, Quinsey said.

The article then goes on to quote farriers interviewed in South Carolina and Georgia (including Ralph Casey) in the original article.

At the end of the article is an anymous official of the Institute's comment: "I can't imagine we have anything really related here at the Joint Center, but maybe we should do a cost-benefit analysis of regulating the farrier industry. Posted by Joint Center August 2, 2005 09:32 AM "

When and if the Brookings Institute decides to investigate the impact of farrier regulation is not the point here. They tend to have an anti-regulatory bias, which probably would please a lot of farrier school owners. The point is that we live in an information age, and information travels quickly. In fact, it travels instantly.

You can be sure that if the AFA's licensing task force report has shown up on the radar screen of the Brookings Institute, it has shown up on many other radar screens as well, including government and non-government agencies. The Horse Illustrated story is a minor issue in comparison, although it is surely a symptom of what has gone wrong in our industry.

As I understand it, the educators gathering in Oklahoma this weekend are there to talk about the impact of recent negative publicity on their reputations, schools, and futures. However, there are much larger consequences of the recent publicity and controversy about the AFA's task force and it may be months before anyone knows about them. That is the chilling truth.

Some publishers do care and we want to see the farrier industry come through this controversy, and get back to the work of helping horses. That is what we all do best and why we are in this business.

--Fran Jurga
Editor/publisher Hoofcare & Lameness Journal
Copyright 2005
Hoofcare Publishing All Rights Reserved

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