USA Today Network

A federal regulation finalized in the waning days of the Obama administration to end the abusive practice of horse soring is on hold.

Just one week before President Barack Obama left office, the Department of Agriculture announced it had finalized a new regulation to update the Horse Protection Act. To become effective, the rule must be published in the Federal Register.

The new rule was supposed to be published Tuesday. But on President Donald Trump’s first day in office last Friday, the White House issued a memorandum for all unpublished rules to be withdrawn and sent back to the relevant agency for review.

“They pretty much put a hold on it,” said Keith Dane, senior adviser for equine protection for the Humane Society of the United States.

The horse-soring ban is one of dozens of proposed rules that have been frozen. The delay doesn’t necessarily mean the ban is dead. The Trump administration could review it and decide to move ahead, “which is what we’re hoping the administration will do,” Dane said.

But, “It’s certainly possible the administration could decide to take no action,” he said.