Just hours after Shelbyville trainer Bill Callaway won the Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship, Callaway’s trainer license was suspended for eight months for violating the federal Horse Protection Act. He also was fined $1,100 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Here’s the kicker: The suspension stems from a complaint filed in January, according to the Shelbyville Times-Gazette. Calloway told former Times Free Press reporter (now a Shelbyville Times-Gazette reporter) Jason Reynolds that he couldn’t afford to fight the case so he made a deal with USDA.
And apparently part of that deal bought him time to win the biggest walking horse title in the world.
“Bill Callaway began an eight-month suspension from any participation in horse shows for an alleged violation of the federal Horse Protection Act about 24 hours after riding Gen’s Black Maverick to the Tennessee Walking Horse World Grand Championship on Saturday,” Reynolds wrote in a story published last week.
Callaway said there was no admission of guilt, and while he disagreed with the USDA’s conclusions, he took the deal because he did not have the money to pay an attorney and because of the burden it would have placed on his family.