Final rule · 2026-01648

Horse Protection Amendments; Further Postponement of Regulations

On May 8, 2024, we published a final rule amending the horse protection regulations. The provisions of the final rule, initially scheduled to go into effect on February 1, 2025, were delayed until April 2, 2025. On March 21, 2025, we published a further delay of the effective date to February 1, 2026, and a request for comment on whether the length of the postponement should be extended. In this document, based on intervening developments since the issuance of the March 21, 2025 delay of effective date, we are further delaying the effective date of the provisions effective February 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026.