Lawmakers Consider Regulations For Horseshoes Used By Amish

After complaints about studded horseshoes tearing up freshly paved county highways, lawmakers are considering a bill to ban them during summer months. It’s being called a compromise between local government and the state’s Amish communities.

Republican state Rep. Kathy Bernier, R-Lake Hallie, has introduced a bill that would ban the use of studded horseshoes on state and local roads between April and October. She said members of Amish communities use horseshoes with carbide spikes for traction during winter months. But Bernier said her office has fielded complaints from the City of Thorpe and Eau Claire County about those spikes damaging roads.

“The highway commissioner and commission had realized that horseshoes that have traction devices were scuffing up brand new highways, roadways that had just been freshly paved,” said Bernier.

The Eau Claire County Highway Commission estimates a mile of new pavement runs around $185,000 per mile.

Bernier’s bill offers a warning to a buggy driver for a first offense followed by a $25 and $50 fine for second and third offenses, respectively. She admits enforcement will be tricky but said the overall goal is to educate Amish road users about the impacts their horses may be having.

“I don’t know too many police officers that are going to pull over a buggy, hold up the horse hoof and take a look at it to see if the traction device is too deep or not too deep or whatever the case is,” said Bernier.

Bernier said her aim is to avoid a patchwork of county ordinances on the issue and local governments can choose whether or not to adopt the new rules under her bill.

That’s welcome news for Eau Claire County Board Supervisor David Mortimer, who also advocates on behalf of Amish communities. He said board members in Eau Claire were crafting their own resolution that set higher penalties but he’s glad the state is acting first.

“Kathy was proposing something that would be consistent statewide, so we wouldn’t have a patchwork of regulation and a fine here and a warning in this next county and just have a uniform regulation,” said Mortimer.

Mortimer said he’s spoken with members of the state’s Old Order Amish about the horseshoe bill and they seem amenable to it.