13 V.S.A. § 399

This is the official text of 13 V.S.A. § 399, part of Vermont’s V.S.A — part of the compiled statutory law of Vermont, published by the state as "V.S.A." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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§ 399. Abuse; disqualification

Official statutory text

(a) Any person found rein-whipping or otherwise whipping a horse in an animal pulling contest under this subchapter shall be automatically disqualified, and be ineligible to receive any award, premium, or trophy. The light use of reins applied to the hindquarters may be permitted on entry to the pit and while the team is making its draw. The use of reins for other than guiding the animals at any other time is prohibited.

(b) Any person found face-whipping cattle in an animal pulling contest shall be automatically disqualified and ineligible to receive any award, premium, or trophy. If a goad stick is used in the contest, it must be made of wood, not taped, and not more than 3/4 inches in diameter.

(c) Excessive violation of either subsection (a) or (b) of this section shall be deemed a violation of subdivision 352(2) of this title.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.