Texas regulation watch: horse floaters and eyebrow threaders

The WSJ brings us the story: Texas Horse Dentists Feel the Bite Of State Regulatory Oversight

"For a quarter-century, Mr. Mitz has practiced the obscure art of horse-teeth floating. Using instruments roughened with diamond grit, he has filed down hundreds of thousands of equine teeth so that they don't grow into sharp points that can cut the horses' cheeks or throw off their chewing rhythms."...

"Veterinary oversight boards in Texas and several other states have moved aggressively in recent years to rein in unlicensed floaters, ordering them to stop practicing or to work only under supervision of a licensed vet."


The horse floaters have a legal champion helping them defend themselves.

""We want to vindicate our clients' constitutional right to float horse teeth without arbitrary and unfair interference," says Clark Neily, a senior attorney with the Institute for Justice, a nonprofit libertarian law firm on a mission to block state governments from overregulating.
In Texas alone, the institute is fighting on behalf of eyebrow threaders (who use cotton thread to remove unwanted facial hair), wig servicers (who fit and style fake locks), equine massage therapists, interior designers, locksmiths and karate instructors. The institute's clients argue that the state has imposed costly and unnecessary requirements for training or licensing.
Fifty years ago, just 3% of American workers were regulated or licensed by government agencies, according to the Institute for Justice. Today, it's 35%."


Here's a previous post concerning regulation and licensing in Texas (and elsewhere).