Link to video on Drug Abuse in the Equestrian World
By
WALT BOGDANICH The NY Times • Published: December 27, 2012
Ms. Williams had paid thousands of dollars to lease a pony for Katie to
ride in a hunter competition, a 12th birthday present. Soon after
arriving, their trainer left to administer an injection to a nearby
pony, Humble, that Katie’s friend, also celebrating her 12th birthday,
was scheduled to ride shortly.
Moments later, with Ms. Williams and her daughter watching, Humble
collapsed and died. The death of a supposedly fit pony about to carry a
young rider over hurdles was worrisome by itself, but circumstances
surrounding the death made it even more so.
In the three days before Humble died, he had been scheduled to receive
15 separate drug treatments, including anti-inflammatories,
corticosteroids and muscle relaxants, according to his medication chart.
“The average horse that walks in my clinic here doesn’t get anything
like that,” said Dr. Kent Allen, chairman of both the veterinary and the
drugs and medications committees of the United States Equestrian Federation, the sport’s nonprofit governing body. “It gets a diagnosis and then gets a very specific, appropriate treatment.”
The horse-racing industry has openly debated the influence of drugs on
the safety and integrity of the sport, and has taken significant steps
this year to minimize it. But in the cloistered equestrian world,
medicating horses has attracted much less public attention.
Since 2010, random drug tests at various equestrian events, including
the Olympic trials, have uncovered dozens of violations for substances
like cocaine, antipsychotics, tranquilizers and pain medication — even
ginger placed in a horse’s anus to make its tail stick out.
While show-horse trainers have abused some of the same drugs that have
caused problems in racing, the Equestrian Federation has lagged behind
in regulating how they are administered. Now, the circumstances
surrounding Humble’s death have become a rallying point for those who
believe that the federation should more aggressively investigate drug
use.
The federation says it responds promptly to drug concerns, citing its
decision in February to ban a popular but potentially lethal drug that
sedates horses, making them more manageable during competition. The
group has also limited the use of anti-inflammatory drugs in
competition. It randomly tests 10,000 to 12,000 horses annually. “We
constantly look at issues in our sport and try to be proactive,” Dr.
Allen said.
Still, a review by The New York Times of federation records, police
reports and interviews with veterinarians and others in the sport shows
that despite its best intentions, the federation is ill prepared to deal
with episodes like Humble’s death.
At racetracks, only veterinarians are allowed to administer intravenous
drugs, but on show grounds anyone can stick a needle into a horse before
it performs. A year ago, the sport’s top veterinary group recommended
that no horse receive drugs within 12 hours of competition. The
Equestrian Federation has yet to adopt that rule. Humble was injected
roughly two hours before competition, records show.
The federation also has no detailed protocol on how to respond when a
horse dies on show grounds. In Humble’s case, there was no requirement
that the vial and syringe be retained so its contents could be tested.
And the federation relied on the mother of a competitor who saw Humble
fall to collect evidence, hire a lawyer, and file a formal protest.
The federation, often referred to by the acronym USEF, convened a
hearing panel, but it had no subpoena power and could not compel
Humble’s trainer, Elizabeth Mandarino, to fully answer questions about
the pony’s medical care, records show. The panel ultimately dismissed
the protest, saying it did not have enough information to conclude
whether Ms. Mandarino had violated federation rules.
Ms. Mandarino declined to be interviewed for this article, but her
lawyer said in a statement that she had done nothing wrong, and that
Humble had most likely died from an undiagnosed lung disease.
Federation officials point out that equestrian events run largely by
volunteers cannot be compared to state-regulated horse racing, where
access to the horses can be tightly controlled.
Even so, responding to questions from The Times, the federation’s chief executive, John Long, said in a statement,
“It is clear that the Mandarino case has highlighted significant
limitations in the USEF’s rules and procedures governing our
investigative powers.”
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