Wait what is this about? Can someone explain please?
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Sorry!
That is what I have been wondering. Didn’t one go down at Indoors a couple of years ago and that is what started this move towards hair testing?
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There’s at least one BNT who allegedly uses euthanasia drugs as calming agents for his hunters. I wanted to open a discussion about it to try to understand how widespread this practice is, how well-known it is, and whether we think USEF will be able to bring down the offenders.
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I talked to someone very involved in that world who said he’s heard of multiple people using pentobarb to quiet their hunters.
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For discussion, how would this scenario work? I truly don’t know and hope USEF has it figured out:
Trainer A’s ammy-owner client purchases a high dollar hunter. At their first USEF show together, the horse’s hair test comes back positive. Do Trainer A and ammy-owner have an opportunity to plead innocence? How do they avoid having their reputations tainted by a positive hair test on a horse they only recently acquired? Does USEF automatically hold the seller/former trainer/owner accountable or do they each have an opportunity to go to arbitration? Is the entire group-- current and former caretakers of the horse-- suspended for a period of time until it’s straightened out?
It’s soul crushing to consider that maybe we’ve come to the point where a negative hair test is a standard part of a PPE, especially if the horse has passed through the hands of certain professionals.
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I imagine USEF will work through jurisdiction of who owned and trained the horse when the prohibited meds were given provided the transfer of ownership paperwork is handled correctly and promptly. If you read the recent interview in COTH, there is quite a bit of information about how the hair testing works.
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Right - the article in coth today said they can zero in on a several-day period in which the drugs were given, but if it was pre-purchase, or around the date of transfer, well, I see so much opportunity for litigation.
Interestingly, in the coth article a lab spokesperson said she does not foresee hair testing becoming part of PPEs because labs are bound not to test private specimens.
The reasoning was very interesting - as I understand it, it’s to prevent people from experimenting with different drugs to see what pops positive. Ugh.
I still see workarounds - barns hiring their own smarmy labs, run by colleagues of their smarmy vets who give them doses of pentobarb to have on hand.
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The Science Behind USEF’s New Hair Testing Rule - The Chronicle of the Horse https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/hairtestingqanda/ https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/hairtestingqanda/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwLmhI1leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsTnnekOWAtZq0GbT8d8zmc1lA01UsVItrOgc0ih_99RRiVLoH9ZNdbYsSQr_aem_9rvPmn8yW-mi68eJ8lJrsw
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You’d have to be a complete psychopath to do that purely from a liability standpoint, never mind moral or ethical or legal or any of the other considerations. Has anyone been hurt on these horses?
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I have no idea, I didn’t press for more info. Don’t even know the names- I only learned about GH specifically from the Baran thread. I imagine it would be news if someone was, though, because I assume (and hope, I guess) that’s they’re only using pentobarbital at shows and a horse collapse causing rider to be injured (esp at the top level of the hunters) would be in the spotlight presumably.
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Yes, I think there are many and some have gotten off easy by ratting out their peers and vets is my understanding.
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Thank you for the link and for explaining what the title meant.
It is so frustrating when you are not in the know and you can’t figure out what is being said.
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I have heard the same thing - that an individual “allegedly” was given a minor penalty in exchange for the name of the vet and trainers that have utilized it. Allegedly, of course…
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The parties in question are apparently very liberal with handing out C&Ds, hence the caution, I’m guessing.
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It seems like more work than it is worth for them to try to figure out who some unknown screen name on a forum is to send them a letter.
But even not stating who someone is can be done while still saying enough to give others a clue what the thread is actually about.
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Heard the same thing.
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I mentioned this in another thread - horses are about to be bought and sold VERY quickly, so that it’s not clear who had possession when.
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Plenty of us figured it out. 
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