This girl needs to be reported to USEF
she should not be allowed to have horses
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I had already posted this well up the thread and also noted he was not suspended, so in terms of egregious violations this was definitely not considered to be one.
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They named him equestrian of the year…
In which year? What else has he been disciplined for by USEF?
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- The dex issue was in 2022.
One minor meds infraction, in the almost 20 years he has been training and showing as a pro. There are zero other sanctions.
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No pitchfork grabbing as you say. As you(and most other people here) know, there are overages of allowable medications and there are banned substances. In the USEF violation posted above (not by me) Haness’s violation was an overage.
I just don’t get the complaining by people here that USEF is testing for and catching drug violations.
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The award was given for competition year 2024, the ceremony was last night. The infraction was in January 2021.
USEF posted on IG “annual meeting was focused on putting horse welfare first” and then awarded someone that’s been caught (and who knows how many times he hasn’t been caught) drugging a horse, the highest honor a member can receive. It’s hypocritical and tone deaf, especially after Diane’s article. I’m not saying he’s a terrible horse abuser with a long history of sanctions, but I am sure there are hundreds of other trainers that deserve that award that haven’t been caught drugging horses. Decide what image you want to project, USEF, because this is disgusting.
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Are you familiar with the difference between medication overages and banned substances?
Your outrage is misplaced in this instance.
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Mistakes happen. And when you show 5-10 horses 40+ weeks a year for 10+ years the chances that your mistakes are going to show up in the back of USEF are drastically higher than other mistake-making mortals showing 1-2 horses 8x a year.
He was fined, not suspended, which is a proper reminder for all of us to not get sloppy when administering completely legal substances measured on a microscopic level.
Completely unnecessary to tear Nick down for this after a very special night. Probably not productive either. No one’s going to get on board if it means getting set down and losing your livelihood for mis-administering legal medications.
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Late to this party but I rode with/groomed at shows for a barn back in the early 80s and everyone knew whose horse was getting “enhanced” for show days. Including juniors.
At that time there was very much such a thing as “too quiet” in hunters, though I recall one or two OTTBs or super greenies getting a small dose of ace. Far more common was a shot of something euphemistically referred to as “orange juice”. I have no idea what it was, only that it was used to add a little pizzazz to the “been there, done that, yawn” horses and pony hunters.
Kids knew, parents knew, nobody seemed to think it was a big deal. At the local shows it was kind of common knowledge outside the barn; at rated shows it was of course very hush-hush.
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Of everyone I know in the horse industry, I am probably the most sanctimonious of them all about drugging, cheating, training and insisting on as close as one can get to absolute soundness without lots of chemical interventions to make it happen. I am fully supportive of Nick’s award. There is no one better to their horses at the top of the business right now.
I can assure you there are not hundreds of trainers that deserve that award. People who show successfully at the top of the sport and do it with the utmost care and concern for their horses, rather than their pocket book? There’s a handful of them at most, sorry to say.
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Exceedingly so!
It’s also entirely possible that it was the correct amount given at the correct time, and the class was moved up in the schedule overnight or this horse metabolizes the drug slower than the probably 25 horses tested to develop the baseline for the test.
This is a very real risk you accept when you choose to give a permitted substance and everyone knows it. Even withdrawal times for FEI are just a kind of “go with god” moment. They say after 7 days no detection of bute. But guess what? If your horse tests positive after 7 days, too bad, so sad.
Personally I’m a lot more concerned with forbidden substance violations or repeat offenders of any substance. Certainly having a one off violation of a permitted substance is expensive and time consuming enough to make a person tighten up the management ship to make sure it doesn’t happen twice. If it does, you know the committee absolutely knows it and ratchets up the penalties.
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I feel terrible for my misremembering. I should’ve referenced my screenshot of the violation, not suspension, before posting.
I’ll admit I posted in a rage. I am passionate about the problem of over lunging and over drugging in our sport.
Perhaps if others remove their quote of my post, it’ll go away.
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Hey- I think it’s fair and no shame in saying- hey wasn’t there a violation?
Honestly- this may be educational for some that mistakes happen, USEF is watching and it doesn’t matter if you are at the top of your game if you get caught.
It’s nice that we all have the same end game- to protect the horses , even if our feelings differ on other topics.
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Yes.
However, the complete over reaction and shrieking online about a Dex overage is an unfortunate issue that comes back to the effect that people, those who have no real experience either with horses and/or in rated shows, who have never had to comply with USEF (let alone FEI) rules, don’t know what they don’t know. People need to be educated before freaking out online if they care about the horse community.
How many “trainers” at local shows might have a Bute or Dex overage, even if they have the best intentions? We don’t know, because their horses aren’t tested.
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I suppose my question was why the horse was getting dex in the first place. The only time I’ve ever had dex given to one of mine was when they were having a reaction to something (generally bedding).
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Exactly. And if the horse was having an allergic reaction, maybe it should get a day off of competition, no?
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I get that @paw. Perhaps hives or another allergic reaction? It’s the trainer’s fault if the allowed prescribed medication doesn’t clear before their class and it’s on them to buck up and deal with it. Most people do…
However, as most of us know, an overage does not equal giving a horse a banned substance or beating the hell out of a horse.
I think USEF is beginning to tighten up their rules with med overages, and they’re giving less leeway about them. They had better start cracking down hard on banned substances though.
Dubious “medications” may have been banned but not much has changed regarding actual therapeutic Veterinary meds.
Now USEF has banned more drugs (who would have thought that anyone would give a horse some of the newly banned drugs?)
The people whom I have known and/or ridden for, who showed under AHSA and then USEF rules or any other entity, cared about their horses and were fine with their horses being tested.
I was lucky to be taught by them.They knew how to ride and how to teach.
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There is a rule regarding injections and that any needed drug must be under a certain level for the horse to be entered in a rated show.
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My horse had a minor reaction to bedding? Bug? and both the show vet and my personal vet agreed to dex. The treatment was immediate and well within the time for his class the next day. So I showed him. The horse was getting the dex regardless of the timing and we would have scratched 1. If the timing was off 2. The horse appeared uncomfortable at all.
So IMO no- it doesn’t make you a bad horse person to treat your horse with a permissible medication and show the next day if you determine the horse is comfortable and issue resolved. You still run the risk that every horse can metabolize medications and you could end up with a violation.
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