Have they seriously found people packing pentobarbitol and formaldehyde?? What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?
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I’m glad I was not the only one scratching my head over the formaldehyde on that list.
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Formaldehyde used to be a common ingredient in sole paint. Pretty sure you could deaden some feet pretty good with that in a more concentrated form. I don’t know of any other use.
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Actually, I’ll amend, we had a famous groom who once showed up three days late “em-bombed” because he’d smoked a joint soaked in embalming fluid, so I guess that’s another option. 
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Lowell confirmed the rule targets substances whose use and misuse have been reported to USEF.
Wow. Just… wow.
We discuss and debate how much to longe or lope a horse before competition and some nitwit has apparently long since bypassed that and gone straight to injecting a horse with pentobarbital.
What was their goal? To kill the horse just a little bit?
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I feel like I might know that person, but I’m not going to venture a guess. Lol.
Keratex hoof hardener has formaldehyde in it…
Edit: But obviously not injectable. Jesus.
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“The rule change would also prohibit possession of any prescription medication without a label identifying the horse, pharmacy, prescription date and prescribing veterinarian, unless it is in the possession of a veterinarian.”
I love this.
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they are called “crickets” and soaked MJ or cigarettes are the only thing I have heard of in abuse.
I do know formaldehyde, in part, is part of a hoof treatment I used. When managing a horse that lived out 24/7 in Puget Sound country , it was a program that kept his hooves in good shape. The content concentration was not that of the product used to preserve pathology tissues
My last job had a HUGE and very burdensome formaldehyde use and disposal program. It is a carcinogen and the regulations for storage and disposal where challenging. We gathered a lot of tissue for processing.
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I wonder if USEF specified “injectable” formaldehyde because someone is mixing up their own hoof concoction and therefore is carrying around the liquid form?
The fact that I must ponder such things is remarkable.
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There used to be a little independent tack shop right by the back gate of a race track near me. And they had all sorts of random concoctions on a shelf in the back room that probably did not bear close inspection.
But I don’t know if even they would have had access to formaldehyde for any of those things.
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I have known of such a place myself. It was a creaky little tack shop on the outskirts of town with a backroom of topical ointments and elixirs that the local horse shaman mixed up. Never used any of that stuff. But knew people who did.
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This.
Also have heard of it used on the PDN to deaden the heel area.
The main “legitimate” use of the stuff is for ethmoid hematomas–it is sometimes injected into the mass for hemostasis. (I believe the efficacy is questionable.)
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Yes people are using these substances to drop their horses prior to showing to make them quiet. It’s sickening and goes against everything I’ve ever been taught. USEF says they’re concerned about unrecognized shows - this is taking place at the biggest recognized shows we have. Don’t worry about the little people - we love our horses.
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Human nail polish remover can contain formaldehyde or similar substances. So I’m not at all shocked that it finds its way into topical equine applications, specifically hoof treatments. It could be used to dry out a thrushy hoof just like some people will use bleach. But to inject (for performance enhancing reasons) it is a whole other ball of wax.
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I hate to even ask, but can you clarify what you mean by this? What I’m imagining just seems so far beyond the pale I truly can’t imagine it.
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I’m a little curious how USEF plans to implement enforcement of this. Are they going to rely on people ratting each other out? Are they going to do random shakedowns of barns at the shows (like HISA does at the track)? Or, is this just another unenforceable rule they’ve passed just to look good?
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I vote for the last option. This will be like so many other rules that they have, that never get enforced. Then they can say well we have a rule. It’s against the rules you know we’re doing our part.
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I think a shakedown sounds awesome.
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It’s not anymore beyond the pale than any other sedative people have been cheating with since the beginning of horse shows
