I feel like Carl Sandburg may offer a good explanation for the drama: [h=1]“If the facts are against you, argue the law. If the law is against you, argue the facts. If the law and the facts are against you, pound the table and yell like hell”[/h]
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Generally speaking, it’s correct that the rules are set up so that nobody can run a private horse show with USEF points and arbitrarily refuse outside entries. This is the relevant USEF rule:
"GR914 Refusal of Entries
- In addition to entries of persons suspended or expelled from the Federation, a Licensed Competition may refuse any entry of an exhibitor or the participation of any agent, trainer, rider, driver or handler who has shown an objectionable attitude or behavior at a Licensed Competition or towards its management, which management is able to substantiate, or previous unsportsmanlike behavior at a Licensed Competition which management is able to substantiate."
Obviously, the shows at Spruce Meadows run under the rules of Equine Canada, which may be different from USEF rules.
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Thanks Poltroon for the explanation!
Hmmm maybe the police should do some monitoring of her at the shows? If they catch her “dirty,” i.e., doping with a schedule II drug like coke, she will be arrested. The idea is to find out where she gets her dope from. That would solve the whole problem and save the horses. Coke makes you hyper I would assume that it also makes a horse hyper. He’d not sleep for 12 or more hours depending on the amount of drugs, maybe even 24 hours. Elevated heart rate also. Dry mouth… Why would she want to hype up a horse? Usually people are ace-ing horses to make them calm and docile.
Has anyone notified the police at the show where the horse was found to have coke in his system? Someone should report it to the police, it’s a crime to possess cocaine.
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Hmmmm – yep most of what you have mentioned here is abusive… and the fact that it goes on and that to a greater or lesser extent most know and accept it does not make it less abusive
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Can someone please explain why the USOC is involved?
Because USE is the National Governing Body for Equestrian sport, and Equestrian is in the Olympics, USE must conform to certain rules in how it handles athlete suspensions and athlete disputes, just as if they were USA Swimming or USA Gymnastics or whatever. This includes having mechanisms to go outside the organization for arbitration and other legal relief, which is necessary because in fact in the past NGBs in general are not always the open, sportsmanlike organizations we all wish them to be. The mechanisms must be avaliable even though the competitor in question is not currently a High Performance athlete contending for a Team.
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Oh and also, the only evaluation they did was of the horses at liberty in a stall or paddock, because it would be unethical for them to do forced exercise like riding after administering GABA. (All university animal research has to pass an ethics test.)
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Yabbut hunters are not an Olympic sport. The USE should let the USHJA dictate hunters and get out of that game.
I thought the idea was to get the horse to crash the day after the drug is given so that it is lethargic and not prone to looking at anything.
Too bad in this country we can’t make the punishment fit the crime. If she jacks her horses up with something, they should inject her with the same thing and then make her run around and perform in front of large crowds.
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There’s no proof K had the coke on her and pretty comfortable that that she and/or L simply instructed an assistant to administer it while they went to dinner. But there’s no prof that would hold up in a court of law. I don’t think there are civil statues governing horses under the influence in Florida or wherever this took place.
Far as where they get the stuff, no idea on the coke but the parking lot I’d guess. The other stuff that’s legal but present in larger then allowable amounts or borderline? They would get that from an obliging vet. Who do you think was selling Carolina Gold or Ky Red…one doing a brisk business in that was a show vet, after all, it wouldn’t test. Until it did. That’s how these things are done, these trainers don’t sneak around in the shadows, they have people to do their dirty work. They go to dinner, on some clients dime no doubt.
That way they can honestly deny they shot the horse up and blame the old switched bucket or groom that has since disappeared with no forwarding address.
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Yes, exactly!
The guy that gets busted selling stuff on the street is very far down the food chain.
are we sure that would really be considered punishment in this case :eek:??? I mean…
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Possibly, after the videos of her go viral on youtube.
I knew an actual case where instead of jail time, the judge made the guilty party wear a cardboard sign on a busy public intersection, stating exactly what that person did.
Not unlike those pet shaming videos you see on the internet.
If the arbitrator finds that GABA is not a performance enhancing drug, he will be overturning the decision of the National Federation AND the International Federation that it does affect horse performance. I simply cannot imagine him having the balls to do that. Imagine how that would fly for endurance in the UAE. Every drugging country would immediately start to dispute the validity of FEI drug determinations in local proceedings.
So much for not being entered at WEF. And the horse’s name? UGH
Unbelievable :no:
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sick!!!
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It seems to me to be a fairly unrealistic view of law enforcement priorities to think the police would come investigate allegations that a trainer is giving a horse cocaine based purely on a past incident at a different show where the horse tested positive. With only so many resources to go around, I can’t see that being a high priority. Now, if you called as an eyewitness saying you saw a trainer with an illegal narcotic? That seems far more likely to get attention.
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Maybe after 3 positive drug tests, all horses owned, rode or trained by that said person must be drug tested at all rated shows at their expense. Make the consequences tough.
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That is another great idea and highlights the reason why many people are upset at USEF. There is so much more that they could be doing, but aren’t.
