Also, our horses deserve advocates. If you see potential abuse or unethical treatment, choose to be one.
Don’t just post about it online—report it. It’s confidential and it matters.
USEF Online Report Form: https://members.usef.org/reporting-forms/horse-abuse
Fill it out. Add your evidence. Be the voice they need you to be.
One thing I find interesting is at least one set of parents there has been explicitly made aware of his abuse with videos and other evidence, yet just continues buying horses with him for the junior rider daughter. Deplorable. Especially after a suspension that confirms what kind of conduct he’s engaging in.
I am a born cynic but have to assume that there is (as another poster noted) some monetary benefit to the Federation of not starting the suspension on the anniversary of the infraction. Otherwise, why wait almost a year to suspend? The blood/urine test comes back a lot faster than that. Giving the lie to this “social license to operate/horse welfare” garbage. There is another repeat drugging offender on USEF website (and as noted Britt-Leon has had prior drugging offenses) who got a 6 month suspension because it was a second violation. So interesting that Britt-Leon does not get higher penalties even though he has repeat violations, But then again, I am a cynic and I don’t want anything to do with the hunter horse show world any more.
I find it very suspect that a farrier would even be carrying this on their truck nonetheless take the risk. But being from California, Michael got forced out (and literally taken away by the police at a show). He stole, cheated, and was known to bounce checks.
I am really struggling with the whole farrier thing. I don’t know a single farrier in GA that would do this. Now staff at a barn, I can see that. So maybe the staff at the barn injected this horse for the farrier appointment before the show (which is also very odd since staff generally know when a horse is going to a show and wouldn’t be doing anything to knowingly compromise a horse prior to a competition).
And where was this farrier appointment? Back at Windsor? Certainly not at the show because I cannot imagine anyone sedating a horse at a show. And when was the drug test - how many hours after the appointment? How long does this medication stay in a horse’s system? I guess a lot depends on the dose?
Good questions. I can’t see how this is possible. But who knows, there are so many ways these trainers, etc abuse the horses to make themselves money.
I had always heard that it is timed to prevent a trainer from attending the same event where the violation occurred the following year, however, there is absolutely nothing in the rulebook to state when a suspension goes into effect. It’s pretty much left up to the disciplinary board to decide.
The only thing that’s really clear is that the USEF rules aren’t clear at all.
Isn’t it far more likely that it had nothing to do with a farrier appointment at all and that’s a flimsy cover story? Sedivet is not a typical choice for a horse that needs sedation for the farrier. But you do hear of it regularly used for rehab rides, so I don’t buy the farrier story at all.
Same. I bet the mystery farrier doesn’t even exist.
I don’t know anything about this particular case or the people involved, but I am shocked that there are posters here who have never heard of a farrier sedating a horse before working on it. Is it illegal? Yes. Does it happen regularly? Also yes.
I won’t allow anyone other than a vet to sedate one of my horses (nor would I own one that required sedation for routine handling), but I have certainly seen it done by many, many others.
Sedating a horse for the farrier? Sure, but not by the farrier and also not right before or during a show, and not without Rx from a vet.,
These are really more rhetorical questions and comments at this point. Because I have honestly never heard of this use case for a farrier appointment, either.
I’m with you - I don’t think I know a single farrier that will not personally sedate a fractious animal.
Some owners have their own stuff, or pre-sedate. But you bet your booty the farrier has a vial and/or tube of stuff in the truck.
But we are talking about a competition “animal” that is likely getting reshod every 4-6 weeks. This isn’t a feral horse or some young horse - this is a mid-career horse who should be pretty experienced. It’s just very odd.
I know a local farrier who literally sedates every single horse he does.
Also - how many threads here on horses being bad for a farrier, who are not feral or young? It can be a whole HOST of things that cause ill-behavior.
It does depend upon the dose, but the elimination half-life for romifidine in one study was on the order of 135 minutes.
I’m surprised that farrier has clients. That is CRAZY
In what state do you reside? Maybe this varies by state?
I don’t think anyone is saying they are shocked by the concept of a horse being sedated FOR the farrier. The farrier being the one to administer the sedative would be more surprising. @atl_hunter pointed out that no farrier should be injecting a horse with any sedative (with which I agree). Sedivet, the drug in question here, is an IV injection. Farriers are not generally running around giving IV injections to their client’s horses. Something like dorm or ace is the common sedative for farrier appointments, if needed, and usually it is the trainer or barn manager who is authorized to give meds. And in this case, I’m just not buying that Sedivet was used for a farrier appointment no matter who administered it.
Never met a farrier who valued his livelihood that sedated on his own volition. I’d run. And I have sedated horses for years that needed it with dorm which I got from my vet.
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