Does anyone remember when, and more to the point, why was the Sharps container and Biohazard statement added to Prize Lists?
Long story short I was sharing the new Devon prize list on the Horse and Hound Forums to show them the differences in American shows versus their own.
They were categorically horrified to see that statement in there. I cannot for the life of me recall why it originated. I want to think it was part of a lawsuit but I am blanking. I remember it being there for a long time though. And as old as I am in the Tubepalooza threads I remember that the lady posting was commenting that the sharps containers were always overflowing. So now I think of her when I read that in a prize list.
I’m sure there were several reasons, one listed in the rules that if needles are dropped in manure it cannot be composted. I wouldn’t automatically assume that having sharps containers equates to trainers doping for performance enhancement. Since I work in healthcare I think of illness or injury first, not something sinister. Needles, syringes, lancets, broken glass, and bloodied needles. Butterfly blades, scalpel blades, and suture needles all go into sharps containers. i
I’m sure there’s some people injecting something they shouldn’t be, but realistically horses need stuff done with needles all the time at shows. Need a microchip? Needle. Coggins pulled? Needle. You need to get another health certificate, and your state is requiring something extra? Needle. Vaccinations? Needles. Horse needs his teeth floated/sheath cleaned/clipped? More needles.
Sharps containers are a necessary part of horse shows. Especially ones lasting multiple weeks.
Sorry to derail. No idea on the sharps statement; I’ve never really paid much attention to it.
Do they not need coggins and microchips and sedation for ear clipping in Europe? I bet they do. Maybe they just pack their needles home.
It seems a very different culture, here in the UK most owners and even grooms could go their whole life without injecting a horse, the only non-vet I’ve seen inject something was the head groom at work for a broodmare before AI. What are people injecting at a show? I would have thought anything that’s injectable would be a prohibited substance with a withdrawal period.
The only thing we generally vaccinate for is flu and tetanus, you’re not meant to compete within 7 days of having the flu booster so you wouldn’t have it done at a show. Coggins isn’t a thing over here.
In the UK all horses are supposed to be microchipped by 6 months, no-one is getting a horse microchipped at a show. I bought one a couple of years ago that somehow hadn’t been but I had it done during his PPE.
If they need heavy sedation then it’s a vet call out and vet administered, I don’t think we’re legally allowed to buy it from a vet. Even sedaline and domesedan needs a prescription, people often have some spare but we aren’t technically meant to keep a stockpile. Same with stuff like bute and danilon. The only drugs I bring with me to a show is some bute and maybe a tube of sedalin.
If a vet is onsite and drug testing horses they’d have their own sharps box, same with people that have injectables they’d bring their own, they aren’t provided by the show as there isn’t really a need.
West Nile isn’t a thing here either, the only other vaccines I can think of are for EHV but that’s only really given to breeding stock and there was a strangles vaccine but I think there were some issues with it so no-one I know uses it. Some governing bodies still require flu vacs every 6 months which is a pain, last year mine reacted to it and needed a fortnight off.
I can think of lots of things that would be injected at a multi day show. Legends, adequan, pentosan are the first that come to mind. And NSAIDS that might be administered at night after a day of showing.
We have had to inject Banamine a few times at shows when the horse was in dire straights and we couldn’t get a vet there before things went to hell in a hand basket. Worst situation was a horse with colic who was going downhill fast and Banamine paste wasn’t doing the trick. It was a holiday weekend at a show in a rural area, vet on call was stuck 40 minutes away on another emergency call, and the only other vet in the area wanted us to bring the horse to her clinic (which wasn’t possible for a variety or reasons). I am not sure that horse would have made it if we hadn’t been able to give him some relief until the vet got there over an hour later.
So yeah, there are times when Sharps containers come in very handy when you’ve had to use an injectable to save a life.
One assumes only animals need needles in their life. Humans at show venues also use needles; diabetics and other people requiring injectable medications. Blood pathogens such as hepatitis HIV etc are real and requiring people who need injectable medications to carry home their sharps is onerous. My workplace had sharps containers in every restroom.
Most likely in many areas laws dictate the need for sharps where a venue supports X number of people.
providing proper disposal means for sharps of any nature protects people. Consider the garbage hauler . If they get stuck with a sharp, they have no way of knowing if it was from a dog vaccine or from a human with potential for blood borne pathogen.
Vaccines, pulling for coggins, joint support like pentosan or adequan, banamine, sedation for things like ear clipping, antibiotics, meds for diseases (there are meds that aren’t banned for showing because they are necessary to the horses’ health), the list goes on. Horses don’t decide to not colic or not need medical care just because you are at a show. And also in the US, it’s common to have shows go for months; you rent a stall for 3 months, 4 months. So you may need to have routine medical care be done during that time.
Microchipping was only required by USEF maybe 3 years ago? It’s not been very long. And many people just wait until their first rated show to use the vet on the grounds to get it done.
Everyone I know that has been in horses for longer than a few years knows how to inject IM with a needle. I consider it a requirement to horsekeeping. And a lot of us know how to do an IV injection also.
Anyways, the sharps and needles are mostly not nefarious. Maybe a few people are injecting something they shouldn’t be, but it’s mostly just normal stuff. And the reason we have sharps containers in the barns is just because needles are dangerous, people are stupid, and the poor grounds staff kept getting poked by someone’s uncapped needle floating around in the garbage can.
This too! It’s really just a good idea to have sharps containers in places for people to dispose of needles. Type 1 diabetes doesn’t wait for you to go home to inject.
A former barn mate of mine, who used to show, is diabetic and having sharps containers at the show was helpful for her. She could handle her insulin in our tack stall and then dispose of the needle without having to carry around a container of her own.
Legends, adequan, pentosan are the first that come to mind. And NSAIDS that might be administered at night after a day of showing.
Are these available over the counter? It seems we can buy pentosan with a prescription but I can’t find the others online to buy, I’d imagine they’re something only vets would give here. We only really get offered sachets of bute or danilon if they need NSAIDS and we woudn’t give them at a show because of the withdrawal period.
With Banamine is that something people have on hand just in case? Again it’s not something we have easy access to. Thinking about it though my local vets are 15 miles and 23 miles away, the closest happens to also be a full hospital so if there was a proper emergency at home I’d take him there rather than wait for the vet to come out. Even at a show you’d never be that far from a vet.
And also in the US, it’s common to have shows go for months; you rent a stall for 3 months, 4 months. So you may need to have routine medical care be done during that time.
This probably explains it, we just don’t have shows like that, the only thing I can think of like it would be the sunshine tour in Spain. The vast majority of shows are single days so you’d plan your vet care around them. Most shows wouldn’t even have a vet onsite, they’d only have someone on call.
Everyone I know that has been in horses for longer than a few years knows how to inject IM with a needle. I consider it a requirement to horsekeeping. And a lot of us know how to do an IV injection also.
That’s interesting, I’ve been a groom for almost 10 years and it’s something I’ve never had to do and wouldn’t know how to either.
I have my horses at home. I have dexamethasone, banamine on hand. I draw both up via syringe and dispose of the needle, then administer orally. Another horse gets allergy shots. More needles. I travel with all of the above for shows, trail riding, camping, etc.
@Xctrygirl- these are quotes of yours from the horse and hound forum thread about the Devon horse show you started. Is it true the lead line ponies are legally sedated?
You get these from the vet but any knowledgeable horse owner and certainly every trainer that is in charge of clients horses would administer these without having the vet present. Different culture I guess.
I was taught how to do IM injections at the age of thirteen.
Of the many that I know that go do it (and for that matter many Hunt team horses at Devon and Pa National Horse show as well) they have some ace on board, yes.
To clarify, my horses who did Hunt teams at Devon didn’t have any ace, but I know MANY who have for both lead line and Hunt teams.
Having kept horses here and I the UK, one of the differences is the availability of veterinary services in many areas. Here, there are fewer and fewer ambulatory vet services available, so you’d better be able to handle an emergency or give routine meds if you keep your horses at home, or if you have responsibility for other people’s horses.
When I moved my horses to my relatively remote farm, my vet provided me with an emergency kit, and instruction on how to use it all, and the clinic did an annual update service to replace anything that was out of date, etc. The practice is 50 miles away, and my vet is in my area 3 days a week.
So it becomes routine and entirely accepted to administer your own meds, even if prescribed by the vet.
I live in one of the most population dense states on the east coast and my vet is still 25 miles away-- but she travels to make calls over a 50-ish mile range so she can be close to an hour away and/or stuck at another emergency. The nearest vet hospital is about 35 miles-- it requires a referral but I’ve had that done over the phone in an emergency. But there are situations where you can’t trailer a horse safely and being able to at least give them IV Banamine for pain while you wait for the vet can make it a little easier. My horse broke something in his neck/back last year and I was lucky to find a vet able to get out within 40 minutes-- but that is a very long time when you are sitting in a field with a horse that is in shock and dying slowly.
