Huh. I’ll edit my post and note that. Never mind that thought then.
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This was my thought too. Why would anyone trust USEF with one of these ‘loans’ after this? These horses are worth millions of dollars. Yeah, there’s some prestige that comes with riding for the USA, but if it comes at the cost of them being able to inject whatever majikal concoction they have come up with that day without your knowledge or consent, why would ANYONE agree to that?
I can show in prestigious classes without signing my horses’ life over.
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This is concerning to me, as well. I absolutely believe the injection killed the horse (and I just had a conversation about this w my vet this morning). The owner did ask that nothing be done without her consent. Now what? I don’t know…. It’s just terrible and stupid they would use a medication like that PRRIOD. Sue for negligence???
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But… looking at the attachment linked above by @Railbird … I wonder if the owner will be able to sue USEF? It seems like an owner would have to sue the attending vet.
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IANAL but I expect it would come down to who had care, custody, and control of the horse at the time, and it sounds like the USEF management team was calling the shots (no pun intended.)
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These snippets are taken from someone’s post on the Branscomb FB page, in response to USEF’s recent change of course.
"What happened to just saying i’m so deeply sorry. AND followed with “whatever we can do to discover fault and control circumstances so this never happens again- we will do.”
A personal response like that would be nice if it were possible, but it isn’t.
If you slip and fall in a grocery store, the management will not say they’re sorry, even if
the manager is sorry that it happened to you.
I was taught early on in a customer service industry that saying you’re sorry to a customer who may have an injury or loss, is the equivalent of saying “We were responsible”.
We were never to say “I’m sorry” to a customer.
“This is an obvious CYA action, advised by lawyers to limit accountability,”
Yes, it is, and unfortunately it’s standard operating procedure.
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Interestingly, hospitals adopted the say nothing approach to avoid lawsuits, but it’s of dubious value.
Patients who were victims of errors want an apology.
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But then why would the groom call the rider
CORRECTION owner distressed over the vet request to inject the horse?
And how exactly did the shot occur if the groom called the rider CORRECTION owner and the rider CORRECTION owner expressed that it wasn’t necessary… How then did the horse end up getting injected?
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The groom called the owner, not the rider.
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Thanks, I’ll correct my question
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I read that comment differently. I thought she was referring to FEI jogs - to check soundness. I saw comments from Rudy Leone (I think) about how the horse’s connections all had nerves about it passing the jogs. Which goes back to the whole question of whether or not the horse was having soundness issues, and was the horse on an intense medication/management plan, and did that somehow relate in some way to whatever went wrong in Riyadh.
I don’t think anyone was accusing the groom of any wrongdoing. But maybe I’m misunderstanding. Totally possible. There are a lot of comments about this situation from different people that are somewhat confusing/unclear.
It seems from the most recent reports that the groom called the owner because the USEF team vet (or someone related) came to get the horse for treatment post ride, and that wasn’t something the groom was anticipating. Apparently all treatments were supposed to be run by the horse’s longtime vet or the horse’s owner before they were given. From the reports, it sounds like the owner arrived at the barn almost immediately after an IV injection was given, and the horse died shortly thereafter.
It’s unclear if the owner spoke with anyone immediately before the IV shot was given, and told anyone it wasn’t necessary. Her initial statements in April immediately following the tragedy are different than her recent statements following the release of the necropsy report.
There doesn’t seem like there have been any public statements from either the horse’s longtime vet or the vet who actually treated him in Riyadh. Only from the head vet for USEF.
Likely everyone will stop talking now that there is potential litigation.
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Curious what makes you say this. Comments on FB from the owner in May, and common knowledge in the area have him as the longtime vet.
I have no skin in the game other than being generally horrified.
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Well for a start he lives in Wellington FL and is no longer affiliated with UCD, which is a several hours anyway from the farm. They use a local vet.
I know personally that he is in the area monthly or sometimes weekly. He is no longer affiliated with UCD but he is still in the region often. Many H/J folks in this area still use him for lameness and sporthorse work.
I can’t speak to direct knowledge of who exactly they use for what procedures, but it’s been my understanding from friends of mine who know the parties involved that he has been their sporthorse vet for a long time.
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Sent you a PM.
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Because the owner signed a release that magically says the team
Can do whatever it wants to the horse whether she likes it or not and they don’t have to consult with or even tell her or anyone else. Thats how and why
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Wasn’t the owner there for the World Cup final?
If so, any idea that she was unreachable by phone because of the time difference or anything like that would go right out the window.
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Thanks.
It’s very curious.
Clearly Pepe was concerned about proposed treatment of Chromatic.
He knows the horse and care protocol.
So it’s interesting what transpired to cause that treatment to actually go ahead.
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She was present on the scene minutes after the injection was given. So definitely present in Riyadh. Not sure why they didn’t call her about the post ride medication choices. Neither article yesterday got comments from the key vets involved. So it seems there are still unanswered aspects of the situation.
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