Not so fun fact: people use Adenosine on their horses to make them quiet at horse shows. Wish USEF would get on that.
I had someone (not a vet) recommend it for a horse of mine that gets amped up. I was like, yeah, not interested in messing with his heart. Yeesh
Ohforgodssake. Iām assuming it would have to be obtained from a vet?
I imagine so
Youād think so, but it took me under a minute to find it for order on the web.
Is it the equivalent of taking a beta blocker which I know people do for anxiety. Or does it work another way?
It is a fairly potent vasodilator, so Iād guess the ācalmingā effect woould be via hypotension.
In humans the effect is seconds. We give it fast push iv for select fast heart rhythms to momentarily reset the heart. By stopping conduction. No words for the sport we have become.
We are no longer a sport. It is a business about money.
The recommendation for horses is IM, with cautions against IV use.
But it would surprise me not at all to hear of somebody trying it IV and having a horse drop dead off the needle.
yup have heard that multiple times in several locations
In humans at least, the half-life of adenosine in the bloodstream is seconds. I canāt imagine it would be a particularly effective calming agent anyway.
I tried googling what adenosine is used for in horses and I got a bunch of hits indicating that itās used IM to āimprove energy levelsā (probably because adenosine is a building block of ATP, an energy source for cellular metabolic processes ā¦ but the body does a pretty good job of making its own ATP using just food and oxygen, so this seems like a sketchy claim) and dilate coronary arteries (a known effect of it which is why itās used to do cardiac stress tests in people ā¦ but Iām not sure what the utility of that would be in horses, who presumably donāt have atherosclerotic coronary disease).
Regardless, it sounds sketchy and like something that is unlikely to be supported by any evidence. Any vets can feel free to correct me if Iām mistaken!
Well USEF just changed rules, and pretty much admitted the vet was at fault (as much as legally they could). At least something good came from this travesty.
Why does it take a dead horse for USEF to decide to update policies and educate vets??
Associations and governing bodies are reactive. And it takes something dramatic happening to get a reaction at all.
Not condoning it, just saying this isnāt unique to horse sports, unfortunately.
if i read it correctly, the owner said it was a vet acting alone and only they are responsible. do you think the agreement she reached with USEF made that a stipulation? I find it unlikely some vet just went rogue and didnāt consult another soul.
The USEF forgot 4. An unlimited supply of funds, therapy, perhaps a vacation home by the sea for any groom who has literally foaled out his entry, spent his life with it, tried to block the catastrophe he saw unfolding, and had to fly home alone across the world without his horse. Itās unbearable.
Hereās the COTH article regarding USEFās announcement and Branscombās response. I wonder if they asked her to sign an agreement not to pursue legal action if they admitted fault?
Honestly thatās what the whole thing feels like. No amount of money is gonna fix what happened but hopefully we can stop it from happening again.
Of course they did. Not like this ānewā initiative is going to cost them near what legal action would have run. Iām sure they made a settlement that their insurance paid out as well.
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