THE suspension list

[Lord_Helpus]

Since my memory is foggy and I do not want to mis state anything, I will just say that everyone knew that Reserpine (Serp) was illegal. But it was used with impunity because it was believed that there was no test for it.

Then a test was created and, under great secrecy, the AHSA added the test to the list of tests for other drugs. I believe that it was initially tested for at the end of WEF and, by the time results had come in and the announcement of violators was about to be made, it was time for Devon.

When the poop hit the fan, people were loading horses onto vans and leaving the showgrounds poste-haste. I forget how many trainers were swept up in that net, but many BIG names were included. As I mentioned, several of the biggest names had their assistants testify that they, and not their bosses, had administered the drugs, unbeknownst to the head trainer…

Yeah. Right… Like Karen Healey would drug multiple horses in her barn without her boss’s knowledge and approval. In fact, it was right after that, if memory serves, that Karen’s boss got out of hunters and has focused on jumpers since then…

Feet of Clay, as they say.

[This message was edited by Lord Helpus on Nov. 09, 2003 at 01:48 PM.]

[Horseymama]

[QUOTE]

A code of ethics-with punishment for violation is a being and a board or panel that is unbiased and fair.

QUOTE]

This is a very important idea. Our federation needs to serve us better. We also need trainer/instructer certification that is recognized by our federation.

We should not allow any Joe Blow to just hang out a shingle and “declare” themselves a professional. We need to have some standards.

Not only is drugging horses immoral, it is un-safe. I have seen horses have horrible reactions to drugs, I have heard of terrible crashes in the ring due to horses being drugged. A couple of years ago at Indio, one of the top hunters freaked out, jumped out of her stall, tore around the show grounds like and maniac and finally collapsed and died. The vets said it was a brain aneurism. Makes me wonder…

[Flash44]

This is mind blowing!!!

Who here wants to ride a horse that has been given unknown amounts of unknown drugs???

An owner who does not CARE about the EXACT physical and mental status of his or her horse that he or she is showing DOES NOT BELONG AROUND HORSES. The owner who just wants the horse to be quiet and able to win in the ring (no matter what) needs to be riding bicycles instead of horses.

IGNORANCE is not an excuse for allowing the trainer to freely medicate the horse. If the horse has a problem, FIX the problem, don’t cover it up with drugs.

And if you horse can’t beat another horse without drugs, you will just have to accept the fact that you don’t have the flippin best horse in the division!

[cbv]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by horsepop:
I certainly don’t think the majority of horses are being drugged but the fact this is occurring and people are getting caught would lead one to wonder just how many horses are being medicated to perform at an acceptable level. Is it 1% or 10%? No one will know until every horse that shows is tested and that won’t happen because of the cost involved is just too great.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I am making an assumption here, but I assume that the reason random sampling is used, instead of a program that only tests the winners, is that you are going to get results that give a better approximation of overall usage of illegal (or at least testable) substances among all horses showing at sanctioned events.

I would imagine that the program was specifically designed to test a large enough percentage of horses showing that the results are statistically significant, and thus provide a decent picture of use of these substances by the overall population of the horses showing (at least those showing at USEF events or under their rules and guidelines).

If, in fact, only winners were being tested, then you would not have good enough numbers to make any statements about the whole population of horses showing at sanctioned events, but only the winners, which may be skewed in either direction (and most people would probably assume it is skewed toward substance use, but that may not be the case).

That is why, though I can see the usefulness of testing all winners for a variety of reasons, I would support continuing the random sampling as well.

[Kinsella]

I have the Dec/Jan issue of Equestrian in front of me… Here’s the rundown of the drug suspensions:

Jeffrey Ayers - reserpine in Social Secretary on 10/14/02 - Dec 1 '03 thru Feb 28 '04 - $5000 fine

David & Ginny Burton - failure to cooperate with the vet in their attempts to collect blood or urine for testing - Dec 1 '03 thru Jan 31 '04 - $2000 fine

Robert Dover - pentoxifylline in Ranier on 6/8/02 (which was the selection finals for WEG and under FEI rules) - $500 fine

Dennis Harris - reserpine in Point Taken on 1/18/03 - Jan 1 '04 thru Mar 31 '04 - $2000 fine

Meg Kapil and Lindy Townley - fluphenazine in Burlesque on 2/5/03 - Feb 1 '04 thru Apr 30 '04 - $2500 fine

Todd Minikus - reserpine in Roller Coaster on 2/19/03 - Dec 1 '03 thru Feb 28 '04 - $5000 fine

Don Stewart - reserpine in Monte Cristo on 11/27/02 - Nov 3 '03 thru Mar 2 '04 - $6000 fine

And these two, while not drug related, certainly deserve mention…

Cody Williams of Wellington, FL at the KY Hunter Jumper Horse Show Aug 21-25, 2002 - “…he excessively whipped and kicked the horse MONEY; and improperly poled a horse in the schooling ring.” - June 1 '04 thru Aug 31 '04 - $5000 fine

Rebecca Miles of Salisbury, MD - “plead guilty and was convicted by the Court of Common Pleas of Sussex County, in the State of Delaware, of five counts of animal cruelty and neglect and the conduct underlying her conviction is deemed improper and prejudicial to the best interests of the Federation.” - Nov 1 '03 thru Nov 1, '05 and indefinitely thereafter, at which time she may make application for reinstatement based on affirmative proof of total rehabilitation.

There are a couple of shows and the bad check people, but that is it for the drugs (and other suspensions of note).

Ghazzu - the horse that is on reserpine goes everywhere with Todd.

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…such are the horses on which gods and heroes ride.

Stoneybrooke Farm

[radio_talk_Aefvue_Fa]

Just printed the nine pages out. My horse does not go on meds, but if some reason an injury would occur, it is very nice to have this. Thanks one and all!

[Janet]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> Why would it be legal if it could hurt horses as much as you guys are making it out. The article itself said prolonged dex exposure of a few months is a bad thing. How can once a week, for not more than two weeks in a row, for not more than two weeks out of a month really be that bad? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> Plenty of things that are “legal” are not good for you. Smoking and drinking for one.

As I understand it, the rules for dex are written to allow for treatment for hives (as with Lord Helpus’s horse). Tha fact that it also “allows” the kind of treatment you describe is, I am pretty sure, an unintended side effect of the use for an acute allergic problem.

How can it be bad? For one thing, becuase it suppresses the immune system. A couple of year ago, some kind of a “bug” surfaced at the WIHS. According to my vet, you could tell which horses go dex regularly and which didn’t. The ones who didn’t get dex didn’t get sick. The ones who got dex, got sick from the bug.

Janet
chief feeder and mucker for Music, Spy, Belle, and Brain

[Flash44]

Medications have become a crutch that SOME (not all) owners, riders and trainers rely on to cover up problems that they don’t know how to fix or don’t care to take the time to fix.

I had this discussion with Mr. Flash last night with regards to racing. His comment was, “Anyone can be a trainer nowadays, all’s they need is the right vet.”

[Court]

If Don was suspended for drugging just Monte Cristo then why were Erin’s horses suspended and not her. She is an adult and the horses are obviously in her name. Yet there is no metion of her in the Magazine.

Courtney

[Horseymama]

At the risk of sounding righteous, I thought I would add my two cents:

I’m a trainer, just a small-town, small time trainer, and one of my clients is a breeder. He is my biggest client and usually keeps between 3 and 5 horses in training with me. (The most horses I have ever had in training is 8) Last Summer I take one of his baby green Dutch mares to a horse show to do the baby greens. He has a part Haflinger pony at the same horse show (his ponies are in training with another trainer). He makes a point of coming over to tell me that pony went around the green pony division and was champion, and what happened to me? Baby green mare and I are of course, missing changes, swirving to the jumps, jumping too high, blah, blah, blah, this is her first show! But he continues to put pressure on me, why am I not winning ribbons?

I just have to say that it NEVER occurs to me to drug the horse, I can’t even imagine getting to that point. I realize this is baby-green stuff, but even if we were doing rated divisions at a big time show, I would be too nervous to give the horse anything! As trainer, I feel responsible for the health of the horse, and you never know when a horse is going to have a reaction to one of these drugs that people use in competition. Heck, I’m nervous even when I give bute or banamine.

I stand up to the owner and tell him the truth, horse needs more training, horse needs more experience, it might be possible that horse is not suited for the hunters. Yes, I know I could lose the client, that is part of the business. I am lucky to have a husband who also has an income, so if I did lose him, I could probably get by for a while.

I guess personally I would rather lose the client and live on less for a while that succumb to pressure to drug the horses for ribbons.

[elizabeth]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by DMK:
yea, yea, yea, but I knew what elizabeth was shooting for (unless I am mistaken and she has aimed Buster for endurance… No! Wait! Combined Minature Driving? Wait, I’ll get it yet - Pony Snow Boarding???)<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
Are you calling Buster SHORT?
Dude, I’d have to lunge his happy self for a long freakin’ time to get him to measure. . . .
(er, I’d have to “longe”. . . “lunge” . . . “lounge”. . . him)

[Beezer]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Janet:
I think “this particualr net” refers to the fact that a particular drug has only recently had a test developed, and used.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Ya know, people just HATE it when that happens!

***** I muck, therefore I am. *****

[jumpsalot]

Well, Midge and her fellow trade members ARE up at all hours at horse shows, making sure that many of these horses are beautifully turned out to show.
They use yarn to do so.

[Ash]

I bought the Troll
I bought the Troll for you
The one you wanted was blue
But they only had yellow…

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“I’m not going to have reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president.”
– Hilary Clinton

[Portia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by War Admiral:
For me personally, in my older amateur years - the thought of only having to do a few shows a year has a great deal of appeal! (Because I’m old, fat, and lazy, that’s why!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
I’m with you all the way on that one, War Admiral!

[I]Who figures an immigrant's going to have a pony? ... Why would anybody come here if they had a pony?  Who leaves a country packed with ponies to come to a non-pony country? It doesn't make sense... am I wrong?"[/I]  Jerry Seinfeld [img]http://chronicleforums.com/groupee_common/emoticons/icon_wink.gif[/img]

[dressager]

DMK, you made an excellent point. It is so easy for me to say that I would never train with someone who was suspended- I suppose I should say that I probably wouldn’t START training with a suspended person. My trainer has been so helpful with my progress and really knows what he is doing, so I probably wouldn’t leave him (a bit different in that I am not in the USA nor does my trainer show or care a great deal about placings, but I digress).

Dressager
You don’t throw a whole life away just because its a little banged up - Tom Smith

[radio_talk_Aefvue_Fa]

After reading the suspension list this morning, could someone say as to why Todd Minikus has been changed? Now it reads indiffinitely, with no end…Or is this a computer gilch? Am hoping so.

[radio_talk_Aefvue_Fa]

OMG, DMK ROFL. Thank you, great New Years laugh!!! Al Franken is quite funny…

[lms]

I’m guessing those folks with only one date are either suspended indefinitely or until they pay a fine.

[Tackpud]

LordHelpus - I like it!!! Let’s put it into a rule change format and propose it and see who resists. Then we’ll know who to watch for!