I didn’t read Chanda’s posts to say it was advisable or even okay to use performance enhancing drugs. Rather, I read her to mean that it goes on and it’s naive to think otherwise.
While I can understand that many owners put their trust in their trainers and have no clue that something fishy was going on, I’m not ready to absolve them of all responsibility.
I am another one of those “absentee owners.” I am not a horsewoman in any way. Not because I don’t want to be, but because right now, with my limited time, my first priority is learning to ride.
That being said, if my horse gets any medication or has any health or soundness issues, you bet I expect to be fully informed. I may not know enough to really understand the issues, but that’s when I ask questions or do independent research. Yes, my trainer is the one who makes most of the health and training decisions about my horse. But I’m always fully informed, and I make damn sure I know what every charge is on my vet bill!
It really doesn’t take that much time to talk to your vet and get an explanation of what’s on the bill and what it does. Unless your trainer is footing the bill for the drugging (do trainers foot the bill for anything? I haven’t experienced that, lol!), I find it hard to believe a client wouldn’t at least have some suspicion something fishy is going on.
It does make me sad that the only alternatives seem to be lunging to death or drugging. I’d like to find out what those alternatives may be.
Maybe not showing as much? Maybe changing the judging standards so that fresh horses aren’t penalized? I’m not talking about allowing unruly behavior. But I’ve never understood why amatures’ horses can’t show some exhuberance while on course.
“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” – Thomas A. Edison
