I know one trainer who uses ace so no one has to get up early to hand walk, etc. She does A/AA and local shows.
I don’t doubt it, but it’s hard to think of anything less sportsmanly (much less necessary) than a rated barn, who has a rated program/skills/resources, drugging their horses to do the baby green locals against programs who are limited to the locals, end stop.
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Honestly, I don’t find it acceptable in this case either. I don’t mean that I’m against all forms of psychotropic drugs, of course, but it’s not unheard-of for students to “borrow” a friend’s ADHD medications to study for a big test, and I think that’s a pretty decent analogy. I don’t think anyone here is saying, “a young horse on stall rest shouldn’t be medicated for his own safety,” anymore than someone should be denied legitimate medication that is helping them with an illness, but this is to win a ribbon, not for “health.”
Re: getting a young horse used to show grounds…of course, doing it the “right” way is slower, but ultimately more effective IMHO if you want the horse to hopefully compete without needing chemicals to stay calm. If a horse wins with Ace once, will the trainer then say, “great, let’s try him without next time” or stick with the “winning” concoction?
I think the issue is present at every level of the sport, unfortunately. Winning is hard, there is ever-greater pressure to make money and showing and winning is part of that equation, so people take shortcuts, and usually the horse suffers. Sometimes the client.
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It’s gross.
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I have been reading through this thread with a lot of interest and honestly a lot of surprise at how many folks are AOK with showing a horse/pony drugged at the local levels for “safety” reasons.
If your horse/pony isn’t safe, then find another horse/pony or take more lessons until you can ride the horse/pony at a show undrugged.
If you want to give a good experience to a youngster, even if it’s just on the trailer ride over, then show unjudged.
I feel like this is a pretty fair way of doing things, which should be a standard for any horse show.
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99% of getting youngsters mileage at horse shows involves everything besides going in the ring. The last young horse I had went to her first horse show in a halter ad lead rope. I didn’t even take tack because she was just going to hang out. She hung out so well, I did take her back the next day with tack. If she hadn’t, we would have gone back in the halter and lead rope.
It takes as long as it takes.
OTOH, I had a greenie I took with me to a two week away show. He had such a melt down, I could barely even lead him around. He went out for hand walks with a little chemical help and his first ride in the schooling area with a little chemical help. By the second week, he accepted that he was not at the track and settled. Some. But once again, there was no intention of showing. Just learning the ropes.
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I’m not sure we find it wholly acceptable, although you’re right that it does happen and meds are abundant (and, I’d argue, not inherently evil). I genuinely hope that people taking those meds or filling prescriptions for their children are going through the proper medical channels to do this and working with reputable professionals as a part of a treatment plan. I also hope their reasons for taking meds is to help them get through unavoidable situations (like going grocery shopping) and genuinely improve their quality of life and not, for example, drugging their kid with stage fright as a first resort to get them through a totally optional ballet recital. Like the men who cavalierly lobotomized their “hysterical” wives/children in the 40s/50s, I hope parents who jump to drug their kids as a quick and dirty solution end up on the wrong side of history.
FWIW my FIL is a therapist and we’ve talked at length about using medication as a means to help someone get to a point that they can actually tackle their problems. And sometimes they will be taking meds for their entire life. I really don’t want to come across like all problems can and should be solved without drugs/medicine - if you and your doctor have determined that you need them, please take them. Like anything else, they’re a tool that can be used, but also abused. In the context of horse shows, I tend to think it falls under abuse of the drug more often than not though.
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Wow, never met any parents who warrant implicit comparison to men who lobotomized people in the fifties!
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just drifting in from eventer land. It may be apples and oranges, but drugs are not allowed at all in eventing. I was always low lever and know nothing of week long or month long shows, but drugging horses seems to me like a very bad idea.
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Good!!! I hope they’re not common!
Then they shouldn’t be showing at all until they find a suitable mount or learn to ride well enough( even when on the lead line) to show.
Making exceptions for something that is illegal and unfair to the others in the class, who are following the rules is wrong. I am sure it has been going on for many, many years.
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Agreed…because where do you draw the line? What about the intermediate adult who falls off if a horse steps sideways???
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100% AGREE.
It’s also a different ballgame with the warmbloods. They’re just a lot more body to spook and buck. It’s not an education thing. I’ve watched PLENTY of big pros get really hurt bc of bad spooks on monster horses that couldn’t or wouldn’t keep it together.
Lunging them to the brink of broken isn’t helping anyone. You get horses that are too sore or too tired to make it down the lines with fearful ammys and kids. You get horses that could have had long careers breaking by age 15. It’s just not that awesome.
I find it wildly amusing that you have drug testers willing and ready to test at so many shows the second that you get off, but when was the last time someone checked the pilots?
God knows I’m sure we’d all be shocked to see how many are riding drunk, overly stuffed on prescription meds, or coked up.
We talk about the safety and sanctity of the sport… but honestly? Are we really examining all the avenues or just a few that fit into some niche parts of the whole picture?
So we clutch our pearls about Lil Johnny’s 25 yr old trooper getting a little Ace on a brisk day or a little bute to manage a nagging arthritic issue… but we’re absolutely fine with Geraldine’s 2 Xanax and a red wine before her AO trips? or Big Johnny’s 3 whiskey shooters with quick 2 lines of coke before his Welcome Stake? How is that any different?
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Of course the logical argument is that Geraldine and Johnny have a choice in the matter.
But does USEF even have any rules against drug use in riders? Every other sport I know of has rules against use of drugs and even some prescription medications for athletes. But ours is only concerned with half of the athlete equation.
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That is your personal preference and that is fine. However, I’ve hopped on many a recuperating horse that needed a tack walk or to be slowly worked back into a program that had some ace to take the edge off.
The benefits?
- The horse did not react to surroundings as much… which kept them safe and able to do their minimum physical therapy routine of walking in an arena for 10, 15, 20 mins while the barn kept doing what the barn needed to do (lessons, feeding, turnout, etc).
- The human (ie ME) didn’t risk being tossed off by a horse that was not yet allowed to be turned out and had just spend ____ days/weeks in their stall.
- The horse didn’t reinjure or tear whatever thing they were recuperating from and could just work back slowly.
There was no issue with riding them. They weren’t falling asleep at the wheel… just a slight dose to make it easier to not spook at every sound, movement, cat, etc. In those circumstances, I wouldn’t get on them without some extra insurance, nor would the trainers let it happen since they knew it upped the unpredictability by a thousand.
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YEah, I’m sure there’s a rule… but unless they’re really ruffling feathers or acting over the top intoxicated or under the influence of an illegal substance… no one is reporting them. So nothing will be done. It’s the sad and ironic nature of the horse show world.
This has been a fascinating thread to follow along with.
A lot of folks in this thread feel that using sedation is cheating. I think an argument could be made that lunging and excessive riding could be considered cheating as well.
If you do not feel like lunging and excessive riding should be considered cheating, but you do feel that sedation is cheating, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
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This is a completely different situation than drugging for a horse show, which is what the thread is about…
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It’s not about cheating to me. It’s unethical in that you’re using your horse as a machine and a means to be successful in your chosen sport. Why not ride dirt bikes instead?
It feels wrong to me to use medication to alter your horse’s behaviour and instinct in order to win ribbons. Maybe riding is not for you if your horses need to be doped up in order to be ridden.
I’m all for using sedation when hand walking a stall bound horse, or even to take the edge off when first rehabbing from injury. Those are safety issues in extenuating circumstances where it’s in the horse’s best interest to avoid further injury.
I’m actually quite disgusted that so many fellow COTHers find this practice acceptable. I generally feel that most of us are educated, kind horse lovers who want what’s best for our animals. This thread shows otherwise.
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Do you find lunging to also be unethical? If no, why?
Also, please know that I’m asking these questions from a place of honest curiosity. If I’m coming across as too direct, I don’t mean it. 
Edit to add a tag for @glitterless as it doesn’t look like this post was linked to their response.
