This is my understanding. Unless USEF actually issues some sort statement, it’s still just hearsay.
Boy do I feel like Pollyanna reading this!
Until there is evidence, it is hearsay and speculation.
My opinion: it isn’t possible to be successful with multiple riders, with multiple horses, in multiple competitions, in many nations by taking short cuts in horse welfare and training. And the individual being slandered doesn’t own any of those horses: he was working with the owners and riders who have the major say in horse management and training.
On the other hand, it is easy to destroy the reputation of an individual, for whatever reason, such as jealousy, personal antagonism, stupidity, malice. And we, General Public, are also not aware of internal relationships and politics within the USEF.
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I’m not here to make you, or anyone else, believe anything. Someone asked, I repeated what I’ve been told by several trusted sources. Take it for what you will.
Given the players (riders, grooms, etc) involved and the history, I find the story entirely plausible and not actually that surprising. As Xctrygirl said above, it not that uncommon a story.
I have a hard time believing this because unless they are absolutely microdosing, dorm has a very strong effect on a horses motor skills even with a very small dose. Even 0.1 can cause them to have trouble with their feet. We generally sedate horses with 0.4 to inject their joints
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It’s not smart, I agree. I’ve have personal seen more than one rider give 0.2 or 0.3 of dorm and go for a ride. A few have even jumped after that.
I wouldn’t do it.
It is incredibly common as a practice in h/j barns in, say, Northern California, in the wintertime, where there’s next to no turnout and many, many barns full of over horsed kids who the trainer would rather have remain reasonably safe and productive. I was appalled by it when I encountered it, although I can see some arguments about why the obvious alternative of lunging the poor animal to half death isn’t better. Why no one considers buying the kids horses that they can ride and that can stay sane in the circumstances in which the horse will be kept is less clear, but that’s another topic.
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Having lived there for a decade, keeping horses in the bay area in the winter is an absolute nightmare. You can’t turn out because it’s crazy slick, so the options are lunge til dead, ride it multiple times, or give it some sedivet (when you could get it) to take the edge off after it’s had a day or two off.
I think everyone would love to buy their kids horses that stay sane under those circumstances. I wish you much luck finding them. Even my two steadiest of eddies would absolutely lose their marbles on some of those days when the wind and rain were blowing in off the ocean.
All of which is only tangential to the anonymous accusations being made of ED encouraging people to drug and poll with no evidence or context, while several of the finest horsemen out there have openly come to his support.
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aside from horrible hunter practices, why would you want this for XC?
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I’ve seen it don cross country schooling, especially for horses not far from their race days. It takes the edge off so the rider can focus on introducing the horse to cross country jumps rather than dealing with them losing their minds with all the horses running around.
It is also used in some horses for the first few rides, even in an indoor, for the same reason.
It is used in some horses in the winter when even though they are on 24/7 turnout, they aren’t moving much and snow/ice sliding off the roof of the indoor is scary, etc.
Some racehorses get it when training because they get to wild but on race day, they don’t but they are more focused on getting to the head of the pack - rather than training days where they aren’t running in a group like that.
Some fox hunters get it before fox hunting day so they aren’t to wild.
I used to be more against ace (which is what I’m used to using) for riding until I started encountering some of the above scenarios and found it really did allow for training progression a lot better/quicker than not having it. I would not offer it as a blanket solution but do see some benefits now, for certain horses.
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wow, that’s disgusting. This isn’t a tangent towards you…just drugging in general. If your horse needs drugs to go XC schooling or to a show, then do more homework. I can not accept people drugging their horses so they can ride/compete/go off property by making their horse under the influence. It’s cruel and unnecessary. Talk about horsemanship problems in eventing. No wonder Im no expert rider and have all off the track horses, young and hot and I have never needed to do anything of the sort. People are so selfish. Spend time training and preparing your horse maybe. I can’t believe that people would suggest this so they can have a better/quicker training progression. Don’t believe that for a second. What a way to connect and help your horse understand the questions at hand. Unbelievable 
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To me it sounds suicidal. I can’t even imagine jumping at speed over immoveable large objects on a horse that does not have all of its mental faculties present. Ace is bad enough but dorm??? It is fine for shoeing with a problem horse but for riding? And more so jumping? Incredibly stupid in my book! OK I am chicken but if I am jumping that stuff I want the horse to be fully aware of its body and not have its reaction times slowed down.
I also don’t believe all horses can be “fixed” for certain jobs. Sure they might be able to cope physically but mentally they can’t handle it. You can go back to basics and teach slowly but there are still some that will never be able to mentally cope. Better to realize this and not risk human and equine lives. DUMB!
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I can get behind using sedation in a horse that is supposed to be rehabbing from an injury and is expected to quietly walk with a rider despite not having been allowed turnout for weeks/months, but I certainly don’t want to be riding a horse over jumps when he’s under the influence!
I can understand the motivation to use sedatives when you have overhorsed amateurs, but it seems hard to believe that our best event riders in the country need calming drugs to ride their horses.
I’ll think personally I’ll stick to living somewhere with enough open space to allow for regular turnout, and trying to own horses within my skill level.
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I should mention that one of my former employers wanted me to hunt the 18 h irish horse on 5cc (yes, 5) of Ace.
Thankfully I was the one that did the injecting most of the time, so “want” and ‘got’ were very different things. When she rode him though he did hunt with that much.
And there are MANY many people who think Ace should be allowed at shows. Tommy Serio’s wife I think did a whole thing about that. I recall they had the idea for a show for Tb’s where they would be allowed to have Ace. The Tb sport world blew up on them, HARD.
That was I think 2-3 years ago.
Em
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Yeah, there was someone - possibly that person - on a podcast last year saying why it would be better to allow drugs so horses didn’t get lunged so much.
Maybe ya know, ride suitable horses? Or learn to ride? But I digress…lol
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or perhaps change the judging standard ( hunters) away from brain dead clunking horses over fences. Go back to where a horse should be an alert, thinking partner
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Am I wrong in thinking that eventing horses are supposed to be not drugged? What am I missing? Granted, I only ever rode at the lowest levels, but all the drugging of hunters and brain dead horses turned me off them. Now is it really common to drug UL horses in eventing?
USEF has FINALLY done something. They have appointed an Interim (through Sept 30 2022) Chef d’Equipe: Bobby Costello.
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