You’ve really not included context here, but there are also trainers, often western, who tie for for hours as punishment for “bad behavior.”
Which often is abusive.
But gradual introduction, chill horses, not making it punitive?
Not abusive.
I can’t say I’ve seen the latter called abusive, but, sure, I guess someone out there could think it is. If a lot of otherwise reasonable people are calling the situation abusive, I’d be inclined to think it’s the former.
I mean tying on the rail. Example, all the horses for the morning get tacked up, tied to the rail. One by one, they’re worked, and then returned to the rail.
There are a large subset of people who believe tying a horse for any period of time longer than what it takes to groom and tack them is abuse. I was even told I must not like my horse when I did something similar, here on this board. shrug
There are many variables on when that makes sense and doesn’t make sense to have a hard and fast rule around it.
I said something to a trainer once that had 5 horses tied to the rail for at least 3 hours on a hot 90* F day with the sun blaring down, fully tacked up, they were all sweating and stomping flies. Zero water around or offered for the multiple hours I was there.
I’m sure you have more sense than to do that in the heat of the day and would at least offer water occasionally.
I’m not saying it’s ideal to have a baby live on a circuit. But if you are doing WEC or something with a farm nearby, your young hunter might not be there all week or for weeks on end, but they are still at a rated show. They might ticket a week or two but, yes, they want results because it’s expensive and challenging to bring one along here, so yes, they also show. In Europe, at least in NL and DE, the low levels are judged and there isn’t as much emphasis on placing until higher levels. Many national shows are done ship in style no matter the level. And some trainers work out of barns that host home shows and take advantage of that to get more horses out, because no one wants to ship in and wait around all day between classes for different horses. None of this means that a horse who has been under saddle only a few months isn’t also going around at some recognized shows because some of them are. Others need more time or more affordable and accessible ways to get exposure, and it’s those who have more trouble and instead need calmers etc because it’s either expensive or unavailable to do it all the ideal right way for those horses sometimes.
My quibble is with the statement that a “few months if that” is what “most trainers” want to spend training a young horse. The negativity, lumping a few bad trainers someone may have seen and assuming that “most trainers” train that way, is not coming from a place of experience.
Anyone who has ever trained young horses knows that is untrue. There are many good young horse trainers. They prove themselves year after year by producing well trained youngsters, not by talking a good game and criticizing others.
Just to update everyone, I followed up with USEF on this. They reiterated that L-Theanine is in fact prohibited, and that the claim by SynNutra that L-Theanine is okay to use is wrong.
So according to USEF, be careful if you’re using SynChill - it actually contains a prohibited substance and not show safe.
I mean, I guess that is in a way a good thing for Syn Chill - maybe it really is more than just a placebo! It actually does work!
But the other edge to that sword is that their current formulation is now illegal.
I use it for one that is nuts in turnout if he’s stuck in for a day due to weather. It does, indeed, work.
We offer two versions of SynChill that do not contain L-Theanine. The regular, classic SynChill and the new SynChill Pure. Both are L-Theanine free and both are highly effective. I would like to mention that L-Theanine is not on a banned substance list anywhere and has never resulted in a positive drug test in the history of equine sports. Feel free to research that yourselves and contact our office if you have any further questions.
it’s being made as we speak and will be available starting Friday!
GR410 states:
“For purposes of this rule, a prohibited substance is:
a. Any stimulant, depressant, tranquilizer, local anesthetic, psychotropic (mood and/or behavior altering)
**substance, or drug which might affect the performance of a horse and/or pony (stimulants and/or depressants are defined as substances which stimulate or depress the cardiovascular, respiratory or central nervous systems), or any metabolite and/or analogue of any such substance or drug, except as expressly permitted by this rule.”
According to Dr Google:
L-theanine is an amino acid known for its calming effects. It’s said to help ease anxiety, stress, and reduce insomnia.
Therefore according to the intent of the rule which is any substance that might affect the performance of a horse, L-theanine would be illegal since it is known for its calming effects. May not be on a banned substance list, but the intent of the rule is why the rule was written in the first place.
But whatever you say - the rule book is only a guideline for those persons who like to spend their money on calming substances instead of learning to ride or buying a horse within their capabilities.
Are y’all for real right now? Saying “no banned substances” all over your website while USEF has clearly stated that l-theanine is prohibited is both misleading and disingenuous.
You’re selling to people, knowing that they are risking getting in trouble, and you seem quite unbothered by that.
How can I trust anything you say, or what’s in your products? This has been eye opening. Lost a customer.
Um, @AngelaHunterRdr did research this and USEF said it is prohibited in their competitions.
You say that there has never been a positive drug test for it, implying that people won’t get caught so they should use your product anyway. Shame on you.
I have to admit I don’t understand why USEF told Angela what they did. I looked at the prohibited substance list and don’t see it listed anywhere.
https://www.usef.org/forms-pubs/2Zp2C_YKs4s/2024-equine-drugs-medications
I still say it’s against the rules to use calming substances, but I’d also be interested to hear from that USEF rep why they are saying it’s prohibited.
I’d guess because USEF vets believe it’s a calming supplement and that it doesn’t test. The science/labs have always had a difficult time keeping up with the “supplements” people give their horses and developing tests for them.
^ Agreed. Anecdotally, I heard (from an unverifiable source) the lab is working on a test for magnesium. That would certainly be interesting. I think it would be a shot across the bow for many…
The overuse of magnesium is absurd.
It doesn’t have to be on the list to be prohibited. I found that out the hard way with metformin. They added metformin to the list very recently AFTER I had an issue with USEF. They gave me a warning because I had good medical reason to give it to my horse but it cost me a lot of money in legal fees to present my case.
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