Some people are doing a bi-weekly injection, while others have the implant done by their vet. Was wondering how it works on geldings ?
I dont think this would be legal under usef rules for performance altering drugs.
It is legal for mares at fei, with fei vet sign off, but Iām fairly certain only for mares.
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According to my vet, it is legal for geldings?
So, anything given to enhance performance or alter behaviour is technically illegal. The question is whether your show venue is actively testing for it.
Regumate is given to mares for mixed motives. One is to deal with reproductive discomfort. Another is of course to deal with pissy mare attitude in heat. So you can always say thereās a legitimate medical reason to give it because she āseemsā to have painful ovulation or whatever.
There is no medical reason to give it to geldings. There fore giving it to alter behaviour is illegal. However since you want to alter behaviour and not get penalized, your pragmatic question here is: does your venue test for Regumate in geldings? I donāt know the answer. I assume they would, why not?
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Personally, I donāt use anything on my horses other than bute/ban or robaxin - I just ride them until they are quiet- donāt even longe too often- I like them bright-eyed and bushy tailed - But I hear about what others are up to, hence my question. I am not sure they are testing for reg. I was actually wondering if it is an unfair advantage, assuming it is legal.
What would Regumate do for a gelding to enhance performance???
As I said above, any drug being used to enhance performance is illegal, whether or not itās being tested for, and indeed whether or not itās actually all that effective. Hence Regumate on geldings is illegal. Your vet is misinformed.
If you have serious concerns about illegal drug use by specific competitors you should contact your governing body for clarification and then file a complaint if that seems like a good thing to do.
Note that there are no rules for doping horses for schooling at home, or indeed for most schooling shows that donāt do drugs testing.
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Regumate is only prohibited in male horses at FEI level. USEF does not have this rule. Honestly, itās been debated forever on the h/j BB about whether itās performance enhancing (many who use it for daily life issues not related to showing or even performance in the ring). But to answer OPās question, I have not tried one of the other forms of hormone, so I canāt answer your question. Iād be interested in an answer, though.
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Ok, good to know. I thought that all drugs intended to enhance performance were illegal whether or not they were specifically named.
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Every substance that is permitted under the rules for a specific therapeutic reason is performance enhancing. That is oversimplification of the rule. Hormones are given to mares largely to alter behavior after all.
The nefarious issue with Depo is whether it was given for a ācalmingā effect. While some people certainly used it for that purpose (whether it actually had that effect or not), there are also some legitimate therapeutic benefits observed that had little to do with the show ring. And the reason it was banned had little to do with any of thatāthere was evidence of life threatening adverse reaction from something (including most likely bad batches of compounded medication where record keeping was lacking) and the therapeutic benefit was largely anecdotal and not scientifically proven. So, USEF took a risk-benefit analysis and banned it. They did not, however, conclude that hormonal therapy for geldings had no possible therapeutic effect, and aside from a study of breeding stallions, the other forms of these hormones have not been studied on male horses.
Because that is the accurate reading of the rules.
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I used to give it to my gelding because he can be a nightmare to handle on the ground, especially in the spring. We took him off it when it looked like USEF might ban it and Depo.
This Spring he started standing up and striking out at people when they went to bring him in from turnout on nice days. Heād then yank the lead out of their hands and go bolting off or wheel and kick. I was afraid someone was going to get killed or seriously injured so we tried him on Positude by Equine Elixirs. So far Iām very pleased. Behaving much better. Heāll sometimes still trot away and need to be lured in with food. But the really scary, nasty behavior is gone and his general attitude is much more pleasant and cooperative.
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Yes that is good stuff, I think. I had my horse one it for a month, but without horse shows it was hard to tell how effective it really was.
