interesting stuff, poltroon. I too have my doubts about why you would try to get away with using capsaicin for making legs sensitive in competition where you know you will be tested. If they examine boots/legs before that means you have to apply it, let it sink in, wash it off enough so there is no visible trace and head to the schooling area. Then you have to hope it is still working in the irritant phase before you finish your schooling and rounds, because then it starts to go the opposite way for effect. Then you have to hope it doesn’t test? And who knows how long it lasts on horses, but the hot burning effect doesn’t last that long in humans, so it’s hard to see how the timing works.
It’s harder still to see a country like Germany taking so much as a chance considering they were favored for gold AND lost their lat one to what basically amounted as miscommunication with no intent to gain an advantage. Ditto for Ireland. Their last olympic visit was not pleasant either. If nothing else these are two countries who have a serious motivation to mind their Ps and Qs.
However I can see it being a useful tool to school a horse oh, say the last school BEFORE the competition starts, and believe that a topical cream put on a horse then thoroughly washed off would not test. I’m thinking the Americans who have a few more years’ experience with the more sensitive test wouldn’t be that foolish.
But all things considered, I find the idea that it was an unknown substance in a liniment (bigeloil) or in a hoof packing that went transdermal thanks to an abrasion on the coronet band (if you’ve ever used magic cushion it oozes) or even a deep cleft/thrush in the frog to be just as likely or even considerably more likely a culprit. There are too many “normal” daily applications of this substance, which could be addressed by permitted thresholds.
