WPOM? Listen, Helen, I am quite sure that just as much as different humans react very differently to these drugs, an animal with a completely different brain structure would ALSO have a far different reaction again, I have mentioned the lack of research data several times (but did find six items on pubmed about adverse reactions, one about positive effects of fluphenazine on fescue toxicity, and several other articles on using fluphenazine on wild animals). I don’t even think the animal has the midbrain and forebrain structures (some of the structures horses have, but I really do not think to the exact same results) these drugs act on. I said that quite early on in this.
I am no Beerbaum (if he really said ‘whatever I can do to enhance performance undetected is fine’), I’m much closer to one of those Mr. Natural types if you need to know (I intensely dislike ALL the psychiatric drugs, if you must know, and consider them not ‘a great thing’ and not a ‘gift’, but quite imperfect and worthy of intense respect and caution), and I am NOT in favor of people medicating horses to enhance their performance, and I am NOT on ‘Isabel’s side’ in this, but I’m not hysterically angry at her either, mostly because I feel there’s a great deal going on that we have no idea about.
Just because I’m not beating my chest about it, don’t assume I actually like any of this. I retired my own horse rather than give in to medicating or doing risky surgery, I am NOT in favor of doing anything extreme to get a few more miles out of a horse. Saying that riders are put in a bad position by the demands of owners, competition organizers or trainers, doesn’t mean I also think it’s perfectly fine for them to ride the snot out of an old horse with medical problems just to get to go to the WEG again, either.
I would like, in principle, for riders to be able to maintain horses that have chronic medical conditions and compete, but only if it can be done without giving cheaters an advantage or becoming a detriment to the horses (detriment currently or making their future less comfortable). I would prefer not to see older horses warmed up at a walk and underworked before a major competition, too, but I don’t think the answer to that problem is to allow medication, I think the answer is to say enough already and retire the horse.
I am not sure if it is actually possible to allow people to medicate horses and still control cheating. I am afraid those who don’t have a legitimate medical need will use such rules to their own advantage.
I said very early on in this that there is no guarantee that human and horses react to this medication exactly the same way, and that I imagined it’s possible that the horse has been in this sort of program for quite some time.
Isabel said, I think, that this horse has had the medication, once or twice. It’s quite possible that the first time, it was not detected or the horse just was not shown during that time.
