TarrSteps
Well-Known Member
All very true.
Sorry, I was being a bit intentionally obtuse. The long and short of it is anything that's been proven to work will be banned, including "natural" substances so if your herbal prep has, say, Willow in it, it will test and it will be against the rules.
The whole thing about supplements being tested is an interesting situation. They tried to bring in a rule in Canada that supplements be tested for efficacy if any claims were being made but obviously companies complained about the prohibitive costs of doing so, so they went with changing any borderline wording instead. I always laugh when I see discussions where people want proof that this or that works - it's not actually in anyone's best interests to see if the supplements do work! This also means, though, that you can't guarantee they've been tested for safety either . . .
Re the bute for competition, obviously this is a contentious subject - you have only to look to the toing and froing by the FEI! And while many people take various preparations for various ailments, it should be remembered that many of those medications would not be legal for use by any athlete competing in a sport with doping rules. So a bit of bute for a horse at home is not QUITE the same thing as bute for a horse in high level competition.
At this point in time, in areas of the sport that don't ban NSAIDs, it's a choice. We can choose to give a horse a little something (which includes things like steroid injections) to help it along against the wear and tear of life. We can also choose to ride a horse that's a bit "iffy", with or without medication. In areas of the sport which ban medications, even if you think it's best for the horse to have a bit of bute or whatever, that's not the point. It's against the rules.
Quite frankly, a LOT of people adhere to the letter of the law not the spirit. They would NEVER give a horse bute to compete but have no problem giving it say, Devil's Claw. They would never sedate a horse to ride but are always looking for the next great calmer. Really, what's the difference? And before anyone says that "natural" products don't cause harm, that's not true. In the case of bute, say, many of the potential side effects are caused by the same mechanism that makes the drug effective. So any natural preparation that works by the same route would, be definition, potentially cause the same problems. In the case of some of the suspected effective preparations (I believe Devil's Claw falls into this category) no one is really sure how it works (if we agree it does work) so there's simply no way of knowing what it might also do to the horse.
Personally, I think it has to be assessed on a case by case basis. In other words, it's a personal choice. But there is simply no way that would be possible for sport. Plus, they have to take into account other concerns, like public perception. There is clearly a large number of people who believe since horses do not choose to participate in sport we do not have the right to medicate them when they can't compete successfully otherwise. But then, if you're going to have that conversation, you have to engage with the people who say we don't have the right to make them compete in the first place . . .
Obviously, this is a long way from the original discussion but I do think it's naive to think there are simple answers to some of these questions. Okay, an unlevel horse needs to be addressed. In the case of the OP horse, it seems it was much more than unlevel. But the judge quite possibly didn't see this, the horse jumped all the jumps and no one else brought it up. You would HOPE the rider wouldn't bring a lame horse to a show but it's not so simple as saying "Hey! You! On the limping horse! Go away." It's a question of drawing lines and balancing welfare issues with individual rights. Not always that easy when you're talking generalities.
It is an anti-inflammatory analgesic and IMO should absolutely be banned in competition. I don't think it is fair to mask pain in order to make your horse continue 
