Drugs in Equestrian Sport

blackhorse09

blackhorse09

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Hi all at H&H, as there have been a number of high profile 'doping cases' recently I wanted to see what opinions everyone had on the matter. I'm doing a 5,000 word project on the persisting problem of performance enhancing drugs in the equestrian industry and would greatly appreciate any contribution [book reference, links, experiences, etc.] and discussion regarding the issue of doping in our sport.

I want my project to be as useful and up to date as possible so I'd like to know the opinions of fellow riders, followers of equestrian sport and horse- lovers.

Thank you for you help
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This is a very interesting topic! I think a lot of us that compete at low levels are horrendously naieve as to what goes on at the top levels of the sport where millions are at stake. I used to be an athlete and drugs were commonplace as were methods of passing dope tests. I am sure it is the same with horses, but it will be hard to get accurate info. There should be plenty of gossip though from people that are touching top level on here or have good contacts in that area.
 
as someone who has worked for a sports governing body (non equestrian), i can promise that all athletes are aware that medicinal restrictions apply and that they need to check requirements with the mediacl officer prior to administration. human and horse

sadly some errors occur by genuine accident, ie the British slalom skier who used a product that had the same name but different formulations for different countries. he lost his medal and received a 3 mth ban. accidental contamination ie bucket brushes is also very unfortunate.

tbh ther either has to be zero tolerance or an acceptance of perfomance enhancing drugs. my vote is for zero tolerance
 
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tbh ther either has to be zero tolerance or an acceptance of perfomance enhancing drugs. my vote is for zero tolerance


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I agree 100%. Humans can after all choose to make freaks of themselves/tolerate extreme pain and discomfort for their sport, but horses cannot. They should not be forced too. Equestrian sport should be drug free. Look at Mr Universe type bodybuilders where drug use is ok and in fact almost certainly necessary to be successful versus natural bodybuilders that just look a bit pumped but wouldn't make you stop and stare if you saw them walking down the street. There is a big difference! I don't want to see horses at competitions pushed to the edges of what is possible - abuse of comp horses is in many cases bad enough as it is
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I am 100% against any form of performance enhancing drugs. I think it is both unfair on the horse and on fellow competitors.
 
Thanks for the input so far!

I think zero tolerance is the way to go as there seem to be too many loopholes at the moment. Take the case of Sheik Mohammed's endurance horse that failed a drugs test- perhaps he had no idea what his horse had been given, the question is, is it always the rider's responsibility to know the condition of the horse they compete? He has hundreds of horses so where can we draw the line? Can a horse be accidentally 'doped' or are there no excuses?
 
ah, loop holes.

thats where the lawyers come in. when i was involved, many bodies actually had to change their constitiutions to enforce drug bans. thereis also the situation of some nations having differnt requirements to their sports international body.

in the uk, sports who would like government funding are required to comply with drugs rules. i understand that polo does not receive funding for this reason - think they are more concerned about the riders than the horses
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I think in endurance due to the kinds of money involved often the horses who are drugged were not drugged by their own stables. it happened to a friend of mine, she would never dream (like most people) of giving a horse illegal drugs but at a world championships someone gave the horse she was riding a large dose of anti-inflamatory drugs which made it ill and even though it wasn't her horse she was the one who received the fine and the ban.
 
I am against the use of drugs to enhance performance as are most people however you may be surprised as to what drugs/creams etc are not allowed?

Have any of you smeared 'Sudocrem' on a cut or minor injury on your horse? You don't really give it a second thought, you just do it for the benefit of your horse.....Urr wrong!..... it's a prohibited medication........... so many of us administer banned substances without even realising. There are some that are obvious, but there are many that aren't.
 
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Cant's find it at the moment.
This guy is very interesting: http://www.thomastobin.com/
Also, you may want to read about the results of some recent FEI trials: http://www.fei.org/Athletes_AND_Horses/Medication_Control_AND_Antidoping/Horses/Pages/Decisions.aspx

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Thanks for the link, you dissertation sounds really interesting, what I'm doing is for an A level type project so not quite so advanced!

Sudocrem is an illegal substance? I'd never have known that! Which is exactly what the problems are, other than vets, how many people know what's allowed or not? Anyone know of any books or guides on the subject?
 
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