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Truman said:

> However, why are plant hormones on the AERC "banned list"
> ?unless the concentrations are specified? 
Well...with respect the Salicylates (the banned plant product that appears in 
Yucca, among other things), Appendix D of the AERC's drug rule DOES specify the 
threshhold level:

Salicylates........................... 750,000 ng/ml......... urine
Salicylic Acid....................... 625,000 ng/ml......... urine
........................................... 5,400 ng/ml.......... plasma
?
It doesn't, however, include gamma-oryzanol anywhere in Appendix D, so 
according to rule 13.2.5* any amount of gamma-oryzanol is prohibited because it 
appears in Appendix A.? So yes, it appears that rice bran and, incidentally (I 
chose this word carefully), oats are among the things that you are not allowed 
to feed your endurance horse leading up to and during an AERC sanctioned event.

I chose the word "incidentally" because I do not for a minute believe that the 
people who put together the lists in the Appendices to Rule 13 actually 
intended to include oats as a prohibited substance.

Unlike Truman appears to be, I am not horrendously bothered by some of the 
apparent problems that are cropping up with respect to the lists in the 
Appendices to Rule 13.? There were BOUND to be problems the instant somebody 
undertook to make a list of any kind (which is why the AERC resisted making a 
list for a very long time).? But here is the facts:

If you don't have a list, you cannot enforce the rule among people who decide 
to contest your enforcement (therefore, you can only enforce your rule among 
honorable people).? Personally, _I_ don't have a problem with having a policy 
that allows dishonorable people to "get away" with drugging their horses.? 
However, I do believe that the AERC has heard a great deal from a lot of 
members who DO have a problem with a drug policy that is designed and is 
capable only of catching and punishing honorable offenders while the 
dishonorable get off scott free.

So, the old "don't drug your horse" rule had to go (and, indeed, there was an 
organizational?history of non-complainers getting severe punishments while 
those that complained were given a slap on the wrist, if anything at all).

So...some people?decided that the AERC needed a more enforceable rule.? So, we 
have lists.? ANY list is gonna be inadequate.? There will be things on the list 
that shouldn't be and there will be things that should be on the list but 
aren't.? And the people who wrote the rule KNEW this when they wrote the rule, 
which is why the lists appear in Appendices and not in the rule itself.? The 
rule is specifically designed to be able to change the lists easily.

There was (and still is) no way to get the lists "right" not the first time, 
not ever (which is why the AERC resisted making a list for so long in the first 
place).

And I confess, I have been as lax as the next person in reading the lists to 
determine if there are things on them that shouldn't be, even AFTER the 
magnesium sulfate thing.? I told myself that I should go through the list and 
determine if there is anything else on it like magnesium sulfate which 
shouldn't have been on the list rather than just assuming that the people who 
made the list wouldn't include something else equally as silly.? 

But I didn't.? Until somebody else said something about gamma-oryzanol, and I 
decided to look into it further and found that "Yep, the AERC has a rule that 
says I am not allowed to feed oats to my competing horse."

Unlike the magnesium sulfate thing (where I was willing, to bring it to 
somebody's attention and hope that they would change it while at the same time 
not using magnesium sulfate or any product that included it on the label until 
they did), I have absolutely no intention of making sure that my horse does not 
get any gamma-oryzanol leading up to and during competition...since I don't 
think I actually CAN, unless I stop feeding my horse any plant material, which 
I am not gonna do.

So, if I want to feed my horse at all, the only way that I can be in compliance 
with the AERC's drug rule as currently written is to not enter any AERC 
sanctioned competitions.

I am, unfortunately, ridiculously compliant, by nature (which is why I HATE bad 
rules, I feel compelled to comply even with bad ones).? I dislike being in the 
position of "break the rule or don't enter a ride."? I have not yet decided 
which of those two options I will chose, but I know myself well enough to know 
that I will lean heavily towards "don't enter a ride."

I WAS looking forward to going to Descanso with two new riders that are keen to 
try the sport.? I might go anyway because I don't want to disappoint these 
people who seem quite keen, but now that I know I will be breaking rule 13 when 
I go...well...it takes a little of the fun out of the idea.

I know that I won't be planning to go to any more after Descanso until the list 
gets fixed.? Good thing the rule is written in such a way that it is easy to 
fix the lists.? Here's to hoping that they do.

kat
Orange County, Calif.
:)



*13.2.5 The AERC recognizes that trace amounts may be detected of some
substances which are commonly used for treating equines and which are
considered not to influence horses during competition when present under
certain threshold levels. The AERC also recognizes that trace amounts
may also be detected of substances which have no legitimate use in
equines but which are present at extremely low levels from unintentional
and unavoidable exposure to environmental contamination. Accordingly,
notwithstanding any other provision of this rule, the following specific
substances only are not Prohibited Substances if detected in concentrations
below the threshold amount corresponding to the substance in the
table shown in Appendix D to this rule.

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