Re: RC: RE: RE: Fw: Drugs

["Glenda R. Snodgrass" <grs@TheNetEffect.com>]

>  This is the thing to think about;
> "I will compete with a horse that is not influenced by substances of any
> type other than normal food and life support."

That's certainly an ideal to which we all attain, but face it -- horses
get sick and injured, and often recover quicker with some pharmaceutical
assistance.  Do you decline the use of any drugs whatsoever in treating
your horses for injury or illness?  I believe the most gaping hole in the
AERC's current drug policy is when a horse can be returned to competition
after being treated for an illness or injury.

Case in point:  Lakota put his leg through a wire mesh fence less than 4
weeks before Million Pines.  It wasn't badly injured, but it did swell
somewhat and there were a few moderately-deep scratches.  My regular vet
was out of town, and another vet was coming to the barn that day to see
some other horses, so I asked the barnowner to have this vet take a look
and see whether we should put him on antibiotic to prevent infection on
the lower leg scratches. This vet did so, but he also prescribed 3 days of
bute and dosed Lakota himself on the spot.  I wasn't there (had a business
appt elsewhere) and couldn't stop it.  We didn't give Lakota the other 2
days of bute because I didn't believe he needed it (he wasn't limping at
all and the swelling was very minor).

I spent the next 3 weeks agonizing over whether I could take him to
Million Pines.  The injury was not nearly severe enough to prevent his
doing the ride, but I couldn't get any hard information from anyone on
whether that one dose of bute would test positive.  I would have been
absolutely *mortified* if he had tested positive and I'd been banned from
the sport for 6 months or more for drug use ... yet I had absolutely no
way to make a reasonable decision on the matter, because there are no
published guidelines.  Was 4 weeks enough?  Would 6 weeks be enough?  How
about 3 months?  Should I just kill the whole '99 ride season to be on the
safe side?

While I realize that publishing specific withdrawal dates may be construed
by some as a "green light" for use of drugs to affect performance, I
believe that the utter lack of any guideline whatsoever is a disservice to
individuals like myself who have no desire to chemically enhance the
performance of their horses, who want to compete whenever possible, and
who want to give their horses the best medical treatment available when
the need arises, without fear that we will be publicly castigated and
penalized for our inability to inform ourselves as to drug withdrawal
times.  

Surely there is a happy medium that can be reached?

Glenda & Lakota
Mobile, AL
AERC # M18819 & H27310
SE Region


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