Posted 2013-04-06 4:08 PM (#151121 - in reply to #151116) Subject: RE: EXTREME HORSE RACING
Location: KY
The Rolex starts April 25....
Veteran horse falls and dies at Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event
The Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event was again marred by tragedy when a veteran horse collapsed and died after a jump.
King Pin, a 13-year-old Irish sport horse, fell with rider Mike Winter on Saturday after the 10th fence during a cross-country event.
Winter was taken to Georgetown Hospital and later released. Rolex officials say the horse's exact cause of death will be determined by a necropsy.
Preliminary evidence showed bleeding in the abdomen -- possibly some kind of rupture -- which could be described as natural causes,
FEI veterinary delegate Catherine Kohn told the Lexington Herald-Leader. It was not clear that the fence was related to the fall, except that the horse collapsed after jumping it.
Still, it was an unhappy reminder of last year's Rolex, when two horses died in the cross-country phase and one rider was critically injured.
That ended a brutal year and a half for eventers -- more than a dozen riders died in competitions around the world -- and provoked a period of soul-searching and rule changes to make eventing safer.
Under new rules adopted by the United States Equestrian Federation, for example, any fall of a horse or rider means elimination from the event and riders must be cleared by a doctor before returning to competition.
Two falls by a horse or rider within a year's period means they have to return to a lower level of eventing.
Winter, King Pin's rider, has co-founded a company to develop and market breakable polystyrene logs, trademarked as Prologs, which look remarkably like the sycamore trunk fence where his horse fell.
In an interview with the Herald-Leader two weeks ago, Winter said he and his Canadian teammate, Kyle Carter, had tried to come up with an idea for safer jumps after the 2008 season.
The Prologs have been used at several lower-level events. They break apart with about 800 pounds of force and absorb much of the shock of being hit, preventing injuries to horses.
Many of the Rolex cross-country fences have a device known as "frangible pins," which means they will fall down with a certain amount of force.
Posted 2013-04-06 4:23 PM (#151122 - in reply to #151116) Subject: RE: EXTREME HORSE RACING
Location: KY
USEF Town Hall Meetings Focus on Horse Medications, WelfareBy Edited Press Release • Apr 06, 2013 • Article #31653PrintEmailFavoriteShare The first of the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) Town Hall Meetings series was hosted by Equestrian Sport Productions at their FTI Winter Equestrian Festival show grounds in Wellington, Fla., on March 27. Federation representatives joined prominent industry owners, trainers, and veterinarians to discuss topical issues contributing to unprecedented public scrutiny relating to medication and treatment of performance horses. Media articles have brought focus to both therapeutic techniques and medication practices in racing, and more recently this focus has raised a number of questions about medication use in the show arena. Video of the first USEF Town Hall Meeting can be seen online.Member input received since the announcement of this USEF Town Hall Meetings series has called for additional forums to be scheduled in Texas and the Midwest. The USEF is currently exploring appropriate times and locations for additional meetings to be scheduled. These public forums are open to all USEF members and participation from every breed and discipline is strongly encouraged."Over-medicating show horses is a clear and present threat to the industry. It is going to take involvement from the entire equestrian community to get this just right," says USEF Chief Executive Officer John Long.Dates are confirmed for the originally scheduled USEF Town Hall Meetings:May 1, 5:00 p.m.—Lexington, Va. —Virginia Horse Center VIP AreaMay 15, 5:00 p.m. —Salem, N.Y. —Old Salem Farm Special Events Tent next to GP RingMay 16, 5:00 p.m.—Lexington, Ky. —Kentucky Horse Park, location TBDJune 7, 5:00 p.m. —San Juan, Calif. —Blenheim Equisports VIP TentJune 14, 5:00 p.m. —Parker, Colo. —Colorado Horse Park, location TBDJuly 25, 5:00 p.m. —Bend, Ore. —High Desert Classics Patron's Tent All times listed are localUSEF Town Hall discussion topics will include:USEF leadership speaking to the industry-wide focus on welfare of the horse today;Introduction and review of the American Association of Equine Practitioners' guidelines for treating performance horses with discussion of USEF enhancements leading to the adoption of the guidelines as industry standards;Overview of USEF and Fédération Equestre Internationale medication rules;Regulatory and enforcement issues;Owner-trainer-veterinarian relationship and responsibility; andNext steps and a call for industry reform.All USEF stakeholders are invited to attend these sessions in person. The USEF is also seeking input from interested parties who might not be able to attend. Response to the topics outlined above should be sent to horsewelfare@usef.org. All input will be compiled and presented to the Town Hall forums.
Posted 2013-04-08 3:05 PM (#151181 - in reply to #151116) Subject: RE: EXTREME HORSE RACING
Location: KY
Time to Rewrite the Rules
JULY 17, 2012 BY EDWARD BONNIE
BLOODHORSE.COM
Ned Bonnie is a retired equine attorney with Frost Brown Todd and a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Thirty-eight separate racing commissions with limited budgets, staff, and experienced attorneys have resulted in poor drug enforcement in racing. When there is money to be made in any industry and there are few rules and limited investigatory staff with no skilled and experienced prosecutors, the system is ripe for manipulation and corruptive influences.
I’ve been on most, if not all, the drug testing and control committees for the past 20 years. The testing laboratories have improved greatly during these years, but they look for known drugs. They are paid to test for these drugs. Because labs are often bidding for testing contracts, the cheapest testing bids win. Few, if any, of these contracts include a research component. Time and time again an illegal drug has been in use for years (reserpine, cobra venom, dermorphin) before a test is developed. Laboratories protect their reputations and contracts by being very careful not to declare false positives.
Statistics are offered by defenders of the present system of post-race testing and prosecution of offenders to justify the status quo. The great majority of these cases involve the misuse of therapeutic drugs and result in minimum fines and suspensions of the trainers. What about loss of purse and suspension of the horse involved? How about suspending the veterinarians and drug salesmen who peddle the illegal drugs? What about the drugs that get by the testing laboratories?
More and better personnel require more money and leadership. We need innovative rule writing, such as licensing drug companies that manufacture and sell products to horsemen so if needed we can subpoena the records of these companies to identify the offending drugs and prosecute persons and corporations.
Who should run this operation? We need a national organization to rewrite our rules and broaden their scope. We need to employ an experienced investigatory staff (not try to replicate these ideas in 38 different states) to infiltrate the groups that manufacture and sell the drugs to the racing industry. Then we need to hire experienced and skilled attorneys to prosecute these cases. This prosecutorial staff would be on-call to go anywhere in the States to prosecute. The IRS has used this prosecutorial technique for years after experiencing too many losses at trial by earnest, but inexperienced, district attorneys facing highly experienced, specialized defending attorneys.
The United States Equestrian Federation wrote a national drug rule, employed one laboratory of the highest caliber, wrote due process rules to protect the interests of all participants, and employed experienced, skilled attorneys who have special skills needed to prosecute successfully often complicated chemical and veterinary issues. Does the racing industry deserve less?
The industry has been successful in persuading the federal government to stay out of the racing business on these issues. However, the New York Times, The Jockey Club, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA), and other groups have increased the pressure on the industry to make positive changes. The result is that the threat of federal legislation, which is both punitive and aggressive, is on the horizon.
U.S. Sen. Tom Udall and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield appear to be serious about changing the landscape. In this election year neither the Federal Trade Commission nor the Department of Agriculture (federal agencies mentioned in the hallways) has the money to take on an oversight of racing. Furthermore, ensuring racing integrity and protecting the horses and jockeys are not high on the budget-constrained list of federal priorities. However, the racing industry could finance the infrastructure and ongoing costs. While running a federal program was estimated at $30 million and the annual drug testing and prosecution at $40 million in 1980, the industry has the resources today to fund these initiatives. How about assessing owners a few dollars per start? No owner I’ve talked with would object to paying $20 per start when he is paying $20 to $30 to have his horse ponied to the post. The money could be supplemented by fees from each racing state and the racetracks. This agreement would be a part of the federal regulatory process.
The creation of this national group will cause considerable angst. It will be difficult to work out the drug rules and the relationship with 38 states on, but not limited to, enforcement, investigation, hearings, procedures, etc. Fortunately, it has been done before, not only in the U.S. but in other countries, and can be done again.
Why should the industry try it? If we do not, the rule writers for the federal statute will impose their bill and their views on our industry. That threat should be enough to make us successful this time around.
EXTREME HORSE RACING
