Drug Abuses in Show Horses

New York Times writer Walt Bogdanich, who, with Joe Drape, wrote a scathing series for the New York Times on the drug problem in race horses has uncovered similar abuses in the elite show horse world.

While few top level equestrians will admit to injecting their horses with illegal and banned substances (and even fewer have been caught doing it), the sudden death of a pony at the elite Devon Horse Show last Spring has prompted the United States Equestrian Federation to crack down on their drug enforcement policies.

Elite hunters and jumpers can earn top dollars in prestigious events and in the stud barn so once again money is at the root of the practice. Ironically, the drugs given to race horses are usually performance enhancers and pain killers while the drugs given to show horses are often used to calm horses down before events.

The full article can be found here and a very informative video on the topic here.