Doping in eventing

[james]

Looks like eventing is the next sport to have a major drugs scandal. Illegal feeding of tranquilisers to eventing horses for the dressage section to "calm them down". The FEI received intelligence last year that this was happening and stepped up their dope testing, but haven't found anything yet...

[Stella2]

could it be just a nasty rumour? I can't help but think that a horse doped enough to take the edge off wouldn't produce a very good dressage test, but as I'm typing this I fear I may be being naieve! Perhaps it would take what might be a disasterous test to just not that good!

[james]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/03/02/sohors02.xml

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2004/03/03/sodrug03.xml&sSheet=/sport/2004/03/03/ixsport.html

[james]

I assume by the lack of reaction to this that:
a) equestrian sports are like athletics, cycling and swimming - the problem is ignored and people hope it will go away, or
b) noone thinks this is actually happening.

[Mehitabel]

well, i'm sure we all agree that doping is bad, and it sounds like they're doing what they can to detect and stop it.
i am verging towards sceptical though - i'd imagine that anything strong enough to do more than just 'take the edge off' would still be in evidence the day after - and i really doubt people would be wanting to ride a sedated horse round those xc fences. there are also a lot of permitted calmers about these days - magnesium paste, so-kalm, placid, to name a few only, which have come on the market reasonaly recently - maybe more use is being made of these?

[Stella2]

James, I've noticed that recently the response rate to lots of interesting threads is very low! it seems to a quiet time in NR town!

[galadriel]

Originally posted by james
but haven't found anything yet...

Then maybe there isn't anything to find.

[james]

It was only suggested that tranquilisers were been used in the dressage test, not the other sections.

Es - you raise an interesting point when you mention "permitted calmers". I would argue that they should be banned too as they are still performance "enhancing" (well score enhancing).

Galadriel - finding nothing...ever...suggests that the ruling body is making sure that they don't find anything and hence have a scandal. Most human endurance sports had tacit collusion between competitors and athletes to prevent embarassing finds until something blatant happened (e.g. Ben Johnson, chinese women distance runners), or outside authorities intervened (Tour de France when the Police stepped in).

Out of curiosity I asked my instructor what she thought and she immediately rattled off a couple of substances, how to adminster them, how long before competiton they should be administered, how long they last for, etc., etc.

I asked a similar question years ago of a good amateur cyclist and he told me where to inject yourself to avoid the needlemark been seen, when to take the anticoagulent and how much, etc. etc. This was before the scandal erupted in cycling. So, how long before it happens in equestrians sports?

[Mehitabel]

i know they only said it was in the dressage - but my point was that the day after, they have to do the xc. it'd be potentially fatal (even more so that eventing is normally) to have a doped horse for that - i'd be surprised if eventers would risk the stuff still being in the system. i know i have a higher regard for my neck than that!

it certainly happens in showing - i have heard of all sorts of things being given. but then i've also seen a horse come out in its first year and misbehave mightily - certainly enough to give it a repsutation for a 'fiery temerpament' as is mentioned in the article. then with age and competition experience it settles down and the following season you'd think it was a different horse.

interesting point about the permitted calmers. i wonder where you draw the line? rescue remedy? it certainly has an effect. it's a fine line in some animals between taking the nervous edge off a stressy horse and allowing it to perform as it does without pressure, and doping it. what about he rider? i know a lot of riders who take rescue remedy before going in the ring - doubtless there are some who take other things.

[Silver1]

Just wanted to say well said Es!

[Stella2]

I don't know what the truth is here, but I have been shocked to come across folk who openly admit to sedating their horses to go hunting! dangerious? crazy? I think so, if some folk in hunting will do that, I'm not convinced that eventors wouldn't use anything for the dressage simply because the XC comes the following day!

[james]

I am certain that the pharmaceutical industry is quite capable of coming up with substances that are sufficient to calm a horse down, but have cleared the system with no residual effect a few hours later.

If rescue remedy is administered before a competition to try to improve the performance of the horse and/or rider, then it should be banned and anyone caught using it banned for a long period.

Human athletes can be banned or suspended for taking pseudoephedrine (decongestant found in Night Nurse, Benylin, etc.), hydrocortisone (for skin rashes) and even excess caffeine. Horses and riders should be subject to the same stringent control and the onus be on the rider to be responsible for what they and their horse have ingested.

[Stella2]

yet, I've never heard of anyone saying someone using motivational sports psychology or hypnosis should be banned. They can dramatically improve performance as Pippa Funnel testifies. Much more powerful stuff than rescue remedy! I really don't see anything wrong with psychological of herbal assistance myself for nervious distress. Products containing L-Tryptophan (eg Feedmarks Steady Up) are quite legal and in humans this has proven to have an effect upon Serotonin and a consequencial beneficial effect on arousal levels (anxiety etc).

[galadriel]

As I understand it, banned substances are usually banned because 1) they are illegal to obtain [perhaps illegal without a prescription], and so give an unfair advantage, or 2) use of the drug causes damage, short term or long term, and so use of the drug should be discouraged.

There is a long list of drugs that are banned, drugs of which you can only have a certain blood %, drugs which require a medical reason (and vet's note) to use--and must be declared beforehand, not explained away after testing--and also drugs that are banned because they can mask the presence of banned drugs. I know that blood testing has even been extended to the lower levels at recognized shows in the US as of 2003.

But if a substance is commonly available, has no long term detrimental effects, and therefore does not provide an unfair advantage, what's the point in banning it? Upping the fees to test for additional substances which don't in fact harm anybody? I really think there's something about this topic that you're taking personally, James; you're so fervent.

[Waikato Valuta]

Rescue remedy could not be banned because it's homeopathic.

It can't be tested for and there is absolutely no scientific evidence to say that it works. Some people say it does and some say it doesn’t.

[galadriel]

Ah...homeopathic and herbal remedies usually can be tested for, if you deliberately include them in the testing. There's *something* in there--most drugs were originally discovered in plants of one kind or another, and then adapted for use. Sometimes "all natural herbal remedies" actually contain banned substances, and ignorance doesn't get you off the hook if you test positive.

[james]

As far as I know, there is no evidence that pseudoephedrine enhances a human athlete's performance (unless you took an incredible amount of the stuff), but it is still banned.

At a high level of competition, you should not be taking any herbal or natural (although I don't understand why some people think something is somehow more acceptable or safer because its natural) substances that enhance your performance. Its still cheating.

Of course, you can use the drug testing regime to your advantage. I know one sports team in which the team manager handed out blue smarties to all his team just before the race in front of the opposition. The other teams were so unnerved by this that it gave his team a small advantage.

[Casey76]

So is high altitude training cheating? Or would it only be seen as cheating if the athletes were competeing at low altitude... or if the 'altitude' was actually a hyperbaric chamber?

If increasing the number of red blood cells can be achieved naturally, without pharmacological intervention, should this be banned too... then what happens to people who live at high altitude - do they have an 'unfair' advantage over non-altitude people and should they 'acclimatise' to low altitude (and therefore lose the excess rbcs), a process which could take up to 3 months. What happens when they go hame and get sick?

Personally, I believe that as long as naturally occuring anxiolytics do not give an unfair advantage, why should they not be taken. If other competitors are not nervous or anxious and I am - that gives them an advantage over me (or my horse).

Just my tuppence...;)

[anuvb]

Actually, in top sports a lot of the banned substances are readily available and can be included in supplements etc without the athlete in question even knowing about their presence. In the UK at least there has been a real drive to improve non-prescription supplements labelling etc and top athletes (if their being totally above board) need to know very clearly exactly what everything contains before they put it into their system. A lot of substances do break down quickly and can be cleared through the system. It also depends on how much the horse is given. If it's a sufficiently small amount as to be virtually untraceable, how do you determine whether that has given a unfair edge to the performance or not? Okay, on the opposite end of the spectrum, if you are doing the 100m sprint as a athlete and a substance "possibly" could shave seconds off your performance and give you that necessary edge then you are going to use it as those milliseconds count for everything and could determine whether you win olympic gold or not. As a dressga rider if something "could" make your horse calmer then you're going ot use it as it may increase your chances of winning overall as it often the dressage score which drag the overall points down.

At the moment I suspect the guidelines for substances permitted in eventing are sketchy by comparison to human athletics etc, as up until now there just hasn't been the revenues for companies and the money in advertising etc for competitors involved, so it's less high profile than other sports. As it gets more expensive to compete and riders need to be sponsored etc to have an income then the competition gets more fierce outside of the event as well as during. It only takes one person to use something and win, for others to start doing the same on the off chance it gives them same competitive edge as the other winners and as that then escalates and means more people need that edge to stand a chance of winning, getting the much needed sponsorship because they've had a high profile win and so on.

One of the best people on the board to contribute to this debate is probably Lgd as she's a pharmacist and the chances are she is more up to date with the current legislation for athletes at least.

[Ipsa]

An example of a natural substance been banned is Valerian which is commonly used as a calmer hence now a lot of herbal calmers now state they are valerian free.
It was banned by the FEI about a year ago. Prior to this we used a valerian calmer for my daughters eventer as she can get stressed been away from home.

[james]

Originally posted by Casey76
So is high altitude training cheating? Or would it only be seen as cheating if the athletes were competeing at low altitude... or if the 'altitude' was actually a hyperbaric chamber?
Because of the widespread use of EPO in cycling, and because its effects are almost impossible to distinguish from altitude training, professional riders are now subject to "health checks" before a race. If their red blood cell count is about 50%, they are suspended from competing. Whether the count was raised from altitude training or cheating (or both) is not investigated.

Most human endurance sports specify the maximum altitude that a record can be set at, which has invalidated several which were set years ago in places like Mexico City.

[artemis]

I remember reading at the time that there were a number of deaths amongst event riders, it was suggested that some of the horses had been over tranquilised with herbal "calmers" & had lost their sharpness & concentration x-country!

[anuvb]

Thought you might all like to read the following to add to the debate.....

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/competitionnews/391/48056.html