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Re: [RC] APF - heidiSports has become a cat and mouse game between the chemist and the testers and the testers will always be behind the power curve. THG has been used in humans for several years but feel below the radar screen because the test were insensitive to it because that was the way it was designed. One reason for that, Truman, is because the fact that thresholds for "acceptable" levels in these sports have implied for years that the athletes WILL use drugs. We are starting from an entirely different premise, which is that with zero tolerance, the horse WILL NOT be on drugs. By having riders get used to the concept of wellness in the first place, we tend to develop a different mindset--one that dwells on the wellness of the horse. Will people abuse that? Sure, some will. I'm sure I've known a few who have. And they don't last long, because their horses don't last. My concern isn't that we catch and prosecute every single offender--it is that we send a message that this is wrong. It helps to send the message to have more drug testers out there, for sure. But the message that might deter most riders from returning a horse to competition too soon is more important than weeding every single needle out of the haystack. (Pun fully intended.) Somebody quoted another ride vet as saying that one can get a horse through a sprint with drugs, but not through an endurance ride. With reference to drugs that control pain and inflamation, I agree. What we NEED to do here, instead of diluting the drug rule, is to further educate people that trying to hold a competing horse together metabolically with drugs is even more risky than trying to hold him together biomechanically with drugs. It may be less obvious to the casual observer, but it is MORE dangerous to the horse himself! Truman, you need to understand what Rule 13 is really about, and put your Horse Welfare hat back on. Heidi ============================================================ Arabians were bred for years primarily as a war horse and those requirements are similar to what we do today with endurance riding. ~ Homer Saferwiffle ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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