RE: Drugs

["Flemmer, Linda" <flemmerl@rcbhsc.wvu.edu>]

Title: RE: Drugs

Heidi,

I called a reference lab yesterday and asked about the sensitivity to pick up traces of antinflammatories and sedatives.  They said that the can currently see traces in their dog models for up to 3-4 months.  (I don't know how well this would translate to equines - they don't do any equine testing there.)  This was certainly not therapeutic levels, but detectable levels.  Two years ago, this was not the case.

Now...  I want my horse sedated for dental work, or  I give my horse bute for a minor injury and want to ride 2 months from now when he's recovered.  Where does that leave us?

More importantly, the newer membership has had <very> little instruction into acceptable substances to use - even (especially) topical treatments.  We as the AERC need to do a better job of education.

Ask the members on the list if Absorbine is OK - you'll get different answers since nobody is sure.  You saw the question on Yucca...  better education of the membership would help tremendously.  Most folks don't know enough to recognize drugs in the "natural" products.  While we can't cover every item out there, we could certainly educate folks to question what they're using and recognize potential drugs.

Linda Flemmer

-----Original Message-----
From: CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com wrote:

<<  I, too, want to follow the rules but would not
 withold medical treatment from my horse in order to do that.  I am
 always wondering what I can and cannot do  >>

To put it bluntly, the bottom line is that if he needs medical treatment, he
need not be in competition.  Certainly you should not withhold medical
treatment when it is needed, but any time a horse requires medical treatment
(be the problem metabolic or biomechanical) he needs time to recover and be
well or sound before being asked to go back to work at the level of
competing.  If you give your horse adequate healing time following a problem
that needs to be treated, you need not worry about drug withdrawals.

Heidi