The Canadian Sportsman
Tongue Tie Off
Back To Tongue Tie OffOctober 13, 2009
Okay, the new whipping rules are in effect in many jurisdictions. No more one-handers, no more drivers raising their swords high above the shoulder and cracking their horses across their muscular hind-quarters and stifles. And we all feel good about ourselves. But are we as a sport really, truly prepared to deal with animal abuse in harness racing today? Or is it enough to make an example of a mostly-cosmetic issue, make a public showing of “See, we love our horses, and we will no longer give them hard spanks on the tush,” and move along with the status quo? Because the real abuse in harness racing comes at the hand of those who are trained and licensed to provide the ultimate care for our horses. Actual life-threatening, career-ending damage cannot come from a driver’s whip; it comes every day, on the backstretch of every racetrack, from a veterinarian’s syringe.
Don’t get me wrong. There are wonderful veterinarians out there, surgeons who save horse’s lives, and reproductive vets who get and keep our mares pregnant and stay up all night to protect the health of our foals. And there are racetrack veterinarians who handle emergencies with aplomb, and provide the systemic and therapeutic tools required in keeping our animals sound and healthy as they compete on a weekly basis. These are the doctors who love horses, and love the sport. They know who they are, and they know this blog is not about them.
I am writing about the veterinarians who do not love horses. The ones who have abandoned their ethics, and their morality. The ones who have given up diagnostics in favor of prophylactic treatment. The ones who push the envelope right up to what is legal, and too often beyond, masking the pain that would lead a horse to protect himself from further, more serious injury. And there are plenty of them. You know the ones I am talking about. The ones who send bills to the owners with itemized charges for “prerace” or “Rx” or “Special Jug” without providing any actual information about what is in the syringe or the tube. The ones who inject feet, ankles, knees and hocks all at the same time, with both acid and cortisone so as not to miss anything. I’m no Pollyanna and I’m no prude, and I more than anyone can vouch for the effectiveness of hyaluronic acid, as I had it injected into my own knee when I was still lame a few months after knee surgery, and have never had a problem since. But I also know that 30 years ago, when I was a groom, there were vets who did flexion tests to determine lameness, or spent an entire morning blocking a horse, from the foot to the ankle to the knee, trying to determine the source of lameness. These methods took time, I guess, and time is money, and nowadays, instead of trying to figure out what is actually wrong with a horse, it is easier, faster and far more lucrative to inject, tube, or shockwave everything and everywhere, knowing that the problematic spot will be hit, and in a few starts, they’ll get to do it all over again.
The owners and trainers are at fault, too. But they never went to vet school, where I’m certain that a philosophy of helping animals must have been part of the curriculum. The owners and trainers probably weren’t little boys or girls who dreamed one day of helping animals. If medical doctors take the Hippocratic Oath, in which they swear to practice medicine ethically, and to never do harm, is it too idealistic to believe that racetrack veterinarians should live by this same credo?
I urge the racing commissions to adopt more stringent regulations requiring veterinarians to file every medicine and supplement prescribed and administered to each and every horse on the grounds of every racetrack and training centre in their jurisdiction. And for veterinarians to undergo periodic random searches on their vehicles and supply trailers. And I urge those vets who still have consciences to stop treating every patient with the goal of making sure they can go to post next week, and to more often refer their patients to their esteemed colleague, Dr. Green. Because time isn’t just money; where our horses are concerned, it’s money well spent.
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October 14, 2009
11:10 PM
11:10 PM
Alan, what about the bettor in the grandstand? Should he not know when the last time My Little Pony had a trip down oil change lane?
Should the gambler not be made aware of injections and legal medications administered to the horse he's betting on since it's last charted line?
Has there been any changes to the horse's health since the last time it raced?
Was it treated with a legal bronco dilator or was the animal given a lung dry up with some sodium iodine after his last race?
Was he given a big shot of Hip Iron two days out and pre-raced the last time it raced or is that what is going to be administered tonight and wasn't last start?
I really believe today's race programs are lacking the transparency the gambler needs to have in order to make some money at the track. The information that's printed in a race program today is useless nowadays. Why buy it? It's obsolete.
How do you bet on a horse that hasn't raced in a month and the last time it raced it finished 7th beaten badly? You don't bet it. But I'll tell what you do do after it goes out and wins off that chart line. You call the whole racing game a joke and swear your not coming back because it's crooked. That's what you say and then that's what you do.
The ORC should make trainers submit a legal medication document as well as an up to date training schedule at the time of entry. The information should be coded and printed in the race program the same as a chart line.
Trainers don't administer legal medications to horses because the drugs slow them down. So why aren't you and I made privy to this information?
If the ORC started paying more attention to the word transparency and less to the over-used word Integrity it would change the attitude of a lot of trainers and vets and give the guy in the grandstand the accurate information he needs to make a betting selection with.
If this industry doesn't wake up and realize the betting public want to know, need to know, what the heck is going on with the horses they are gambling on then this racing game as we know it is DOOMED.
Keep up the good work Alan. The more in your face writing and action taken will eventually get to the old guard that runs roughshod over the rules and regulation in Ontario. A new broom needs to sweep clean the clouded cobweb-infested minds of the ones who feel they know what's best for the industry.
Should the gambler not be made aware of injections and legal medications administered to the horse he's betting on since it's last charted line?
Has there been any changes to the horse's health since the last time it raced?
Was it treated with a legal bronco dilator or was the animal given a lung dry up with some sodium iodine after his last race?
Was he given a big shot of Hip Iron two days out and pre-raced the last time it raced or is that what is going to be administered tonight and wasn't last start?
I really believe today's race programs are lacking the transparency the gambler needs to have in order to make some money at the track. The information that's printed in a race program today is useless nowadays. Why buy it? It's obsolete.
How do you bet on a horse that hasn't raced in a month and the last time it raced it finished 7th beaten badly? You don't bet it. But I'll tell what you do do after it goes out and wins off that chart line. You call the whole racing game a joke and swear your not coming back because it's crooked. That's what you say and then that's what you do.
The ORC should make trainers submit a legal medication document as well as an up to date training schedule at the time of entry. The information should be coded and printed in the race program the same as a chart line.
Trainers don't administer legal medications to horses because the drugs slow them down. So why aren't you and I made privy to this information?
If the ORC started paying more attention to the word transparency and less to the over-used word Integrity it would change the attitude of a lot of trainers and vets and give the guy in the grandstand the accurate information he needs to make a betting selection with.
If this industry doesn't wake up and realize the betting public want to know, need to know, what the heck is going on with the horses they are gambling on then this racing game as we know it is DOOMED.
Keep up the good work Alan. The more in your face writing and action taken will eventually get to the old guard that runs roughshod over the rules and regulation in Ontario. A new broom needs to sweep clean the clouded cobweb-infested minds of the ones who feel they know what's best for the industry.
~ Robert Leatham
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