PETA and the Wolves

     I'm afraid that in response to the recent video by PETA, the horse industry will pull yet another fast one on an unknowing public, and support a self-imposed "ban on race day medication" rather than support the passage of the Interstate Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2013, which is stalled in congress, just like anything else that might bring real change to the status-quo. 

     The self-imposed ban will include a long list of banned drugs - but Lasix won't be on it. In effect, a ban such as that is no ban at all. Lasix is the key to the fraud because it masks the banned drugs - while also enhancing performance. If anyone points out this glaring omission (which is unlikely, because not many people really know anything about horseracing these days) the industry groups will start in with the "bleeding" crap. They have sponsored "scientific studies" supporting their claim and their reasoning will appear bullet-proof. 

     This excuse, of course, is a giant farce. A fraction of thoroughbred race horses are bleeders, and bleeders shouldn't race at all. They should not be given medication that then allows them to race despite their natural physical inability to do so without courting disaster. These horses should go into other disciplines, like eventing, or be used as therapy horses. But that's another story for another day.

     Lasix is a diuretic that depletes the horse of electrolytes and minerals. This, in turn, weakens the bones and thus contributes to breakdowns. Diuretic abuse weakens the entire horse as well, just as it would a person, and has an array of negative health consequences. In such a fragile, or delicately balanced, animal as the thoroughbred - changes in health often affect the hooves. Every horse person has heard the axiom "no foot, no horse." When "feet" are bad, if the horse is not rested adequately and treated carefully, laminitis and colic are just around the corner. These are killers of a great many champion horses.

    Diuretics also cause the heart to race and the horse feels nervous and panicky. The same is true for humans. When a horse panics getting into the gate, or inside the gate, it is dangerous for the horse, the jockey, and all the handlers. The tachycardia can also lead to heart attacks and death - especially with strenuous exercise such as racing. 

     In addition, horses are already prone to electrolyte loss, which is why they should have salt licks freely available to them at all times. Lasix does the opposite of what a salt lick is for, and to an exponentially higher degree. Salt-licks are meant to maintain the horse's electrolyte balance, and Lasix devastates it completely.

     The horse loses an enormous amount of weight every time Lasix is administered. But that's what the bad guys like, because a light & fast horse can win. In addition, the Lasix masks the use of the other substances, which can also help a horse to win. Winning means everything in racing - not because of the meaning of the sporting achievement, but because of the money involved. Short term financial gains outweigh the long term health of the horse. Despite the fact that it is torturous to the horse mentally, and detrimental to the horse physically, Lasix is like manna from heaven (or hell) to these trainers because it comes with this bleeding excuse. How clever. How perfect to scare state legislatures with - "but if we stop the Lasix - they'll all bleed! Then nobody will come to the track and you won't get your share of our revenues!" It's a bogeyman that pseudo-horsemen have scared every racetracker with and greedy vets like Harthill and Hunt have created, and it's a death sentence for the horses who become garbage to these monsters anyway, once their usefulness at the track has come to an end. It takes very clever men & women to get into vet school, but it looks like they need character exams as well.

     Isn't it strange, though, how the Middle Easterners and the Irish buy our horses, run them in their countries without Lasix, and nobody bleeds? Isn't it odd how Animal Kingdom was able to win the World Cup without Lasix and without any bleeding as well? A 10 million dollar purse AND a healthy horse to boot - but this requires REAL horse training skills, such as those H. Graham Motion and a select group of others do posess. The superstar factory trainers like Asmussen & Baffert do not have such ability and skill, and neither do the minions they employ. And these people are scared of being out of a job. 

     Well, I pray with all my heart that their time has finally come and racing can return to a state of rarified skill & sportsmanship, and appreciation for the thoroughbred's beauty. The cheaters can go run a different kind of Ponzi scheme - one without the involvement of innocent animals.