PrintOur columnist asks Dr. Tim Ober to provide more background about what this contentious change could mean for our horses.
It seems to me that our primary concern as horsemen must be the horse.
Dismay is the only word that comes to mind when I witness many of the goings on in our sport. The politicizing by many factions in the process of the Fédération Equestre Internationale’s recent adoption of the Progressive List of therapeutic drugs, to say the least, makes me incredibly sad. Honest, informed disagreement is fine and even important.
In an effort to take this issue out of the political arena and into the light of day, I have asked Dr. Tim Ober to lay out the adopted proposal and comment on the main points of it. Dr. Ober is an educated horseman and a top-class practicing veterinarian. He is the team veterinarian for U.S. Show Jumping.
While not working in his official capacity, but on his own and as a volunteer, he, along with a host of other horsemen, have formulated and gotten passed an FEI General Assembly sweeping change, for the good of the horse, sport, owners and competitors.
Here are some of Dr. Ober’s thoughts.
I wanted to mention a few points regarding the development and current status of the FEI’s Progressive List.
First, in the fallout from the multiple drug infractions of the Hong Kong Olympic Games, the FEI was asked to align its anti-doping program with that of the World Anti-Doping Association. The Ljunqvist Commission for Clean Sport made a series of recommendations, including an outline to create a Prohibited List in line with the WADA approach.
It was apparent from the beginning that the administration of the Prohibited List within the industry, and especially relating to treatment around the time of competition, would be an important element of the application of the list and any new rules. In human sport, the testing program is the primary method of enforcement. In horse sport, the testing program would be the backbone but would be accompanied by a strict set of administration criteria, including the supervision of administration of any medication (by stewarding and reporting). This would be one way to recognize that the horse, as a “passive recipient” of any medication, would be protected within the system.
Second, the question of whether non-steroidal anti-inflammatory substances are performance enhancing in the horse comes up quickly, because WADA does not recognize NSAIDs as performance enhancing in human athletes. In fact NSAIDs are allowed without restriction in human sport. Certainly, that approach for horse sport was never considered.
Recognizing the importance of this question for the sport, as well as a lack of available science clearly answering the question, the List Group decided to put the question forth to the General Assembly for a vote, by offering two lists.
The General Assembly voted to adopt the Progressive List. Several large and vocal national federations have disparate policies of their own and are now strongly in protest.
