Extremely Sad and Disturbing

[WB Mom]

I was recently on another horsie website where folks were sharing their accomplishments for the week. One very, very special lady shared that she had adopted a horse from people with a drug addiction to cocaine. Unbelieveable to me, these people shared their addiction WITH THEIR HORSE.
She has been working with this horse for years and is going to enter it in a schooling show soon.
I really thought I had heard it all, but now I know I have. I have no idea what this would do to a horse. I assume it would be just as addictive to an equine as a human. I know there are people out there who do not provide proper care for their horses, but this just takes the cake. Thank God there are folks like her who will take on a horse in this condition. She must be a Saint, God Bless Her!!!

[sublimequine]

...:eek:

[Ambrey]

Puts a whole new meaning to throwing away money on a horse!

[shawneeAcres]

Sorry but I find this a bit far fetched. In order to give enough cocaine to a horse to actually cause any effect to the horse/addiction it would cost a bloody fortune! I think perhaps she may be stretching a story a bit! Would need to see drug test results on the horse to actually believe this one!

[Weighaton]

I am going to have to agree with Shawnee that this sounds utterly ridiculous. I seriously doubt that anyone addicted to cocaine is going to "waste" it on their horse.

[Larksmom]

I am sure I have heard of race horse testing positive for cocaine. Also if the owners were such total asshats,:mad: who knows. Sadly I don't find it outside the realm of possibilities at all.:no::no:

[enjoytheride]

I believe saddlebred people used to give Cocaine to their horses to make them look more spirited. The HJ people would give it the night before to keep the horses awake all night so they'd be less spirited!

[Equibrit]

How do you make a horse snort ?

[twofatponies]

I was reading an old book of horse-dealer stories (Ben Green's book) and they used to rub cocaine on the gums or tongue of old, lazy, or sickly horses to make them look perky when selling them. Cocaine can be absorbed through the skin or any mucus membrane - doesn't have to go in the nose. It used to be a widely available medicine back in the last century, when Ben Green's stories took place.

[FancyFree]

I was reading an old book of horse-dealer stories (Ben Green's book) and they used to rub cocaine on the gums or tongue of old, lazy, or sickly horses to make them look perky when selling them. Cocaine can be absorbed through the skin or any mucus membrane - doesn't have to go in the nose. It used to be a widely available medicine back in the last century, when Ben Green's stories took place.

Yeah I can see someone using it to hop up a deadheaded horse, just like some sellers dope their horses to make them calm. But I highly doubt they were sharing their coke with their horse on a regular basis. Possibly they tried it once, like the monstrous teen boys in my high school who got their dog drunk on Vodka. But regularly enough so he had a habit? No.

[tx3dayeventer]

Barrel Racers & Calf Ropers use it on their horses. I have an ex-NFR barrel racer horse that is now my reining/cutting horse. They used coke on him all the time. Supposedly it made him run faster :rolleyes::rolleyes: I personally think it is dumb and I am glad he is in my barn, now. He is so chilled out, he is the best cowpony EVER!!!!

[Risk-Averse Rider]

How do you make a horse snort ?Walk up to him wearing a clean white shirt :D

[Reynard Ridge]

How do you make a horse snort ?

Tell him the one about the horse walking into a bar.

[WaningMoon]

How do you make a horse snort ?

inject it.

[PONY751]

Is your horse addicted to Coke? Know the signs:

Red, bloodshot eyes
Runny nose or frequent sniffing
Weight loss
Increased susceptibility to illness
Increased blood pressure
Constricted blood vessels
Dilated pupils
Increased heart rate
Increased temperature
Nosebleeds
Altered motor activities (tremors, hyperactivity)
Perspiration or chills
Nausea or vomiting


Now come on, really. I find this very hard to believe.

[TheJenners]

My BS-o-meter is jangling like mad.

[millwrightmomma]

I don't know if the horse would be adicted, but giving a horse coke is not an old thing, and it still happens.
In the recent past, a Canadian olympic equestrian frequently gave his horse coke. Personally I dont see what the benefit is of having a coke head up on a horse, that might also be impared. Jumping a horse that has been given coke would be dangerous I think. Having all the participants stoned???

Can a horse get an addiction to coke?? I was told no, but maybe a vet can chime in on this.

[twofatponies]

I don't know if the horse would be adicted, but giving a horse coke is not an old thing, and it still happens.
In the recent past, a Canadian olympic equestrian frequently gave his horse coke. Personally I dont see what the benefit is of having a coke head up on a horse, that might also be impared. Jumping a horse that has been given coke would be dangerous I think. Having all the participants stoned???

Can a horse get an addiction to coke?? I was told no, but maybe a vet can chime in on this.

Rats can get addicted - they study addiction in animal tests.

I seem to remember maybe it was James Herriot who told about an old man who shared cigars with his horse, and the horse liked the smoke because he'd become addicted to the nicotine.

[WaningMoon]

I don't know if the horse would be adicted, but giving a horse coke is not an old thing, and it still happens.
In the recent past, a Canadian olympic equestrian frequently gave his horse coke. Personally I dont see what the benefit is of having a coke head up on a horse, that might also be impared. Jumping a horse that has been given coke would be dangerous I think. Having all the participants stoned???

Can a horse get an addiction to coke?? I was told no, but maybe a vet can chime in on this.

I don't see why they can't become addicted. From my work in a treatment addiction center I've been led to believe all mammals can. The thing is though with cocaine, it is not a physical addiction as with heroin, it is a psycological addiction. The want for more when it runs out is so great that it drives ppl to rob stores and do things they otherwise would not. When a heroin addict runs out they become too sick to do much of anything, find it almost impossible to even search for more.

[Woodland]

Sorry but I find this a bit far fetched. In order to give enough cocaine to a horse to actually cause any effect to the horse/addiction it would cost a bloody fortune! I think perhaps she may be stretching a story a bit! Would need to see drug test results on the horse to actually believe this one!

Agreed! Heaven knows the race industry has tried to get this to work for years. It just does not. I first heard of it in a Dick Francis novel and crystal meth in a James Patterson(I think). So with just a dabble of research discovered it could never happen. Between the cost and physiology it just is not possible.

I think perhaps the previous owners were addicted and therefore neglected the horse or abused the horse in some manner - that is believable and completely possible. Addicted people don't share their "blow" with anyone - too worried about the next high.

[Small Change]

millwrightmomma - If you're talking about Eric Lamaze, it was he himself using the cocaine. He was not administering it to his horses.

[Walk_N_Gal88]

Barrel Racers & Calf Ropers use it on their horses.


I don't know what kind of barrel racers and calf ropers you've been around, but we DO NOT use cocaine to hype up our horses! They're quite hot enough from the excitement and adrenaline of the race already.

[hellerkm]

...:eek:

ok this has NOTHING To do with the OP but I love your siggy !!!! I need this as a bumper sticker!

[tx3dayeventer]

I don't know what kind of barrel racers and calf ropers you've been around, but we DO NOT use cocaine to hype up our horses! They're quite hot enough from the excitement and adrenaline of the race already.

Hmmm.....plenty of NFR cowboys and cowgirls. 3 barrel racers that I am close with are in the top 10 in the world standings right now and my SO's trainer owns the number 1 calf horse in the standings. My ex also won the NFR in team roping 2 years ago, I was on the road with him for a while back in early the 2000's. Oh and my current SO was qualified for the NFR in team roping about 4 years ago. I know lots of people in those circuits. If you hang around the 1D circuit in Texas you will see plenty of stuff like that. An edge is an edge.

Notice, I didn't say all do it but there are quite a few.

[slc2]

actually, in Ben K Green's book he said they just blow a tiny amount up the horse's nose; I don't see any reason why a horse would need so much. Cocaine has been around for a long time and been given to performance horses for a long time.

[Bearhunter]

I know of a few horses (ASBs) that tested positive for cocaine in the past. Ritalin was the hopper of choice that I remember, not cocaine. Obviously, I was not among barns that chose to participate of course.

[CosMonster]

Having known a lot of addicts, I have trouble believing that they would regularly give their horses cocaine just because. I guess it's possible, and I know people do use it on performance horses, but it just seems unlikely.

Of course, we don't know all the details and people have done stranger things, so who knows.

[bird4416]

Anyone that gives cocaine to their horse must have way too much money and a huge sack of blow.

[Seven-up]

Ain't NOBODY gonna waste coke on a horse. If you're hooked on the junk you're not going to share. With a horse. Not just for fun. Nope. Not buying it.


Funny spin off story: I used to have a horse who inhaled.;)

[Beasmom]

I read somewhere years ago that Sir Barton raced while "coked to the eyeballs".

I'm sure "back in the day" (if not now), horses were regularly coked up. Heck, the original formula of Coca-Cola included the stuff. Hence the name.

People were told various things were "healthy" for them: Cocaine was only one. Lydia Pinkham's tonic for women was mostly alcohol. Patent medicines often contained some pretty powerful stuff.

Waste coke on a horse? Maybe, if there's several thousand bucks on the line. Oops, no pun intended!

[Threebars]

You couldn't walk by his stall with without sharing, and he could hear the hiss of a twist top or a ring tab from 20 acres away... ;)































In case you haven't guessed - there were the words 'a cola' after the 'coke'!

[thatmoody]

Yes, we have a real Coca cola stallion - he gets really mad if you don't share your coke with him!

But as a "performance enhancing" drug, I can see it - people have given their horses much more dangerous/expensive/difficult to obtain substances. As a recreational drug, though, I can't see a coke user sharing on a regular basis - too expensive, and they'd rather put it up their own noses.

[nightsong]

When i was in grad school, i got a gelding wild off the range. He had to be taught to eat grain (he'd chew with his mouth open, letting it fall out), drink out of a bucket (he'd rather eat snow), etc. But he learned the danger of coke early on.

I was introducing him to the concept of goodies like apples and carrots. Carrots i had to buy with the leafy green tops still on and feed them tops first. Sometimes i'd just leave stuff in his manger and let him figure it out.

One day I heard a loud clatter from his run and scurried to see what was the matter. I found him terrified, wide-eyed, with foam dripping from his nose. Someone had left a can of Coca-Cola in his manger (right by the barn door, convenient) and the poor gelding had apparently thought it was a new goodie, knocking it around until finally getting a good bite and puncturing the can. It was a hissing fountain. Explosion!!!

BTW, the original Coca-Cola was made from the coca plant and kola nuts. I've seen magazine ads from the '60s advertising Coke: "For that delightful little lift!" and showing people at a party having a GREAT time!

[Beasmom]

Way before the '60's, all the good stuff had been taken out! Bet there was rum in that Coke...

[FancyFree]

Way before the '60's, all the good stuff had been taken out! Bet there was rum in that Coke...

IIRC cocaine was taken out of the formula some time in the 1920's. They had a lot of interesting medications before then, like Laudanum for headaches, which was actually Opium. Good times, huh?

I think if I wanted to hop up a horse, I'd try grain first. Much cheaper.

[CosMonster]

Funny spin off story: I used to have a horse who inhaled.;)

I'm rather curious as to how you found this out. :winkgrin:

[STABLESWOT]

It is profoundly dangerous to give a horse cocaine and doing so proves lack of knowledge of this drug and its effects on horses. It is believed it makes horses in racing and jumping have a faster reaction time/reflexes, but all it does is give the poor creatures seizures and heart failure.

Why use a local anasthetic to hype a horse up? James Herriot and his colleagues back then used cocaine on patients because lidocaine was not available to them at that time. They also used chloroform masks with no trach tube and used to swing animals by their feet to recover them from chloroform anasthesia. Even they back then only used cocaine as a local except maybe in an emergency to recussitate a crashed patient.

It is cruel and useless to give a horse systemic cocaine in milkshakes or injectable, but a vet freind of mine who worked in Australia said this practice is rampant there. Horses dropping dead left and right also because the dose given is close to toxic levels as there is a very very low margin of safety.

It is dangerous for people in the same way apparently. Cardiotoxic.

My TB mare also drinks cola drinks from cans but i think she and the aforementioned horses are after the sugar in liquid form.

[Salty]

Blues song from the 1920s:

"Cocaine's for horses & it ain't for men,
Doctor says it'll kill me, but he don't say when,
Hey, hey, honey, take a whiff on me."

It was legal back then. Not so spendy. But still not so good for you (or the horses!)

[sid]

In this day and age, there are other drugs that are used to enhance peforormance and less expensive than a cocaine addict would give up of their own expensive stash (my take on this only).

I suspect that if the story is true, they were so "coked out" they wanted Nellie Belle to enjoy with them and were out of their freaking minds. Truly sick.

Whether it is addictive to a horse, to me, is not the issue. What is the issue is why someone would find it amusing or productive to give an animal a controlled substance n the first place, beyond a therapeutic value for illness or injury...much less an illegal drug.

Really, really sick.

[Beverley]

I It used to be a widely available medicine back in the last century

As far as I know, it's still available for use in emergency rooms as a topical anesthetic.

[Pony Person]

Funny spin off story: I used to have a horse who inhaled.;)

I'm rather curious as to how you found this out. :winkgrin:
Me too.:cool:

[Kristiesunny]

How do you make a horse snort ?

Like this :D http://dawnjsaunders.smugmug.com/gallery/8766862_irkY7#580279113_BJpLp-A-LB

This wasn't coke though, the horse has a breathing issue.

[Lady Counselor]

Regarding horses testing positive for coke in racing, IIRC from what I've hear the testing they are doing is so sensitive that they are picking up trace amounts in TB from transferance from the grooms (or whomever was handling the drug and the horses).
The theory was the person would roll up money to use to snort the drug, then have the money back in their pocket. They conceivably picked up enough trace on their hands this way that when they did things such as tying the horse's tongue prior to the race, there was enough residue to create a positive result.
I believe this was reported on in either The Blood Horse or the Thoroughbred Times.
I don't recall hearing or reading about anyone who has been proven and punished, for using cocaine as a performance enhancer.