Time For Some Trouble
It’s that time again for me to tell it like I see it, which I feel pretty sure is going to land me in trouble with at least some of my readers, as it usually does. Of course most of the time I would not know I was actually in trouble since those who are angry at me tend to vent their thoughts on those other websites. :) Like I said many times, I’m totally happy to discuss most anything on my site, provided I know the name of the person I’m debating. So please, if you feel provoked by what I’m about to say, let me know how you feel. Perhaps we can actually learn something from each-other.
So here’s the thing. My friend, Astrid, from Eurodressage.com asked me to give my opinion regarding the new rules pertaining to the limited use of NSAID’s such as bute and aspirin in regulated doses. She wondered if both human athletes who become sore, or equine athletes having the same symptoms are not simply the result of being pushed beyond what is reasonable, Possibly both 2 and 4 legged athletes in this scenario would be better off being put quietly out to pasture?
Interestingly, when I reflected upon her questions before giving my answers, it brought me back to the 1970’s when there was a big fight going on between trainers as to whether leg-yielding should be a movement or just an exercise and included in lower level dressage tests or not. Let me tell you, this debate became red hot as the press took hold of it and found those on both sides, some saying that only a shoulder-in done on 3 tracks is classical and all other variations is nothing more than circus. And me? I found the entire discussion laughable. How absurd to have people fighting over whether teaching horses to yield away from the leg, are doing so with good or ill intent.
What I have decided over my many years listening to horse people fighting over things like whether a canter pirouette is done in a 3 or 4 beat canter or if a piaffe is actually not done in a true trot, or if giving a horse a low dose of aspirin is against the welfare of the animal, is that most often the loudest people in the fight are the ones who simply have too much time on their hands and the least understanding of this or pretty much any sport for that matter.
I’ll tell you what I think. Leg yielding went on to be put in lower level tests and no horses that I know of had their careers end because of it. Every movement in the canter should be done in one of 3 beats, even if that seems almost impossible to achieve, and the same goes for the piaffe being ridden in a true trot. It does no service to anyone to think and train otherwise, so keep those pirouettes in a true gallop if you can and the piaffes bouncing from diagonal to diagonal if there is any way to do so. For then you can know that you are doing your best to achieve the perfect goal, as opposed to changing what you believe to accommodate for a thought more mediocre. The trainer who thinks like a horse clearly understands that the piaffe should not be divorced in the animals mind from the trot and that holds true of the pirouette within the canter.
And now to the new drug rules. Ask any athlete at the top of their game in any sport, in or out of the Olympic family, if they have used anti-inflammatory drugs during their lives for training and competition. You are going to hear a resounding YES! It just goes without saying that to achieve the very best performance requires the exertion of muscles on a daily basis, and this has the affect of making us, on occasion, sore. Did you ever hear the saying, “NO PAIN - NO GAIN”? This is a truism on many levels. Muscular development is a result of inflamation which produces added scar tissue and layer by layer, the build up of this tissue becomes the weightlifter’s biceps, the runner’s legs, and the dressage horse’s beautiful physique. But inflammation is felt in the athlete, human or equine, as soreness. Now, this is different from a true injury which, even with low doses of NSAID’s, cannot be masked and should not be, but rather should force one to deal with their or their animal’s infirmity by stopping competing and doing all that is necessary to completely heal the issue. But the soreness which is just part of the everyday life of the athlete is dealt with by a combination of ice, heat, massage, and yes, anti-inflammatory drugs. Every human athlete at the Olympics knows exactly what is and is not allowed, and understands very well the difference between performance enhancing drugs and those legal and used wisely to take out inflammation that comes with the territory on a daily basis. Do you think Carl Lewis or Edwin Moses got through all those games and achieved such greatness along with longevity from having a zero tolerance for every drug including those now allowed for horses? It would be absurd to even consider it. Provided we respect the rules and live by the letter of the law, I guarantee you, just like with leg-yielding, 30 years from now someone is going to write about the time people were actually fighting over whether it was acceptable to give low dose aspirin to horses in competition, and say that only good came from it. And I hope that, because of my always taking one baby aspirin a day for my adult life, it will be me that writes that article too!
Cheers!
RD
jumpeight — November 26, 2009 @ 1:45 am
bravo! can’t add anything to that. you summed it up perfectly.
Sibley — November 26, 2009 @ 8:19 am
Thanks for being an advocate for the horses!
badaboom — November 26, 2009 @ 10:57 am
karen — November 26, 2009 @ 11:01 am
A brilliant article, Robert! I couldn’t agree more (I am an amateur and my vets/farriers say that they want to come back as my horse as he is so well cared for) with EVERYTHING you said here….I personally think the people making all the noise should do something USEFUL with the “too much tiome on their hands”….go volunteer for an animal related charity or something. And perhaps, doo some research on the training of human athletes and maybe they could begin to understand something.
Most likely, this whole drug thing will get some fine-tuning as Europe is not liking it AT ALL…
badaboom — November 26, 2009 @ 11:02 am
My XHTML is rusty.
I Meant to quote this:
“is that most often the loudest people in the fight are the ones who simply have too much time on their hands and the least understanding of this or pretty much any sport for that matter.”
I truly can not understand the uproar over a half dose of bute! Really HOW is that going to mask an injury or soundess issue?
What I am happy about is the clear dosing limits given. The ‘ZERO’ tolerance made a mockery of the AntiDoping rules with positives from unintentional sources.
lita dove — November 26, 2009 @ 12:08 pm
Thank you, Robert.
Happy Thanksgiving to you, to us all, and to all we love,including and maybe especially our horses.
mary — November 26, 2009 @ 12:43 pm
Robert -
Not sure why you feel the need to insult the many folks who discuss these issues and who may have differing opinions than yours. The comment you made is completely irrelevant to the topic and in fact alienates people (as all insults do).
As for Bute/The Progressive List - I believe the concern many have is that the horse will be medicated so it can compete…. and not given whatever time off/therapy it may need to get over aches and pains. Plus, horses can’t tell us when something crosses the line… this is the reason why many vets will tell you not to medicate a *slightly* sore/injured horse - so 1)the horse feels the pain and doesn’t do something to make the injury worse and 2) so the handler can see exactly what is going on and doesn’t over push the horse and cause greater injury. Many horses are so stoic that adding pain medication can and will mask things that may cause greater injury if the horse is not rested/given time off.
And finally, it appears that many of the European countries have banned Bute and fear that by allowing it the public will turn more away from horsesport…. This is not a trivial fear I shouldn’t think.
Honestly - the bottom line is: if the horse is sore - give it the time it needs to heal…. competing a sore horse goes against horse welfare - no matter how horse friendly buting and competing is is made to sound.
Happy Holidays everyone.
robert Dover — November 26, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Hi Mary.
Sorry if you feel insulted. You seem to be the only one so far who feels that way. But I have to ask you, have you competed at a high level athlete?
If so, I would bet you have used apirin therapy to reduce inflammation as have all top athletes I have ever met.
Low doses do not mask true injuries, but are actually used to help prevent arthritic changes and, for horses, going to the arena with muscle soreness that simply is a part of training any great athlete in sport.
What is so sad to me is that people with the very best intentions who love horses just as I do just don’t understand that it is literally impossible to become a great athlete in any sport without inflaming muscles from time to time.
And as we or our horses age, we all become a bit arthritic. Either we should all stop doing sports altogether, since this is the reality of athletic endeavors, or we figure out a way to best help ourselves and our animals without crossing the line I detailed in my article.
I suggest you read it again, this time without becoming defensive.
Cheers!
RD
Laurie Doyle — November 26, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
Well said Robert!!! And a great response to the last lady!!!!
PS my little red horse is piaffing and passaging like a king!!! Thanks again for the “virtual lesson”.
Theo van Bruggen — November 26, 2009 @ 2:10 pm
It’s getting more and more obvious that this whole discussion is between horsepeople and people who have a horse. Horsepeople can also be refered to as the silent minority, because when you love your horses you don’t have time to sit behind your keyboard 20/24.
Sharon Potter — November 26, 2009 @ 7:51 pm
Robert, this is my first post here. And all I can say is: Well spoken, indeed….every sentence of it. I agree wholeheatedly. You speak with common sense, logic and experience…all of which are hard to argue with if one has had any real high-level competition experience as an athlete.
::::sound of loud applause, accompanied by a standing ovation::::
john deppen — November 27, 2009 @ 3:24 pm
here’s another drama statemet - DRAW REINS….hmmm to do or not to do??
I personally feel that some cases call for them. Now what do u think
Sandra McGuire — November 28, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
Mary,
I couldn’t agree with you more. Nor could our barn owner, who’s a former olympic qualifier in Judo and has many conversations on this vary subject anytime any horse in the barn is off. His background: National Champion in Poland.
Yes, massage and ice packs and heat can and should be used after strenuous exercise to keep down inflammation. But, NASAIDs, both for human and athlete should not be used long term. If you’re in pain on a daily basis for more than an hour or two after a workout (after you’ve rehydrated and moved the lactic acid out of your body), then you have an injury that needs to heal. Yes, when you move up a level in your activity, you will be sore for a week or two while your body adjusts and builds the strength and muscle necessary. But more than that, and you’re doing damage.
Jack’s words are: When I competed, I wanted to feel the pain. It meant I either needed to strengthen a muscle or group, or I moved the wrong way and needed to work on flexibility. When you don’t let your body tell you something’s wrong, that’s when you get hurt. And if one part of the body isn’t strong enough, then another takes over. Sometimes you end up injuring the compensating part of the body from the additional strain.
So while my horse gets bute annually when he has hock injections (lots of conversations with Jack on that one), and to keep down the hives for spring and fall shots, if he’s sore and give him a day off. Then call the vet if it seems chronic.
Anything else, and I’d need to answer to Jack. Even in his 60’s, I know better than to argue with someone who can fall off a horse, bounce back up, and who used to toss people for sport.
RDover2 — November 28, 2009 @ 12:23 pm
Hi Sandra.
You might want to tell your friend that one 81 miligram pill oa aspirin a day could very well prevent heart attacks and other health problems as he gets older.
Of course, zero tolerance for NSAIDS would preclude the possibility of profelactic use of low dose aspirin for this use as well.
I spent 8 years on the Athletes Advisory Council of the U.S. Olympic Team, dealing with the top athletes from every sport in the Olympic and para-Olympic family.
I will tell you that the legal and correct use of NSAIDS is and always will be a necessary part of sport. It has nothing to do with masking traumatic injuries, but especially older athletes know the value of reducing inflammation in our muscles after practice.
I would be very happy to discuss it with your friend from Judo any time.
Cheers!
RD
Micki — November 28, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
As a member of the medical field for 25 years, I’m raising my glass to ya, Robert. Thank you that someone of your level in this sport has some common sense. If you are against LOW level anti-inflammatory drugs then you just don’t understand the pathophysiology of the body or the interaction of these drugs WITH it. No one is saying load um up on Morphine and Fentanyl and canter down the center line.
Have you ever added an ice pack to an injured or exhausted group of muscles or even worse, a small, low tissue area like a leg or arm? It is extremely painful! I used to play highschool basketball, the first week of practice had us all walking gingerly, no one was expecting us to get through that without NSAIDS. My husband, a physician, runs ultra marathons, 30-50 MILES in 12 hours, if you came at him with an ice pack instead of A HANDFULL of Motrin, he would come after you with whatever little bit of strength he had left! To get you panties in a twist over this is just weird to me. Congratulations to the horses. Way to go Robert!
Carolyn Luther, dvm — November 29, 2009 @ 8:21 am
this dvm thinks if they do the research to accurately set blood tolerance levels that indeed allow the low dose but catch the higher dose, and if they publish accurate recommendations for dosing, then it will have been a good thing….it will be interesting to see when/if they allow other newer nsaids over time…
Rebecca Pennington — November 29, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
Well said, Robert! Couldn’t agree more. A zero tolerance approach is the equivalent to telling a human over age 40 that he cannot be allowed to compete (in tennis, running, golf - heck anything that requires muscle use) because to do so comfortably he’d take an aspirin beforehand for his mild arthritis. No one claims such would be harmful to the human.
As long as there are properly set tolerance levels and dosage recommendations, bute and other NSAIDS should be permitted - not to mask injuries (which it wouldn’t do in proper dosage) but to allow a horse to compete comfortably.
Heather — December 1, 2009 @ 8:35 pm
The bute in my barn expires before I use it. However, I keep it around just like I keep Advil in my house for myself. Unlike racehorses (whom almost all get bute 24 hours prerace) dressage horses’ careers are long. Anyone who has done a prepurchase exam for an aged horse knows that arthritic changes are inevitable. Are the people in the “anti” camp saying these horses should be retired? Daily exercise is usually the Rx for arthritic horses and a bit of bute on a cold rainy day isn’t the end of the world.
Phillip — December 3, 2009 @ 5:39 am
The difference between us using an ice pack on ourselves and using an icepack on our horses is that we know where we are sore, the horses can’t tell us exactly where they are sore from exertion and I am yet to see one who takes the ice pack off me and applies it to itself where it needs to be because I have applied it in the wrong spot
I’d much prefer to see horses legally made a little more comfortable than illegally using some unknown substance that they aren’t testing for yet!
Katie — December 5, 2009 @ 5:07 pm
Well said Robert! Thank you for your thoughtful point of view which is rooted in common sense. And to Theo and Phillip, also very true!
Kay — December 11, 2009 @ 4:49 pm
Good article, Robert. I am concerned, as others have expressed, how this affects the FEI para-equestrian sport. Some older horses are much more suitable and if they need some help in their mature years, I think the FEI should consider it.