Florida pharmacy says it wrongly prepped horse meds before match

According to the Veterinary Information Network, it was likely the selenium in the mix that did the deed. This vitamin concoction is given to help them recover faster after matches. It is given IV. If the selenium is higher than it is supposed to be, it will stop the heart.

Each polo team brings 40-60 horses for each match. Each horse is worth about $100K so you better believe they are well taken care of.

My point in listing all of the things that horses can be on was that it is not uncommon for an entire team of horses to be on similar or the same "drugs" or supplements.

Polo ponies are expensive. Most cost more than the average American's car. My horse's daughter, a hunter/jumper, was sold for around $30,000. Some of the *breeding* fees for stallions (not for a horse, just for the sperm) is over $100,000K. These horses are well taken care of.

Now, in the gaited horse industry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennessee_walker), where they jack up the feet and put chains on the legs, then put acid on the bottoms of the feet to get them to pick up their higher when they do their gait..... I think that this should be outlawed. When I worked as a horse vet, I had to work with these types of people. I would tell them that they needed to take the horse shoes off (in the walking horse world, they are about 5 inches tall platforms, like drag queen heels) when the horses got inflammation (laminitis) in their feet. They would *fight* me on it saying that the shoes were too expensive to remove. Of course, they would call me out a couple of days later to have me euthanize their horse because the shoes came off when the hoof totally sloughed/fell off. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis)

Again Pharmas used on 21 horses is a secret AFTER death and it's only for Non-humans?

HOW INHUMANE!

It was my understanding that this was a concoction of vitamins and minerals to help combat muscle fatigue. A normal and responsible thing to do for them considering the strenuous work they do. Unfortunately human error is always going to be a factor. To my knowledge, they were not drugging them to enhance their preformance. I'm just sick at thinking of those poor horses and what they all went through, i really don't think however that anyone had any intention of hurting them. Not to mention their worth, you can bet they were well taken care of.

this just in ... elmer's glue stock is up 21 hundred %

I am both a vet and a horse person, so that will color my responses. About 90% of performance horses have gastric ulcers. Horses, even though they LOVE competing (my horse jumps fences when she is by herself and will race anyone for the joy of it), get these due to stress, the high carbohydrate diet, plus other causes that are not well known. In addition, some of them have joint issues, and will be on NSAIDs like bute or banamine. These are drugs like ibuprofen. Would you argue with a runner that took Advil? However, horses (and many animals) don't tolerate these drugs well and get ulcers. So most are on something Omeprazole (acid pump blocker) or "Neighlox" (horse version of maylox, seriously, that is the name). Almost all horses are also given supplements out the yin yang. Many relate to B vitamins which affect hoof development. Since the horse runs on what is essentially (in us) our middle finger/toe nail, it is very important that the keratin grows well. Some horses have naturally good feet, others have to be supplemented. In Florida, horses get things called sand cracks, so most horses are not only on some sort of oral Vit B supplement, they also have goop painted on their hooves.

Then, in Florida, and any place with lots of sand, you have increased risk of something called sand colic. The sand is picked up when the horse is eating grass or hay and then collects and creates a blockage, like a hair ball, only made of sand, in the guts. Most horses in sandy areas are on some sort of supplement that helps bind this (though there is some controversy about how well this works).

In this case, it was a vitamin combo that did it.

Here is the text >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The medication the pharmacy mixed was a substitute for Biodyl, a vitamin-mineral mixture the FDA says isn't approved in the United States. The Lechuza Caracas polo team said a Florida veterinarian ordered the substitute, but did not name the vet.

"Only the horses treated with the compound became sick and died within four hours of treatment," the team said in a statement released Thursday. "The horses that were not treated remain healthy and normal."

According to Merial Limited, the manufacturer of Biodyl, the compound is made of vitamin B12, selenium, potassium and magnesium. When it's marketed as Biodyl, it's illegal in the U.S., according to the FDA.

But what if someone takes the ingredients and mixes up a similar compound? The FDA says that may be illegal.

"It is my impression that that would be manufacturing a new animal drug," said FDA spokeswoman Siobhan DeLancey.

OMG- 21 heartbroken owners. It hurts to lose any pet much less an equine.

meds FAIL
(that seems to happen a lot actually)

This is the one aspect of my future career that scares me to death. People make mistakes. Doctors are not perfect and to expect them to be is insane. Medicine is not perfect either and that is a risk that patient and health care professional should both share. It is tragic, to say the least, every time a patient, human or not, is lost due to an error. I don't know what drug they were compounding but I hope stories like this serve as warnings. Every drug, chemotherapy, controlled, vitamins, herbals or anything else are dangerous and mistakes do happen.
(That all being said under the assumption this incident was not intentional.)

Lawsuits and more lawsuits.

Your being insensitive. They are beings as we are.

UWAZell - You're either trying to be incendiary or you are completely oblivious to human nature.

I urge you to read a little bit about the relationship between humans and horses:

From The Chronicle:
"There’s a Bedouin saying that “Allah took a handful of southerly wind, blew His breath over it, and created the horse.” It is a beautiful – and accurate- description of a creature so agile, noble and soulful."

http://www.horsewhisperer.com/horses_healing_humans_article.html

http://www.horseshealinghumans.org/

'A memorial ceremony for the horses is scheduled...' Seriously, they are not humans.

This vet was government approved. He'll probably move on to start vaccinating school children next.

This is a terrible tragedy and so so sad. The owners and caretakers of these horses must be devastated.

I only hope that people start to understand HOW WRONG IT IS to drug these animals. It's one thing to keep them healthy, but when they are so commoditized that their well-being as living, breathing animals is compromised it's time to take an enormous step back.

Along with the Eight Belles tragedy (and many others), this disaster exposes the corruption and filth in the equestrian industry. I pray that a deep investigation is launched into this industry that leads to a complete review of drugging practices.

It must simply be made illegal to feed a horse anything that doesn't directly contribute to its OVERALL HEALTH and WELL-BEING.

Riiiiiggghhht. It's "normal" to give all 21 horses the same medication all at the same time. "Normal" is probably the right word but "right" is not. Medication is designed to treat specific conditions and it seems highly unlikely that they all had the same condition at the same time. What is this? The horse plague. Conspiracy theory jab or no, I'd put my money on performance enhancing for this one.

too many conspiracy theorists in here...

it's normal to give animals drugs, especially ones performing under super strenuous conditions. all kinds of animals are pumped with drugs, whether it's for a shinier coat, beefier meat, or any reason we can think of... we do it too - botox or bodybuilders anybody? we all know that not all drugs are illegal.

the mixtures were incorrect. someone mentioned publishing the concoctions to find what was wrong with the mixture. i think this is in order before anyone, including myself, speculates as to what in the mixture was actually wrong. was it the entire mixture? or just part?

This is so sad. It's not like hey I made mistake once and gave one horse the wrong medication. Twenty one times!!!!! Seriously these pharmacists are on drugs.

hmm... why are these horses all being medicated? The medication name would be good. However, animals should not be subjected to drugs! I understand humans who CHOOSE to take drugs... leave the ponies alone!

BTW, how cool would it be to have all our athletes completely doped up?!?! We'd watch hockey matches with 100 goals a game, football matches with 100 goals a game, baseball w/ 1000 runs a game... man!

Don't give me that lame excuse that kids look up to these athletes and would follow them. Trust me, when kids see guys and girls dropping dead at 25 due to doping, they'll think twice before touching the stuff. Parents are responsible to teach their kids the consequences of doping... not Congress with their lame-waste-of-money hearings on baseball doping.

enough of my rant... leave animals alone! if you want to dope anything, have the jockey choose to dope him/herself. They can become ant size!

I would like them to publish the drug that was given... that would tell me a lot about the situation.

Un-fair and square, horses should have the same drug screening as athletes. In other words, no drugs for horses, or any other animals involved in sporting events.

They were poisoned. This is just a sad cover up.

oops.

Wow, there are mistakes and then there is serious gross misconduct - this is just to the other side of that.

Yea. Like all 21 horses needed the same medication on the same day at the same time. Something is seriously amiss here. Is there any sport immune to doping?