Athletes at the highest levels of most sports face drug
testing at one time or another. This includes the equine athletes that compete
in horse racing and equestrian sports like show jumping. The show jumping portion of the 2010 World
Cup was recently held in Geneva where U.S. representative McLain Ward and his
horse Sapphire competed and led as of Friday, April 16. At that point, Sapphire's legs were tested
for hypersensitivity.
What is Hypersensitivity?
Hypersensitivity occurs when nerve sensation is higher than
normal. There are many causes, ranging
from insect bites to performance enhancement; the latter is usually suspected
when it is discovered at a competition.
Some riders and trainers will resort to just about any
method to be the best, including using unethical techniques to achieve maximum
performance. While the World Cup is
obviously an important competition, the feather-light poles on nearly flat cups
and heights of over five feet appear in jump courses at grand prix competitions
around the world.
In order to leave the rails in the jump cups, there are some
methods that can be used to make the horses not want to touch the rails with
their legs because it hurts. One such
method is to apply irritants to the legs.
Another is to place spikes inside the boots that would normally protect
the horse's legs. A different type of
method is to ride the horse to the jump badly in practice, causing it to hit a very hard
rail – this is called poling. The horse will remember the pain and not want to hit a rail again.
All of the aforementioned methods are illegal in
competitions and perpetrators can be banned for life. One such example is Ward's own father.
Testing Sapphire
Ward and Sapphire are top athletes, and together the pair
has won two Olympic gold medals. According to the sport's governing body, the
Federation Equestre International (FEI), confidential information was received
indicating that Sapphire should be tested for hypersensitivity. The tests used were as follows:
- Two thermo-imaging scans
of the forelegs. These look for
abnormalities – bruises and heat – that would indicate damage to the
legs. Some sensitivity was found,
but the horse was declared fit to continue after the first round of
jumping.
- The forelegs were tested
using a tap test after the second round of jumping to see if a reaction
was found. The horse would move the leg if it hurt, just as a person would
jerk away when a bruise is tapped.
According to the U.S. veterinarian, he saw Sapphire tapped 24 times
on the left foreleg (with four responses) and 33 times on the right (with
three responses).
The World Cup vets disqualified Sapphire based on the
responses to the right foreleg. No
evidence of malpractice was found by Ward or his team.
Standardization in
Testing
The tap-test seems to be less scientific than the
thermo-imaging scans; tap-tests appear to be subjective. It appears to be a difference
of one reaction that disqualified the horse.
What if she reacted because the continuous taps were causing
bruising? The thermo-imaging scan is a
non-invasive way to test.
What do you think?
Resources:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/21/sports/21riding.html?src=me
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=16200
http://www.chronofhorse.com/article/sapphire-disqualified-rolexfei-world-cup-final
http://www.chronofhorse.com/sites/default/files/Protocol_for_Thermography_1.pdf
http://www.equisearch.com/equiwire_news/nancy_jaffer/world_cup_finals_preview_041209/ (image)
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Re: World Cup Athlete Disqualified for Hypersensitivity
