The Appaloosa Horse Club Board of Directors
in July approved some changes to rules pertaining to “conditionally
permitted medications.” Much of the impetus for amending the
current rules came from a desire to make any disciplinary
actions or punishment more appropriately fit the seriousness
of the violation. For example, the use of behavior-changing
or performance-enhancing medications carries stronger punishment
than a small margin overage of ordinary pain medications or
therapeutic drugs.
A board committee established for the purpose
of reviewing medication rules and making a final recommendation
to the full board worked with several veterinarians and also
consulted with our drug testing laboratory to ensure that
their proposal included humane treatment options, at the same
time including medications that would not interfere with testing
for performance-enhancing drugs. The board also reviewed a
comparison chart indicating that ApHC approval of certain
medications would bring us closer to the specifications followed
by organizations such as AQHA, American Paint Horse Association,
NSBA and the U.S. Equestrian Federation.
The Appaloosa Horse Club continues to be
very specific in its definitions of “forbidden substance,”
administration guidelines and permitted exceptions. The overall
goal is quite simply to give ApHC members the benefit of “modern
therapeutic measures” for improvement and protection of the
health of the horse, including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory
drugs, unless the drug given also may stimulate or depress
the circulatory, respiratory, or central or peripheral nervous
systems.” It is important to remember that when maximum limits
of any drug or medication are exceeded, ApHC considers it
a “forbidden substance.”
To read the motion and accompanying data,
please see motion #16-07-07 on pages M21–24 in the September
issue of the Appaloosa Journal. The motions are also on the
ApHC website at this address: http://www.appaloosa.com/association/bod.htm.
Once there, click on Summary of Motions (July 8, 2007).
