The horses should be ashamed of themselves!

[bazodee]

HONG KONG, Aug 21, 2008 (AFP) - Four horses have been banned from competing in Thursday's Olympic Games jumping competition for doping, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) announced here Thursday.

The horses - representing Brazil, Germany, Ireland and Norway - had been suspended after testing positive for a prohibited substance, the FEI, which controls the sport, said in a statement.

The FEI had no comment on the non-appearance on the list of riders set to compete in the final of US rider Will Simpson.

The announcement throws into doubt the medal order of the team jumping competition earlier in the week, in which Norway won a bronze medal, its first ever placing in an Olympics equestrian event.

The United States won the gold and Canada the silver.

In its statement, the FEI said the four horses had been "provisionally suspended by the FEI further to doping/medication control tests that indicated the present of capsaicin in each horse".

"Capsaicin is classified as a 'doping' prohibited substance given its hypersensitising properties, and as a 'medication class A' prohibited substance for its pain relieving properties," the statement said.

The stunning development casts yet another shadow over equestrian events generally as it follows a medal re-allocation in Athens, also for doping.

It also casts doubt on the future of equestrianism as part of the Olympics.

The doping scandal, which broke just hours before the final of the individual jumping contest, also puts show jumping under the microscope once more.

A doping scandal cost Germany the team jumping gold in Athens after the horse ridden by Ludger Beerbaum, who is a lynchpin of his country's team here, was disqualified after testing positive for doping.

World number one, Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum, was left off the German team for Athens after her horse tested positive, though she was later cleared.

[NellyLunatic1980]

For some reason, Bud Selig has something to say about this...

[Rexer25]

...
In its statement, the FEI said the four horses had been "provisionally suspended by the FEI further to doping/medication control tests that indicated the present of capsaicin in each horse".

"Capsaicin is classified as a 'doping' prohibited substance given its hypersensitising properties, and as a 'medication class A' prohibited substance for its pain relieving properties," the statement said.

Capsaicin? Someone been feeding these horses jalapenos?

[SportsFan68]

...
In its statement, the FEI said the four horses had been "provisionally suspended by the FEI further to doping/medication control tests that indicated the present of capsaicin in each horse".

"Capsaicin is classified as a 'doping' prohibited substance given its hypersensitising properties, and as a 'medication class A' prohibited substance for its pain relieving properties," the statement said.

Capsaicin? Someone been feeding these horses jalapenos?

Or Ghost Chilis?

Saturday Aug 04, 2007
Ghost Chili = Bhut Jolokia


When asking the world's hottest chile pepper, most people would answer the Red Savina Habanero. Yes, you would be right couple of months ago. That is the old champion. The new one is called 'Bhut jolokia' (probably due to its ghostly bite or introduction by the Bhutias from Bhutan poison chile) as twice as spicy as the previous record-holder. It is also called 'Bih Jolokia' in some places of Assam state of India (Bih = Poison, Jolokia = chile pepper; in Assamese). Other names are Borbih Jolokia, Nagahari, Nagajolokia, Naga Morich, Naga Moresh and Raja Mirchi (the king of chiles). These are all the same chile but named differently at different places. If you have trouble to remember those Indian names, you could called it 'ghost chili'. Let us read how people said about this thumb-size chili pepper with frightening potency.

[PlacentiaSoccerMom]

Maybe the horses just like eating peppers.

[silvercamaro]

I have no first-hand knowledge of the equestrian competition world, but I have heard that drugging other people's horses is a continuing threat. Sometimes the horses are given substances designed to show up in the drug testing and thus disqualify them, and sometimes the horses are given drugs to disable them or even kill them.

A guy from this area was some kind of international competitor a decade or more ago, until his favorite horse suddenly died of an overdose of cocaine, not inflicted by the owner.

To tie in to an unrelated thread, Rielle Hunter's father was convicted of drugging expensive horses to kill them for the insurance money.

[Bob Juch]

I have no first-hand knowledge of the equestrian competition world, but I have heard that drugging other people's horses is a continuing threat. Sometimes the horses are given substances designed to show up in the drug testing and thus disqualify them, and sometimes the horses are given drugs to disable them or even kill them.

A guy from this area was some kind of international competitor a decade or more ago, until his favorite horse suddenly died of an overdose of cocaine, not inflicted by the owner.

To tie in to an unrelated thread, Rielle Hunter's father was convicted of drugging expensive horses to kill them for the insurance money.

All of that happens frequently around here. I've had many discussions with my horsey friends on that.

[andrewjackson]

Yep, it's a problem in the horse sports. Olympic-style equestrianism and horse racing, both.

Another problem has been that riders and horses can affect each others' status. A friend of a friend had an outside chance at going to the Olympics but in a Grand Prix event he was asked to ride someone else's horse in one of the classes. This happens quite a bit among upper level stables. Riders fill in for each other all the time. Anyway, he rode the horse and it later failed a doping test. Which disqualified him individually for future events as well as the horse even though he had no idea about the doping. And the horse's stable might not have known either.