FEI Bute and NSAID Daily Update

By John on

Flat out, here is the most informative article that has been published during the bute FEI turmoil.  We are glad to work with horsetalk.co.nz, and they did a great job on this one.  They have also published a full prohibited substances list. 

Also in the news, a Belgian vet supported Princess Haya in a recent letter supporting the FEI’s progressive list. A few quotes from the letter and my take on them: 

“The German Federation in particular has done our sport a disservice over the past number of years by behaving in an ill-considered and unbalanced manner towards any rider suspected of doping. Instead of standing up for its riders and taking mitigating circumstances into account, instead of explaining to the public that there is a difference between doping and a positive medication finding, they would without fail start hacking around with their battle-axe, causing several people to be undeservedly condemned and hung and quartered by the press.”  My Take: Right, it would have been much, much better for equestrian sport if the German Federation had let their riders off the hook and explained to the public that their horses were contaminated because a vet touched a broom handle, which touched a groom, who touched a horse, because that’s what happened…right?  That strategy worked great for baseball, right up until the sport was crippled by the steroid controversy.


The fact that Princess Haya has had the courage to submit two lists for voting proves that she is not led by rabble-rousing and false sentiments, but that she, as FEI President, knows what is going on in her sport...On behalf of the horse, thank you Princess Haya!”  My take: I’m going to just let that last sentence go, but one thing that is clear to me over the past week is that the FEI leadership does not know what is going on in equestrian sport.  Mismanagement regarding the vote, preventing a revote, and the long silence by the FEI after the vote all indicate arrogance and detachment by the FEI leadership.


The letter also claims that the permitted levels are not related to doping, which disagrees with the FEI’s own findings in 2004.  There have been some very eloquent and persuasive defenses of the progressive list, but this letter is not one of them.  That said, the letter has some informative points about the allowed drugs and I am being too harsh.  I would suggest reading it.  

Voices for progressive list: Princess Haya, United States Equestrian Federation, and Some Belgian Vet.  One thing that I will also mention is that most of the vets I have talked to support having more tools to treat horses for non-performance enhancing reasons, such as if a horse colics friday night.  The other thing to remember is that voices of dissent tend to be much more vocal than voices of support, which skews our perception of overall opinion.  Go eventing.
  • Malina Gueorguiev

    Comment from the FEI

    Dear John, we are following your blog with interest and are flattered that you found the Q and As published on horsetalk.co.nz "the most informative article you have read on the bute turmoil". Just to let you know that these Q and As were written and sent to journalists by the FEI and it would be fair that this is acknowledged, whether or not you are in agreement with the majority of National Federations that voted in favour of the Progressive List.

    Thank you,

    Malina Gueorguiev
    FEI Press Manager

  • John

    I just sent the following to Ms. Gueorguiev at the FEI:

    "Dear Ms. Gueorguiev,

    Thank you for bringing the issue to my attention. Eventing Nation places a very big priority on crediting sources of information because I believe it is the right thing to do. As you have no doubt noticed, horsetalk.co.nz did not follow the same principles and did not include a source in their article. I learned on December 4th of my mistake and I wrote in this post (http://eventingnation.com/home/2009/12/usea-convention-afternoon-meetingsseminars.html) that:
    "A few other FEI updates. The Jurga Report has three excellent documents from the FEI posted. Eventing Nation first linked to the Q&A about the progressive list on horsetalk.co.nz earlier this week, but the Q&A apparently originally came from the FEI and we appreciate the Jurga Report giving credit where credit is due (namely, to the FEI)."

    When I originally linked to the Horsetalk.co.nz Q&A, I guessed that they had not written it themselves. Unfortunately, I had not received the FEI press release email because I have not gotten around to signing up for press releases from the FEI. I google searched several phrases in the Q&A document, and I checked the FEI website for press releases. However, as you also know, the FEI website lags the email press releases. They were the only ones online who had posted the story yet, according to google, so the best I could do was credit them.

    Eventing Nation has been critical of the way the progressive list has been handled, but we go out of our way to present both sides of the issue, and we do everything possible to give credit to original sources and not violate any copyright laws.

    To correct this matter in the future, could you please add Eventing Nation to the FEI's press release emailing list (eventingnation@gmail.com)? I also am glad that I have your contact information and I will keep in touch. Eventing Nation's first goal is to bring eventing news quickly and informatively to the public, and frankly we prefer positive/informative info to negative news (backwards I know). So please know that we will be extremely fast and dedicated to bringing forth positive information that you release in the future. We are also flattered that you are following the site, and I apologize for any inconvenience.

    Kind Regards, John"