Equestrian: Olympian rubbishes claim of drugging top horses

By JULIE ASH

Olympic gold medallist Blyth Tait says it would take a sophisticated rider to get away with illegally sedating a horse before a major dressage event.

Several prominent equestrian figures, including Greek rider Heidi Antikatzides who finished sixth in the Sydney Olympics, have voiced their concerns about illegal tranquillisers being fed to horses to calm them before the technical dressage event.

Following suggestions of sedating, the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) last year increased the number of drug tests after the dressage phase of four-star events.

But the issue is still troubling some riders and was discussed at an FEI summit in Rome at the weekend.

"I can put my hand on my heart and say nobody I know uses drugs," Tait said. "If they are, they must be very sophisticated because they would be caught under the current system. They have very stringent drug testing rules where the winners are nearly always tested and you can also be tested randomly.

"In every single major championship I have been successful in, the world championships and the Olympics, I have always been drug tested. I have had seasons where my horses have been tested at least eight or nine times."

The dressage event had become more technical over the past 10 years and because it was the first event in a three-day event, a good performance was required to stand any chance of securing a top-three finish.

"There is a real deterrent there for anybody using anything," Tait said. "But, like any sport, I guess it just gets more and more competitive and more and more professional."

He said products such as homeopathic remedies were frequently used.

"They are not drugs and have been around all my career."

The New Zealand Equestrian Federation's high-performance manager, Justine Kidd, said she was not aware of any cases of horse sedating in this country.

"We have quite a stringent drugs-testing programme for the horses," she said. "I know in New Zealand it is not something that you hear riders talking about doing or have voiced any concern about.

"In eventing you have got horses extremely fit so they can go and do the endurance event ... They also tend to be more thoroughbred-type horses which in our jargon we called 'hotter' so they tend to be more fizzy in the dressage. I guess that maybe is where the concern comes from."