Let’s hear it for Joe Drape.

My friend Joe is the horse racing writer for the New York Times.  And he’s on an almost one-man quest in the national media to bring the horrible problem of drugs in racing out into the open.

With Joe, there are no sacred cows.

Not owners, not trainers, not veterinarians, not track operators, & not racing commissions.  Because they’re all at least partially responsible for the mess our horses are in today.

Here’s a happy little factoid Joe points out in his column today: that 9 of the top 10 trainers based in the United States have, at least once, been cited for medication violations.

Joe quotes Tom Ludt, a member of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, as saying, “It seems like we’re handing out speeding tickets instead of arresting people for dealing drugs.”

At a congressional hearing last year, Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg testified that horse racing has become “chemical warfare”. 

(Just as a sidebar, there’s almost never been a trainer like gravelly-voiced Van Berg.  His horses have always been supremely conditioned & if & when he had any semi-longshot in against an overwhelming favorite & you didn’t at least drop a deuce on his horse, as often as not you’d be tearing up all your tickets when the race was over.)

It’s a joke.

Trainers can be handed a suspension & then simply temporarily turn over their horses to a valued assistant or family member & it’s racing as usual. 

A trainer can be suspended in one state – say, New York - & then happily go on to saddle a horse in the Breeders’ Cup in California.  No problemo.

But, because Joe is a mild-mannered bulldog who ain’t lettin’ go, racing’s dirty little secret – check that – racing’s dirty BIG secret is now getting the attention it deserves & positive changes are in the air.

Granted, it ain’t gonna be easy. 

Why?

Money, kids, money.

But it’s always been about the money.  That’s what horse racing’s all about.

But there was a time when the industry cared more about its meal ticket than it does today.

When a trainer would see that a horse might just be a bit off & would tell the owner, “He just can’t go today.  Let’s give him a week or so & try again.  Plenty of races coming up.”

And the owner, though disappointed, would say, “Okay, you know best.”

Today?

Today a trainer sees a slight gimp or a little swelling & it’s drug-time.  Just as long as the horse has it out of his system in time for the spit-box.

Oh, & that drug?  Why, that’s just a little something to take that little twinge away.  Think of it as a ‘horse aspirin’.  Nothing to it.

Meanwhile, the good ol’ You Ess of Ay leads the world in catastrophic breakdowns.

You don’t think there just might be a connection there, do you?

Here are two of Joe’s pieces from today’s newspaper.  Read ‘em & weep.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/sports/05horses.html?ref=todayspaper

Note: the following piece is more positive – at least it demonstrates that things are beginning to happen.....

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/05/sports/05penalties.html?ref=todayspaper

Thanks, Joe, for being the media’s A#1 leading advocate for the horses.

Good, Joe.

I called Dr. Rollins yesterday & told him that Little D has been under the weather the past few days.  Sore.  A little fever.  Yesterday, her temp came in at 101.4 & 101.6 – even with the bute on board.

As Doc reminded me, in the case of laminitic horses, abscesses are pretty much an inherent part of the condition.  Remember, Moose had any number of abscesses, even with his impression material & booties & all the wrappings.  So, those abscesses don’t come from outside influences – they come from the laminitis problem itself.

And Doc’s suspicion is that Little D might have at least one of ‘em.

He’s coming out today to look at her.

Eric & I have gotten real, real good at finding & removing & healing abscesses, but we’re not gonna mess with laminitis.  That’s a job for the professionals.  Besides, it’ll probably take both Eric & me to help hold her up while Doc works on her & the faire Annie holds her hoof up.

Doc said we certainly did the right thing by starting her on SMZs, but thinks that probably metronidazole might be called for, too.  If there’s an infection, we gotta knock it out pronto.

Man, laminitis is a horror show.

Here’s a newsflash for you....

Three new kids – four, really – are coming here next week.

There’s a woman down in Tucson who can’t keep her three any longer & they just have to stay together.  The woman has some physical ailments that preclude her from caring properly for her kids.

Although I don’t know much about any of them, here’s a little of what I do know.....

SunDance (Sunny) & Katie are full siblings who have lived together their entire lives.  Both are Appaloosa/T-bred crosses (?!?), with Katie being two years older (23) than Sunny (21). 

Holly-Go-Lightly (Holly) is a ten year-old mustang that the woman rescued from the kill-pen several years ago.  Here’s an interesting little – though not necessarily a welcome – factoid: Holly isn’t even halter-broken.

The woman said we’ll probably have to back the trailer right up to wherever Holly’s gonna live & just let her loose.  Oh, man, huh?

I think the only place that fits that bill is Moosie’s old house.  We can open up a length of the fencing in the back & in she can go.

My plan is to put the other two kids into the round pen & that’s probably where Holly belongs, too, but there’s no way to get a trailer over & through the wash to get to that gate.

The plan is for the kids to arrive next Thursday.

Should be interesting, to say the least.

The fourth horse scheduled to come here is Chester, a 15 year-old guy.  With Cushings.

Our friend & sometime worker, Angela, keeps her horses at a facility near here.

Seems Chester’s human simply abandoned him several months ago.  So he stood, friendless, throughout the heat of the summer, coat all matted & hanging his head & just waiting to die.

Angela, God love her, took pity on him & cared for him & gave him the love he needed & now she says his coat shines & he’s happy & he whinnies when she arrives.

He wants to live again.

And then the owner of the facility announced that she was taking him to the auction this Saturday (day after tomorrow).  Angela pleaded with her to give her one more week to find him a home.  She knows that a 15 year-old guy with Cushings isn’t going to anybody but the killerman.

Yesterday, Angela contacted me.

We’re full.  We don’t need another horse.  Especially one with Cushings.

I read about half of Angela’s rambling email & hit the ‘reply’ button.

“Get him over here.  Now.  Tell him he’s coming home for good.”

My heart trumped my head.

But I just can’t do it any other way.

Maybe this’ll give us the impetus – hell, I know it will; it has to - to put up that one or two pieces of fencing & gate to make another pen back there the other side of Miss Guess.

If we need another panel, I’ll just bite the bullet & go buy a length of temporary fencing.  That’ll work.  Eric can make a gate.  Or something.  We’ll work it out.  One good thing is that neither the round pen nor the new pen will need shade structures for another few months.  Silver lining!  Hah!

Jesus.

Between racehorses’ connections drugging them to the point of putting them in mortal jeopardy & guys like Chester’s human simply abandoning them, America’s Herd is fighting an uphill battle, huh?

Then, along comes a wonderful woman like the three kids’ mom who sobbed uncontrollably on the phone because she’d finally found a loving home for them.

And Little D’s fighting for her life.

What are we supposed to make of all this?