No the ambulance is there to transport injured horses off the track. It is not manned until it is used. There are no private horse ambulance companies so the track provides this service.

Maybe tracks could work with the on-track vets to ensure training hours are always covered by some private physically being on the track.

I can't see them forcing any vet to have to work a particular day, of course, but the vets would most likely be willing to agree cover to prevent this type of nasty disaster happening again.

If not, yeah, the track should consider pay a stipend for arranging to have a vet on premises "on call" for on-track emergencies during training hours.

Are you seriously going to try to make this argument?

yeah he euthanized the horse an hour after the horse was initally injured. Are you not lucid enough to understand that if the vet had someone oncall, AT THE TRACK, we wouldn't be talking about this story because it wouldn't have been one?

Are you seriously going to blame the trainer for the vet's ineptness in not having anyone covering for him at 7:30am during training hours?

Yeah, just ignore the parts you don't want to read. Geeshus. You're making an absurd "it's the vet's fault" argument. God no, don't discuss the trainer's responsibility to his horses. Or the tracks responsibility to it's trainers and the horses that are there.

LOL

At least this post makes some sense

How is the vets absence the trainers fault?

I dunno. The regular vet sent someone to euthanize the horse as soon as notified.

When a horse colics seriously at 2:00pm, and a trainers private vet isn't physically on track, we blame the vet then too, right?

So your argument is that any private vet who works a race track has a responsibility to have a physical presence on track ... when? During training hours? Training and racing? 12 hours a day? 24 hours a day? What about tracks that run at night, does the vet have to be there 4am to ... when? Get specific with your answer for us.

An ambulance for horses is parked at the track. You don't have to pay the ambulance. It just sits there until needed. Paying a track vet to do the same is stupid when each horse and trainer have a regular vet that provides this service. Just because a vet dropped the ball here and didn't have anyone covering for him doesn't mean we need track vets sitting around doing nothing until a horse breaks down and his/her vet isn't available and no other vet responds to a call for help.

So you say it's the private practices' fault they were not physically on the premises (even though that's who responded as soon as called and euthanized the horse).

Okay. So again: what hours do you say a private practice has a responsibility to physically be on the track premises?

A vet has a responsibility to be at the track when horses are racing or training. IF they can't physically be there then they should have an associate/another practice/another private vet that will cover for them during those hours. A vet also has a responsibility to provide emergency care or in their absence provide an adequate replacement. Every vet I know with a racetrack practice does this.

Do they have to be standing at the ready? No but they need to be there a reasonable time after an injury occurs which happens not to be the case in this instance at Penn.

For tracks that run at night they have a responsibility to see that they are there or someone is covering until after the last race is run.

??? The vet responded immediately when called and sent a locum. He wasn't called immediately because they were looking for someone on track. Please re-read the story.

Let's get this straight ok? If the person who ultimately euthanized the horse was on the premises when the horse was injured this would not be a story.

If Dr. X was my vet and he took Sundays off then I'm quite sure Dr X would have not only made arrangements to have another vet cover for him BUT would make sure his clients knew as well. Obviously the vet in question called another vet that put the horse down. This is not in question. What is in question is why that vet (the responding one) did not answer the call for a vet or from this trainer specifically when the horse was originally injured? Everyone at every track knows when the siren/horn comes on and the call for a vet to come to the track comes what is going on.

Does a private practice have a responsibilty to physically be on the premises OR have someone else there during racing/training hours? Of course they do.

He wasn't at the track. How can you cover for a vet without physically being there? What good to a horse is a vet NOT at the track?

At what point do you understand that had the regular vet had a vet covering for him AT THE TRACK this would have never been a story, just another broken down horse at Penn?

If I have a horse that is a bit off or has a fever what good does a vet not at the track do for me? Sure the guy he called came and put the horse down. That isnt in question. What is in question is why none of the vets including the regular, absent vet weren't on the grounds during training hours?

Only the writer really knows how the Penn Nat GM responded, so I don't think there is any reason to call him out for needing to be more compassionate. He came off indifferent based on the way the story was written, and that's all we know. It's impossible to know how he really sounded unless that was explained in the story.

Are there laws governing the administering of euthanasia solution? Can it only be injected by a licensed veterinarian?

Don't the best trainers keep spikes around with meds at Penn Nat? Couldn't they just borrow some "works"?

Yes. Per Dr. Allday in the segment we had on ATR this morning about the incident.