Yes, those are too, but they aren't drugs. You may as well add food if you want to be an a$shole about it.

What about other unfair things, like oxygen, sunlight, good breeding, being faster than your opponents, being able to dance, being sound, etc?

Nobody was arguing the rule, just that it is not only keeping information from horseplayers, it is outright deceptive.

He and others don't want to see the point.

Yes. They have too much emotionally invested in their belief systems to listen to anything that challenges, or threatens, said belief system.

Good to see you IC.....hope the world is treating you well.

A couple of small points, you already know, I thought might add to what's been said above....

1) Lasix is a sulfur containing diuretic far more similar to Bumex, which is another sulfur containing loop diuretic, than Premarin which is a conjugated estrogen or hormone commonly used in gynecology to limit menstral bleeding by a whole different mechanism. I guess the common thread is the limiting of bleeding to avoid the dreaded 3rd time bleed and a horses forced retirement.

Lasix first works by a) increasing the capacitance of any lung or making more small pipes or cappilaries while holding the same amount of blood in pulmonary circulation, thus lowering pressure in the horse's or human's lungs.

If given IV these effects take place in 20 minutes and last for six hours hence the name. The second effect or b) is to abolish the electrical/osmotic gradient in the kidney cell or nephron responsible for holding on to free water when inhibited a triggering of a fairly massive diuresis of very dilute urine will follow.

It blows my mind that the CHRB compares Lasix to premarin by substitution without making the public aware as Premarin is no where near as effective as a diuretic ..........very very bizarre!!

The metabolic alkalosis it causes does give a horse an advantage racing in that it takes longer and further in a race for a lasix horse to become acidotic or uncomfortable in competition which is another way of saying for it to develop a lactic acidosis because for some period it is neutralizing the acid generated in competition. Further considerations pertaining to aerobic or anaerobic metabolism add more or less to the mechanism above......phew!!

Hey man, it's been awhile. Haven't seen you around here much lately.

You are one of the only doctors I've ever known (albeit online in this case) that doesn't have an overly inflated sense of self-importance.

I just happen to know I am a horses ass, the rest haven't gotten the memo just yet.....

They didn't teach that in med/vet school, I'm guessing.

Humility and the ability to listen are neglected as well.

This vet is the equilivant of Rush Limbaugh commenting on politics.

I don't think this is true. No one I asked about this has ever heard of this being the case in CA or anywhere else.

I'm still trying to understand how something that is available to all participants creates a situation where someone has an advantage?

That is exactly the problem.

No, the problem would be if only some had access.

Yeah, I'd much rather listen to the self appointed DT vet that posts here.

Seriously? It is really simple. Horses that don't need a drug are forced to use it because if they don't they are at a disadvantage. You consider that fair? I've heard it all now.

I don't believe Kelly Kip ever used that because they didn't want to. Or Devil His Due.

What exactly is "unfair" about it? Unfair to who? The horses?

If lasix helps prevent or lessen the severity of a bleeding incident and we have no idea when a bleeding incident will occur than how exactly do you know what horses don't need it?

http://www.equibase.com/static/entry...EQB.html#RACE2
Someone tell the trainers of the horses w/o Lasix about performance enhancement.

I just don't find forcing an owner to spend money to drug a horse that doesn't need it to be on a level playing field with the other horses fair. Crazy, I know. We'll just have to agree to disagree. I'll never believe that many horses need Lasix when the rest of the world doesn't use it. Also, our country did just fine without it for the better part of a century.

At least you aren't arguing that Lasix isn't a performance enhancer any longer.

YYaaawnnnnnnn !!!!! Your entire argument is flawed and totally ridiculous. Stop whining already. Your are absolutely 100% incorrect about virtually everything you have said on this topic.