Horse racing has far more stringent medication regulations than most other equine disciplines, and this was reflected in the Racehorse Medications Table Topic discussion at the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) convention on Friday, Dec. 6. The majority of the discussion revolved around the legality of using various medications and their withdrawal times. Gary Norwood, DVM, a private practitioner in Metairie, La., and Ben Franklin Jr., DVM, both past presidents of the AAEP, moderated this session.

One problem for many racehorse veterinarians is the variance in medication rules from state to state. Some states consider certain medications to be legal and useful and don’t even test for them, while others consider the same substance to be performance-enhancing and actively test horses for its presence. Additionally, some states are reticent to divulge their medication rules; one veterinarian described the extreme difficulty in getting this information from a state racing commission. Other commissions freely provide this information upon request