In a year that saw increased public scrutiny of equine welfare and medication issues both on the track and in the competition field, veterinarians at the 2008 Annual Convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) in San Diego, Calif., gathered in a forum to discuss these and other performance horse issues.

Forum leaders Stephen Soule, VMD, of West Palm Beach, Fla., and Mark Baus, DVM, of Fairfield Equine Associates in Newtown, Conn., facilitated the discussion that covered drugs and medication, veterinarians’ roles at competitions, welfare, insurance, and prepurchase exams.

They started the forum by showing two easel pad pages, both filled with some of the drugs and medications a single show horse could potentially have on board at a competition. These included everything from anti-inflammatories and joint injections to anti-ulcer medications and corticosteroids.

“With the combinations of the NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and the other things we’re doing, we’re tearing these horses up,” Soule noted