Search

To protect the health and welfare of horses, veterinarians must legitimately use therapeutic medications. Many drugs are appropriately used to treat various disease conditions of horses, yet many of them have the ability to affect athletic performance or leave residues in tissues. For performance horses, the primary reason to have drug rules is to ensure fair competition and to protect the welfare of the horses and riders. When medications are administered to horses intended for human consumption, it is the responsibility of the veterinarian to ensure that violative drug residues do not occur. If horses are to receive proper veterinary care, suitable information on drug detection times must be available to equine practitioners.

Adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in horses are rare but cause serious anxiety to patients, owners, and veterinarians when they occur and are frequently the reason for legal action against veterinarians. Although not every ADR can be prevented or predicted, equine practitioners should be aware of some of the most common or most serious reactions to frequently used drugs. The most common drugs associated with ADRs in horses are antimicrobials, steroidal and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, anesthetics, and sedatives and antiparasitic drugs. The illicit use of performance-enhancing drugs such as fluphenazine, anabolic steroids, or human recombinant erythropoietin is less common but associated with very serious ADRs. When an ADR occurs, the practitioner must provide emergency life support if indicated, discontinue administration of the implicated drug, enhance elimination of the implicated drug, and administer an antidote or drug antagonist if available. In any case of a suspected ADR, the veterinarian should report the problem to the manufacturer, the Food and Drug Administration, or the United States Pharmacopeia's (USP) Veterinary Practitioner Reporting Program. The USP provides a single place for practitioners to report problems and automatically forwards the information onto the correct regulatory agency and the product manufacturer as well as provides information back to practitioners through publications.