Quote:
Originally Posted by bomelia
Just curious, no dog in this fight (  ), but do they really, as common practice, use steroids? Is it legal? It surely would seem unethical. If it is illegal (within the sport), do they test each animal?
Mike |
It's perfectly legal and accepted. Bovine and Equine steroids have been around much longer than "performance enhancing drugs" for people...which is where some of the early stuff actually came from.
Beyond the terrible side effects that a lot of anabolic steriods have (heart problems, thyroid problems, etc) the largest drawback to anabolic steriods is that they develop muscle out of balance with the supporting ligaments and tendons.
When an animal stresses muscles mechanically, it causes the body to respond by repairing and building new/additional muscle tissue in order to prevent future damage. That mechancial stress also stresses tendons, bones and ligaments. Anabolic roids skip the additional benefit of developing the supporting cast (ligaments and tendons) and you end up with stronger muscles than bones/ligaments and tendons can handle. (basically you have a monster engine with a weak chassis).
Before the "designer" drugs that human athletes use today (and before many of the doctors understood how to dose them down to levels that are more difficult to detect) this was the biggest drawback for performance enhancers. Drugs are used more for workout recovery and injury recover now more than they're used or putting on muscle mass.
Additionally, there's stuff like horse linament, that you can use (I've actually seen humans use it....makes your breath smell rancid) to numb up sore or strained muscles so you can race/compete. In that sense, you can numb an animal up and make it race (obviously pain is an indicator of something wrong, the body's way of saying..."don't do that, it hurts" until it's corrected).
All of that is coupled with an animal that has a pretty unique "design" to begin with. If you ever look at a horse, they have these enormous muscles and a pretty large body compared to these tiny (relatively) legs, and joints.
If a horse is injured while working or unintentionally (as a companion animal), then it's at least somewhat understandable. I also understand the concept of putting them down. But when a horse (or many horses) are injured while a bunch of snobs watch while sipping Brandy and wearing derby hats, to me it kinda makes the injuries/deaths a bit senseless.