KHRC Collecting Corticosteroid Information

The KHRC has asked track veterinarians to participate in a study that will document how fast specific corticosteroids are eliminated from a horse’s system.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

With Kentucky soon putting more stringent regulations in place regarding corticosteroid administration in racehorses, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) is collecting information on elimination times following specific uses of the medications provided by participating racetrack veterinarians.

On June 6, the uniform medication rules the KHRC approved late last year will become reality at Kentucky tracks. Some of the biggest changes in the rules involve corticosteroids. Recommended withdrawal times for three corticosteroids—betamethasone, methylprednisolone, and triamcinolone—will jump to seven days from the current 48 or 72 hours.

Mary Scollay, DVM, KHRC equine medical director, said the withdrawal times offered as guidance with the uniform medication rules were shaped from a study with controlled parameters, which Scollay noted, are needed for effective scientific study.

While the scientific study looked at single injections into healthy animals, racetrack veterinarians could encounter situations in the field that are not as controlled. For instance, a veterinarian could inject more than one joint on a horse, or a horse might have swelling that wasn't present in the test animals. The KHRC hopes to address those issues by providing information collected in the field

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Frank Angst is a staff writer for The Blood-Horse magazine. An American Horse Publications three-time winner in best news story category, Angst has covered horse racing for more than a decade. Angst spent ten years at Thoroughbred Times, where he earned awards as that magazine’s senior writer and helped launch Thoroughbred Times TODAY. Besides covering horse racing, Angst enjoys handicapping. Angst has written about sports for more than 20 years, including several seasons covering a nationally ranked Marshall Thundering Herd football team.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
284 votes · 284 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!