21 polo ponies die in South Florida

[Warhorse]

(CNN) -- Florida agriculture scientists are performing necropsies Monday on 21 horses that died as they were prepared to compete in a Sunday polo match in Wellington, Florida.
Blue tarps obstruct the view of horses that died at the International Polo Club Palm Beach in Florida.



"We'll be testing blood and tissue to see what the common denominator was here -- was it something injected, was it bad water and so forth," said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

The horses were part of the Venezuelan-based Lechuza Caracas team and were being kept at the team's trailers on the grounds of the International Polo Club Palm Beach. Fifteen horses that seemed disoriented died before Sunday's match, said McElroy, and their bodies were sent to the state-run Kissimmee Diagnostic Laboratories near Orlando, Florida.

Two horses initially collapsed, and as veterinarians and team officials scrambled to revive them, five others became dizzy, Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the polo club, said Sunday.

Peter Rizzo, executive director of the United States Polo Association, was at the match and saw the horses drop to the ground. "It was surreal," he said, calling the deaths "unprecedented."

"It is a horrible tragedy," he told CNN.

Some of the 15 horses died immediately, but some lingered for about 45 minutes, Dr. Scott Swerdlin of the Palm Beach Equine Clinic said Sunday, according to a report in the Sun-Sentinel newspaper. The clinic is the International Polo Club's consulting veterinarian group, the newspaper said.

Six of the 21 horses were kept overnight in the same trailer in Wellington, said McElroy, and died sometime between Sunday and Monday. Their bodies have not been taken to the Kissimmee lab.

The U.S. Polo Association, the sport's governing body, is expected to open an investigation Monday.
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Celeste Kunz, chief examining veterinarian at the New York Racing Association and a 19-year veterinarian, said Monday that she suspected a tainted substance was injected into the horses.

"[It was] something that was administered for it to work in a short amount of time and have an animal succumb that quickly," Kunz said. "My thought is that something was injected because it would have to affect the central nervous system."

She dismissed the chances that the horses ingested something because it would take longer to metabolize and they would show signs of illness sooner than they did before the match.

Anabolic steroids are not likely to have caused the deaths either, she said.

"It takes at least five days for [anabolic steroids] to really work, and the effects aren't real obvious at first," she said. "Most of the time [anabolic steroids] are used to build up their muscularity."

Each team brings between 40 to 60 horses for matches. The ponies are continuously switched out throughout a match to keep them from overexerting themselves, O'Connor said.

The horses were between 10 and 11 years old and were valued at about $100,000 each, club spokesman O'Connor said, according to the Sun-Sentinel.

The owner of the Lechuza Caracas is Victor Vargas, a Venezuelan multimillionaire who started playing polo when he was 24, according to the North American Polo League Web site. Vargas is also president of the Venezuelan Bank Association and director of the Latin American Banks Federation, according to the site.
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A meeting will be held to determine whether Lechuza Caracas will compete at a later date, he said.

"Everybody is kind of in shock and trying to figure out what happened," he said. "Nobody can recall an incident in which this many horses have died at once."

Been following this since yesterday, never thought it would become international news. But it's definitely hitting close to home, since I'm a horse owner myself, and I also have been to the Palm Beach Polo Club to watch the matches and compete occasionally myself. It's a shame this had to happen to so many horses in their prime.

[Raph's Girl]

Holy frak... I hope they find out who killed those horses. Poor dears!

[Warhorse]

Well, we are having a conflict of "professional" opinions and old fashion egos that are probably going to screw this up. Vets are saying that they think it was an accident from tainted food or possible vitamins or supplements. Earlier rumors speculated that the horses were shot up with tainted steroids. But they have no official word as of yet.

Police, FBI and the USDA officials are leaning towards a foul act. The Venezuelan team was favored to win the competition, so it could have been sabotage from an opposing team (highly unlikely) or from local bookies who didn't want to lose their wagers (more common around here than you realize) Another sad possibility is some one could have had bitter emotions against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, and took their frustrations out on the horses (I sure hope this is not some horrible hate crime)

Other speculations also involve some sort of insurance scam too. At $100,000 a piece, horses with this kind of price tag often come with insurance policies, and unfortunately, anyone who knows of the Calumet/Alydar tragic scandal, know how vicious owners can become when they want that insurance money.

[Buslady]

Someone did it, It's gotta be murder. That many all at around the same time?
Too fishy to me.

Poor horses, they had to suffer.

I remember Alydar yeah....

[TmntDann]

R.I.P Polo Ponies

[Type 97 Chi-ha]

The cause has evidently been found:

http://news.aol.com/article/horses-d...match%2F435339

[Raph's Girl]

Yeah.. they just announced that on ABC News. Oi.. what's really sad is the image of the vet next to one of the dead horses.

[Buslady]

wow man, $#!+ is gonna hit the fan for a lot of people after this BS.
The poor horses most of all...they had to suffer the worst.

[Warhorse]

Apparently, a pharmaceutical company in Ocala, Florida, is admitting to improperly mixing some vitamin booster shots for the team of horses. It gets better, the vitamin shots have a property that is illegal in the United States, and any veterinarian that is caught administering the drug could face prison time, fines and to have his practicing license revoked.

So, someone is in trouble. The vet that is in charge of keeping the Venezuelan teams horses in top health, and the Ocala company for mixing illegal substances. If the team owner had any prior knowledge of this is still up in the air. And I highly doubt the owners are going to receive a check from the insurance companies either.

Plus, the FEDS are still not through with this, while the Ocala company claims what has happened, the FEDS veterinarians will provide an official report when they are finished with their necropsy.