PROTOCOL FOR THE USE OF FUROSEMIDE IN TRAINING

PROTOCOL FOR THE USE OF FUROSEMIDE IN TRAINING

  1. From a welfare point of view, the NHA supports the use of furosemide in training.
  2. The accepted detection time for furosemide is 48 hours, so there is no reason why a horse cannot receive furosemide prior to a pre-race gallop in the week prior to a race.
  3. The NHA understands that the drug needs to be administered a while before a horse has its work-out and practicing vets cannot be expected to be at the yards at 4 o’ clock in the morning to administer the drug.
  4. To this end, it is acceptable for a vet to prescribe and dispense a month’s supply of correctly labelled furosemide to a trainer for him/her to administer, with the proviso that the vet must complete the VTR on the day he dispenses the furosemide with the details of the horse/s and the dose to be administered. The VTR page number must be written on the dispensing label on the furosemide bottle.
  5. The trainer must then complete the VTR himself on the day and at the time that he/she administers the furosemide to the horse.
  6. A trainer may NOT be in possession of vast quantities of unlabeled furosemide for use on an undetermined number of horses as and when he sees fit.
  7. Any furosemide detected in a horse during routine out of competition testing that is NOT entered in the VTR as described above, would then be considered a breach of the rules, with the trainer being held responsible.
July 2014