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Hello! A friend of mine wants to take my horse to a schooling show. He (my horse) has an old injury and sometimes needs some previcox to keep him comfy. How stringent do the schooling show officials get about previcox usage? And recognized shows if we're not going for points?
Thanks in advance.

There is no drug checking at schooling shows. At a recognize show, you could get chosen for a drug test, but it is at random. It doesn't matter if you were a winner or not going for points. It seems that in general the drug testers don't show up at the smaller one day recognized show venues. If you do get checked and caught, then the worst that will happen is a USEF fine and short suspension.

It was heartening to see previcox on the prohibited list. Made me think it would work. I think it did but it took a while to kick in even after the loading dose.

It's really just bute isn't it? Previcox is for dogs, and the equine version is Equioxx. My understanding is that Equioxx is milder than Bute but easier on the horse's stomach.

Do we have a vet or pharmacist on this board who can answer more completely? My understanding is that Previcox and Equiox ( and the new horse tablet whose name I've forgotten) are identical and is a cox 1 or 2 ? Inhibitor. Bute and Banamine have both cox 1 and 2 and one of those cox numbers is what causes ulcers. Which is why Previcox etc is better for chronic problems like arthritis. I have used Previcox with my senior horses daily for years now with no problems. I have found that it takes longer to take effect than Bute or Banamine and use them for acute and short term problems.. Previcox is approved only for dogs so use in horses is off label and probably not legal now that a horse tablet is available. Dosing in horses is similar to dogs but check with your vet. I would assume that for showing it would be similar to the Bute/banamine rules. I believe that with vet ok and proper paperwork you can give it up to a certain number of hours/days in advance of the show but double check the regulations.

BTW Previcox, the dog med, is a lot cheaper than the equivalent horse cox medication.

musical comedy wrote:It's really just bute isn't it? Previcox is for dogs, and the equine version is Equioxx. My understanding is that Equioxx is milder than Bute but easier on the horse's stomach.

Different formulation I believe, it's a cox-2. Previcox was used off-label for horses now it's approved (Canada) my vet just put my horse on it.. it did take a couple weeks to kick in/build up. He definitely is moving and feeling better lately. I didn't know there was a loading dose? My horse and my coach's 19 yr old both big guys 17HH big bone are on 1/4 tab daily.

The 1/4 tablet dosing is for the Previcox 227mg tablet. It also comes in a smaller mg tablet. Much cheaper with the 1/4 tablet dosing but some owners/vets are not comfortable with splitting tablets.

Srhorselady wrote:The 1/4 tablet dosing is for the Previcox 227mg tablet. It also comes in a smaller mg tablet. Much cheaper with the 1/4 tablet dosing but some owners/vets are not comfortable with splitting tablets.

They are chewables and split very easily. I did a whole bottle of 60 tabs quartered with a sharp paring knife, in about a half hour. I then put the 1/4 tabs in his ziploc daily supplement bag, so whoever is feeding just dumps that in his morning CF/beet pulp mix. He is lick the bowl eater so they do get eaten. The bottle of 60 cost me $200.00 (Cdn)

musical comedy wrote:There is no drug checking at schooling shows. At a recognize show, you could get chosen for a drug test, but it is at random. It doesn't matter if you were a winner or not going for points. It seems that in general the drug testers don't show up at the smaller one day recognized show venues. If you do get checked and caught, then the worst that will happen is a USEF fine and short suspension.

My horse was tested at a schooling show.

goldhorse wrote:

musical comedy wrote:There is no drug checking at schooling shows. At a recognize show, you could get chosen for a drug test, but it is at random. It doesn't matter if you were a winner or not going for points. It seems that in general the drug testers don't show up at the smaller one day recognized show venues. If you do get checked and caught, then the worst that will happen is a USEF fine and short suspension.

My horse was tested at a schooling show.

I stand corrected. I just checked quickly and apparently the STATE OF CALIFORNIA requires this testing. I didn't check further to see what happens if someone doesn't test clean. I found the information on this COTH link where someone had a little lead line pony tested. This is ridiculous. I am in NJ and I can tell you for sure that there is no testing done at our schooling shows. Even at the recognized shows I think it is rare. I was tested once, and it happened to be a show that had CDI classes.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/foru ... ows/page5=

And FWIW, I gave my 15h Morgan gelding 2 doses of Previcox (113 mg total) 24 hours before the show. He tested clean. This was 2 years ago. And since I didn't know what the penalties for CA are, I looked them up:

Civil penalties, of not less than $100 and not more than $10,000 for each offense, will apply to the owner, the trainer, or both the owner and trainer of an equine found to have a chemical analysis with a prohibited substance, more than one NSAID, or detection of a substance above the maximum permissible level in violation of the rule.
The owner, trainer, or both owner and trainer may receive a suspension from all public shows and competitions for a period of not less than 90 days or more than one year for each violation.
The owner of an equine found in violation of the rule may have to pay a penalty fee of $50.00 to the public show or competition, where the animal was sampled.
If an equine sample is found in violation of the rule, the event manager of the public show or competition, where the animal was sampled, may require owner forfeiture of all prize money, sweepstakes, trophies, ribbons and points won, in accordance with event organization by-laws.
The contract of sale on an equine may be declared void at the buyer’s discretion, if a sample obtained from the animal at a registered public sale is found in violation of the California Equine Medication Rule.

Thanks peeps!

Looking at the USEF website, it's my understanding that there is a "1 NSAID rule" where you can't have a horse on 2 NSAIDS at the same time. However, with veterinarian permission for things like arthritis, you actually can have a horse on equioxx or bute? I am pretty sure I read that right...

Let me know if you understand differently...

Yes, you can't have your horse on 2 NSAIDS at the same time. If the horse is taking 2 NSAIDS, then you have to get down to 1 NSAID at least 3 days prior to competition.
Bute, Surpass, and Previcox (Equioxx) and some other NSAIDs are allowed to be used but can't be given after 12 hours prior to competition. So if your test is at 10 am, then you can't give anything after 10 pm the previous night. They also have to be given at or below the stated quantities in the rulebook. Urine a/o blood is allowed to have some of those drugs in it but up to a limit. I assume that they presume that horses all metabolize these drugs at the same rate. If per chance you're extremely unlucky and have a mutant horse, I guess you could get screwed.

Anyway, I threw it out there that I gave my 1100 lb horse twice the legal dose of Previcox 24h before he was tested and he tested clean. So if someone on here hates me, they can turn me in