OT: Mystery at Fla. polo match: 21 horses die - Page 1

By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press Writer Brian Skoloff, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 26 mins ago

WELLINGTON, Fla. – Ladies in their spring dresses and men in casual linen suits sipped champagne and nibbled hors d'oeuvres as they waited for the U.S. Open polo match. What they ended up with was a field of death.

Magnificent polo ponies, each valued at up to $200,000, stumbled from their trailers and crumpled one by one onto the green grass. Vets ran out and poured water over the feverish, splayed-out animals. But it was no use. One dead horse. Then another. Then more. And within a day, 21 horses were dead.

for the rest of the article

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090420/ap_on_re_us/dead_polo_horses

Oh my God, what happened?

why would these animals in the hight of fitness expire is such a way,

too hot, CO2, exhaust fumes??

Wonder what pre-treatment they used.

I hope Pennsylvania State gets involved in this one. Thanks for the link.

Necropsies are being done, but seems like no to the heat, CO2, or exhaust fumes, but more likely a terrible accident in an injection - could've been something as simple as a B12 shot prior to the match, but whatever it was was contaminated.  Moldy hay or bad feed most likely wouldn't have made them all drop at the same time, and it only affected the horses of that one team and ONLY those horses scheduled to play that day for that one team.  (Yes, easily more than 20 horses would play for one team in one match, as horses are switched often so they are always fresh)..

sorry i meant to include the next paragraph:

State veterinarians were still performing necropsies but suspect the horses died from heart failure brought on by some sort of toxic reaction in their bodies. Possibly tainted feed, vitamins or supplements. Maybe a combination of the three.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090420/ap_on_re_us/dead_polo_horses

i couldn't believe what i was reading

Not that any conclusions are even being speculated on but I believe they are ruling out contaminated consumable since it hit so fast and with such uniform results.

Probably a contaminated injectable of some sort, though it will lower my faith in humanity if it turns out to have been a deliberate act of poisoning.

Russian Mafia...aka Kosher Mafia,

SE Florida is their Home Base. Little Tel Aviv/Odessa.

Done for the Insurance..

'Magnificent polo ponies, each valued at up to $200,000, stumbled from their trailers and crumpled one by one onto the green grass. Vets ran out and poured water over the feverish, splayed-out animals.'

a few year ago, during the American Saddlebred Championships, someone injected the top 5 horses with something in their front pasterns that caused them to founder. all but one or two had to be put to death........very sad

sometimes people suck

OK, all the horses belonged to the Venezuelan(sp?) team, but most were actually from Argentina. What if they brought bales of their hay with them when they were flown over, the hay contained alfalfa or clover & froze on the way over....the horses are fed about the same time, the toxic effects of the frozen feed would take effect at about the same time.........?!? Nah, you'd think as much as they travel, they would be aware of things like that.....is frozen clover, (or is it alfalfa?) really toxic anyway? I remember reading that as a kid, & I would never let my folks buy anything but timothy hay!

Very sad, though. Horses are my first loves, & I grew up reading about polo ponies & wanting one. I wound up with an Appaloosa that was a wonderful 3 day eventer! The first polo match I saw was with my kids in Hawai'i, very, very thrilling. I hope they figure out what did it, & that it was not foul play! jackie harris

Russian Mafia...aka Kosher Mafia,

SE Florida is their Home Base. Little Tel Aviv/Odessa.

Done for the Insurance..

You gotta be kidding.  How does the death of Venezuelan horses benefit the Russian mafia?  And 21 horses killed at once for insurance?  Don't you think that looks a little suspicious and is being THOROUGHLY investigated?

IMHO I don't think it's the hay, because I don't think they were fed frozen hay, plus they all went with no warning and all within minutes of each other, and that's not indicative of bad feed.

But we'll see.  I have no doubt that the vets will figure it out.