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Originally Posted by sumitas
there probably should be tests for steroids in horses at auction. until then, hopefully the buyers will come to recognize those they can trust. trust meaning, no drugs for the young horses and disclosure of corrective surgery.
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I sure hope that would work. It's already plenty expensive to bring one to the sales, so a bit more for testing that the consigner has to absorb cuts into the margin, especially if the sale doesn't attract buyers and there are a lot of buy backs (RNA). A good reputation is worth preserving, but it seems that the breeders, unless they're putting out market sires, are going to take it on the chin again.
As far as "corrective surgery", there's another huge expense that the breeder might not be able to recover. It should be disclosed before the sale, and I've seen some that didn't have any surgery that ran like hell anyway.
Storm Cat's come to mind.
To sum it up...I'd say no steroids for young horses. Disclosure of corrective surgery. Despite those good intentions, there will be "cheaters", as in most other things.