Drugs, toxins probed in polo horse deaths

Florida investigators said Tuesday that they suspect an adverse reaction to drugs or toxins as the cause of the sudden deaths of 21 polo horses from Venezuela, amid growing calls for routine drug testing in the equine sport.

"Because of the very rapid onset of sickness and death, state officials suspect these deaths were a result of an adverse drug reaction or toxicity," said the Florida Department of Agriculture, which is leading the investigation.

"There is no evidence that these horses were affected with an infectious or contagious disease as there are no other horses affected at this time," officials added.

The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office also has opened an investigation into the animals' deaths.

The Lechuza polo team from Caracas to have competed at the Palm Beach Polo Club in Wellington, Florida on Sunday when its horses began to have difficulty breathing about 45 minutes before game time.

The animals collapsed and died one by one throughout the afternoon and overnight Sunday into Monday, despite furious efforts to save them by veterinarians at local equine clinics which they had been relocated to.

The Lechuza team in a statement Monday night thanked the community for its support.

"We wish to thank those from the polo community who tried to save our precious ponies by selflessly lending their assistance," the team statement read.

"Although the ponies could not be saved, our gratitude to them cannot be overemphasized."

The horses were to have played the featured game of the US Open Polo tournament, the oldest and most prestigious in the United States.

Sources quoted by the local Palm Beach Post said it was normal in competitive polo tournaments for horses to receive intravenous fluids before a match, but it was not known whether that caused the animals' sudden illness.

The deceased horses were taken to University of Florida's College of Veterinary Medicine in Gainesville and a state laboratory in Kissimmee, so scientists could examine their corpses, amid a chorus of calls for more stringent pre-match medical exams.

"It's time to have polo horses drug-tested," Neil Hirsch, who co-owns the Bridgehampton Polo Club in Long Island, New York, told the Post.

He said watching the Lechuza team's horses fall, one after the other, was "heartbreaking."

"It's just sickening. Now, I'm not saying they were doped up, but I'm saying it would benefit the sport to have the horses tested."

The horses, mostly of Argentine stock and between 10 and 11 years old, were said to be worth between 100,000 dollars and 200,000 dollars each.