Hello,

Presented directly below is an excerpt taken from the USEF (Then USA Equestrian) regarding the use of herbal ingredients.  The wording is direct and to the point.  While this may not be applicable to everyone considering the use of  a product containing herbal ingredients (such as our AmiQuell Gastro Support product), it would certainly warrant the consideration of those competing at the higher levels of equestrian sport.

HorseTech has made an effort to be as informative as is possible given that the testing procedures are largely unknowable!  Please be advised that some products on the market today do contain herbal ingredients.  While HorseTech's offerings of this type may pose no greater chance of a positive test than other products with similar ingredients, we thought it best to present this note of caution.

If you are one of the many in the equestrian world that will not be riding competitively and are not at risk of testing, you may largely disregard the caution presented below.

If you have any questions about our AmiQuell product or its ingredients, I invite you to give us a call at 1-800-831-3309.  As always, we'll give you an honest and straightforward accounting of this product and its ingredients.

Thank you for taking the time to making informed choice in this regard!
 

Rod Johnson
President
HorseTech, Inc.

 

CAUTION AGAINST THE USE OF HERBAL/NATURAL PRODUCTS

Taken from:
PRACTICAL ADVICE REGARDING THE 2003
EQUINE DRUGS AND MEDICATIONS RULE

Persons administering a so-called herbal or natural product to a horse or pony to affect its performance, having been comforted by claims that the plant origin of its ingredients cause it to be permitted by the rules as well as undetectable by drug tests, might have been misled.

The use of so-called herbal and natural products in a horse or pony might result in a positive drug test, i.e., a finding of a forbidden substance, contrary to claims by those who manufacture and/or market such products for profit. The plant origin of any ingredient does not preclude its containing a pharmacologically potent and readily detectable forbidden substance, e. g., cocaine, heroin and marijuana all come from plants. Although the use of some of these products may not have resulted in positive drug tests in the past, this may change as the USA Equestrian Equine Drug Testing and Research Laboratory incorporates new methods into its battery of screening tests, a deliberate and ongoing process.

For the above reasons, USA Equestrian cautions most strongly against the use of so-called herbal and natural products, the ingredients and properties of which are not known. In this regard trainers should be most skeptical about any claims by manufacturers or others that their preparation is “legal” or permissible for use at competitions recognized by the Federation or the FEI. Trainers should be aware that ingredients labeling for such preparations is often not complete or accurate. Especially suspect are preparations that are claimed to calm or relax while at the same time being said to contain no forbidden or prohibited substances. Just some of the examples of the hundreds and perhaps thousands of examples of herbal/natural or plant ingredients that would cause a product to be classified as forbidden are valerian, kava kava, passionflower, skullcap, chamomile, vervain, lemon balm, leopard’s bane, night
shade, capsaicin, comfrey, devil’s claw, hops, laurel, lavender, red poppy, and rawuolfia.

TRAINERS, OWNERS, EXHIBITORS, AND THEIR VETERINARIANS ARE CAUTIONED AGAINST THE USE OF MEDICINAL PREPARATIONS, TONICS, PASTES, POWDERS, AND PRODUCTS OF ANY KIND, INCLUDING THOSE USED TOPICALLY, THE INGREDIENTS AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF WHICH ARE NOT SPECIFICALLY KNOWN, AS THEY MIGHT CONTAIN A FORBIDDEN SUBSTANCE. THIS IS ESPECIALLY TRUE OF THOSE CONTAINING PLANT INGREDIENTS.