The Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI)

The FEI is the governing body in charge of jumping, dressage, para-equestrian dressage, eventing, driving, para-equestrian driving, endurance, vaulting, and reining (FEI 2012). FEI Clean Sport is a department dedicated solely to controlling doping.

The FEI considers a party to be guilty of doping when “the presence of a banned substance or its metabolites or markers” show up in a sample, when “use or attempted use of a banned substance or a banned method” occurs, or when the party refuses or fails to “submit to sample collection” (FEI 2011, p.7).  A party is also considered guilty if they are caught “tampering, or [attempting to tamper] with any part of Doping Control”, caught in “possession of banned substances or banned methods”, caught “trafficking or [attempting to traffic] any banned substance or banned method”, or caught “assisting, encouraging, aiding, abetting, covering up” a rule violation (FEI 2011, p.7).

Any horse registered in a national or international competition recognized by the FEI is subject to testing (FEI 2010, p.9). Horses may be selected for testing randomly, or they may be selected because there is suspicion of doping practices in that horse or with that particular trainer. If a sample tests positive the FEI offers a hearing for the people convicted of doping and there may be provisional suspensions put in place until the hearing date is reached. The severity of the consequences depends on the severity of the crime. Convicted trainers receive periods of ineligibility from the sport, length depending on the rulings, and monetary fines. Through the trial system each case is ruled about individually, all circumstances and reasons for drug use are taken into account.

The International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA)

The IFHA rules over the horse racing industry and they test every horse that has run a race. They consider a party to be guilty of doping if a substance is given to the horse that will effect the nervous system, cardiovascular system, respiratory system, digestive system, urinary system, reproductive system, musculoskeletal system, blood system, the “immune system except for licensed vaccines against infectious agent”, the endocrine system, or the endocrine secretions and their synthetic counterparts (IFHA 2012). They are also considered guilty if the horse tests positive for masking agents, oxygen carriers, or “agents that directly or indirectly affect or manipulate gene expression” (IFHA 2012). A horse that tests positive for a prohibited substance is disqualified from the race it ran and any ones scheduled at the time, and the trainer shall be reprimanded accordingly (IFHA 2012).