Originally Posted by
Dot
Nonsense Kev, the authorities ( in harness racing) do not have to prove the arsenic is from something else, they can convict and punish trainers solely on the basis that the sample has returned a reading over the threshold. At present though the authorities are acknowledging that the keeping of horses on rural properties where they have access to treated pine posts is a significant contributor to the number of positives for arsenic, and acting accordingly. But changes do need to be made, the threshold raised if determined appropriate and a line drawn for when pine posts are no longer considered an acceptable excuse or are no longer part of the problem.
Katie I thought you would have appreciated the cost of safe fencing for horses and that pine posts have been a ubiquitous part of rural fencing for horses for decades now, and it's not necessarily an easy or inexpensive task to change large amounts of fencing. That said there are apparently plastic sleeves available for pine posts at around $8 a sleeve I'm told. Perhaps where trainers have significant numbers of pine posts on their property rather then fining them the authorities should direct that the money be spent on altering the fencing to prevent access and receipts and other evidence of doing so be provided to authorites.
Rick I for one don't know that the pine posts have nothing to do with the positives. I'd be very interested to hear where you think, or should I say know they are coming from? I have it on good authority that the WA authorities can distinguish between arsenic originating from fence posts and arsenic from other sources. RWWA appears to be leading the push to lift the threshold, do you all think they would be doing that if they had prima facie evidence of wrong doing on the part of their participants with positive swabs?