(7 September, 2013)

IHP has sent two express letters - to the FISE (Italian Horse Sport Federation) in Sardinia and to the Public Prosecutor of Oristano – requesting an investigation into the death of Django De Vere, plus a post mortem.

This follows a news item released by the Adnkronos agency, announcing the death of: “a horse which had run in the “Lifestyle Sardinia” endurance race which took place in Arborea (Province of Oristano) on August 31st. The horse, a male, grey arab called Django De Vere (valued at €300,000) took part in the CEI2 120 km race. He was apparently rushed to the clinic that evening and died during the night. The body of the horse is currently impounded in the refrigeration unit of the via di Vienna institute and should be destroyed within the next few hours, an autopsy not having been authorised by the owner or the judiciary.”

We demand clarifications of the incident since an analysis of the data report of the race reveals elements which, we consider justify the opening of an enquiry.

Endurance racing is a sport in which horses are made to travel extremely long distances (in this particular case 120 km) with periodic ‘vet gates’ where health checks are carried out – for examples heart rate, respiration, (de)hydration levels, lameness and so on; all these aspects must return within set parameters, otherwise the animal is disqualified.

During the competition of 31 August, we observe first of all that the timescale for return to normal heart rate in the winning horses (all belonging to Arab owners) seems unusually short: could a horse that has only just travelled at speed over 30km return to a normal heart rate within a mere 37 seconds?
This figure seems crazy if we match it with the average speed of the horse over that distance: almost 29km per hour.

To make a comparison: a horse at trot can reach a maximum of 13 km per hour. Yet here we have a horse which has covered 30km at an average speed of 29 km per hour, and whose heart rate returned to normal after only 37 seconds!

Looking at the data for poor Django De Vere, we notice a disturbing fact: at the final vet gate, his heart rate returned to normal only after almost 30 minutes (which is the maximum time allowed before disqualification), compared to the 37 seconds of the first, and the 52 seconds of the second gates – a sign that something is not quite right, particularly because the recovery rates of the other horses are significantly better.

In general, for the race overall, what strikes us is the difference in times for the return to normal heart rate between the Arab owners’ horses and all the others. It is enough to read those of the first Italian horse in the classifications, who came ninth.
How can we not notice that the Emirates horses all arrive at the limits of heart rate (coincidentally), while the others show heart rates which are much more moderate and thus lower?

Heart rate can be considered the absolute measure of the intensity of effort, independently of the individual horse’s athletic ability. If we compare heart rate with the average speed we can hypothesise that the Emirates’ horses performed to the limits of their individual capabilities, independently of the training or individual ability. It is as if the Emirates were racing Formula 1s, while the others were in sports cars.

We therefore continue to insist that the Oristano Public Prosecutor and FISE clarify the incident. For the Italian Federation of Equestrian Sport it would be essential in order to safeguard their credibility and also to prove factually how little attention was paid to the wellbeing of the horse. We receive quite a number of reports of apparent abuse and inadequate vet gates (almost impossible to prove without direct witness affirmations).



Photo: lifestylesardegna.it