Polo team vet grief-stricken after horses deaths - AP report by Brian Skoloff
Polo team vet grief-stricken after horse deaths
By Brian Skoloff | Associated Press
April 26, 2009
WELLINGTON - When Argentine veterinarian Felix Crespo injected 21 elite polo horses with a vitamin supplement shortly before a championship match, he never imagined they would all be dead the next day.
A week later, with the horses felled by a mysterious poison, the grief in Crespo's eyes speaks volumes. Deep pain lurks beneath the brim of his ball cap.
"I am not living," Crespo said on Saturday in his first interview since the horses died last Sunday. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."
Crespo stroked his mustache, his head slightly hung. His eyes drooped from a lack of sleep. He said he spends more time with the horses than his family.
"They are part of our family," said Crespo, a father of four.
At the Lechuza Caracas polo team's sprawling 60-acre ranch here, Crespo was somber and soft-spoken. He sat with team manager Esteban Scott in a room decorated with horse pictures, just feet from the stables. Both men still are in shock.
"For me, it's really a tragedy," said Crespo, who has spent his life around horses and breeds them in his home country. "It's going to be very tough to recover. ... I don't know if I am going to be back to the same person."
An Ocala pharmacy that prepared the supplement for the team on order from their local veterinarian said Thursday the strength of an ingredient was incorrect. The pharmacy would not say what the ingredient was or if the mix-up was in the prescription that came from the veterinarian. Investigations into the horses' deaths continue, but an exact cause has not been pinpointed.
Crespo, 53, has a license to practice in Argentina, but not in the United States, so he serves as the team's training supervisor here. He can administer shots, but can't prescribe medication. The team turned to a Florida veterinarian it has used for nine years to place the order for the supplement.
The ponies from the Venezuelan-owned team began collapsing last Sunday as they were unloaded from trailers at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. When the horses arrived at the field, Scott, 39, got a frantic call.
"What I find is that when they opened the gate of the trailer, one more mare had collapsed and died on the trip," he said. "Within a few minutes, three more horses started showing signs of dizziness, sweating and heavy breathing."
The sick horses were sent back to the barn. But it didn't stop there.
The horses began dropping beside the field. People were "crying, hugging them," Scott said. "We didn't know what was wrong."
Then the unimaginable happened. "The horses started passing away one by one," Scott said.
By the next day, all 21 horses that got the shots were dead.
"You're very connected with the horses. You learn to care about them and love them," Scott said. "This is a day that is going to be in our minds for the rest of our lives."
By Brian Skoloff | Associated Press
April 26, 2009
WELLINGTON - When Argentine veterinarian Felix Crespo injected 21 elite polo horses with a vitamin supplement shortly before a championship match, he never imagined they would all be dead the next day.
A week later, with the horses felled by a mysterious poison, the grief in Crespo's eyes speaks volumes. Deep pain lurks beneath the brim of his ball cap.
"I am not living," Crespo said on Saturday in his first interview since the horses died last Sunday. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."
Crespo stroked his mustache, his head slightly hung. His eyes drooped from a lack of sleep. He said he spends more time with the horses than his family.
"They are part of our family," said Crespo, a father of four.
At the Lechuza Caracas polo team's sprawling 60-acre ranch here, Crespo was somber and soft-spoken. He sat with team manager Esteban Scott in a room decorated with horse pictures, just feet from the stables. Both men still are in shock.
"For me, it's really a tragedy," said Crespo, who has spent his life around horses and breeds them in his home country. "It's going to be very tough to recover. ... I don't know if I am going to be back to the same person."
An Ocala pharmacy that prepared the supplement for the team on order from their local veterinarian said Thursday the strength of an ingredient was incorrect. The pharmacy would not say what the ingredient was or if the mix-up was in the prescription that came from the veterinarian. Investigations into the horses' deaths continue, but an exact cause has not been pinpointed.
Crespo, 53, has a license to practice in Argentina, but not in the United States, so he serves as the team's training supervisor here. He can administer shots, but can't prescribe medication. The team turned to a Florida veterinarian it has used for nine years to place the order for the supplement.
The ponies from the Venezuelan-owned team began collapsing last Sunday as they were unloaded from trailers at the International Polo Club Palm Beach. When the horses arrived at the field, Scott, 39, got a frantic call.
"What I find is that when they opened the gate of the trailer, one more mare had collapsed and died on the trip," he said. "Within a few minutes, three more horses started showing signs of dizziness, sweating and heavy breathing."
The sick horses were sent back to the barn. But it didn't stop there.
The horses began dropping beside the field. People were "crying, hugging them," Scott said. "We didn't know what was wrong."
Then the unimaginable happened. "The horses started passing away one by one," Scott said.
By the next day, all 21 horses that got the shots were dead.
"You're very connected with the horses. You learn to care about them and love them," Scott said. "This is a day that is going to be in our minds for the rest of our lives."
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