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HISA To Fund Three Scientific Studies On The Use of Furosemide

Following a recommendation from its Furosemide Advisory Committee (FAC), the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Board of Directors approved $773,500 in grant funding for three scientific studies on the use of furosemide (also known as “Lasix”) to be conducted over the next two years by the Nationwide Children's Hospital, the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and Washington State University, HISA said in a Wednesday release.

The studies will examine the 48-hour period before the start of a Covered Horserace, including the effects of furosemide on equine health and the integrity of competition. Researchers will be required to present final reports on their findings to the FAC on or before Jan. 31, 2026.

“The Furosemide Advisory Committee is grateful to the expert researchers who responded to our request for proposals and look forward to partnering with Nationwide Children's Hospital, the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine and Washington State University on this important research,” said FAC Chairman Dr. Scott Palmer, VMD. “The lifelong health and well-being of Thoroughbreds is our top priority. This work will help ensure we have policies in place to safeguard these remarkable animals and the integrity of the sport.”

Under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act, HISA is required to fund scientific research on the topic of furosemide to inform the FAC's future recommendations to the HISA Board on whether and how to amend their existing furosemide regulations.

A request for proposals was issued by HISA in August 2023. Out of those submitted, the following were recommended by the FAC and approved:

Examining Associations Between Furosemide Treatment & Racehorse Health and Welfare

Principal Investigator: Amanda Waller, Bsc, PhD, Research Scientist, Center for Clinical and Translational Research, Nationwide Children's Hospital
This study will examine the effects of race day furosemide treatment on the health and welfare of Thoroughbreds as well as their long-term racing performance. An analysis will be conducted to assess the association between pre-race furosemide administration and fatal injury, while also comparing the performance metrics–including lifetime earnings, career length, lifetime starts, starts per year, placings and average speed figures–of horses that raced exclusively on furosemide as 2-year-olds and horses that did not receive furosemide as juveniles.

Effects of Repeated Furosemide Administration on Electrolyte Homeostasis and Bone Density in Healthy Adult Exercising Thoroughbreds

Principal Investigator: SallyAnne L. DeNotta, DVM, PhD, DACVIM., Clinical Assistant Professor, Large Animal Medicine, University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine
This study will examine the effects of repeated furosemide administration on electrolyte homeostasis, parathyroid response and urinary electrolyte excretion in exercising adult Thoroughbreds. The study will also examine the effects of repeated administration on bone density and strength using minimally invasive methods of measurement, including DEXA scan and OsteoProbe.

Does Pre-Race Administration of Furosemide to Thoroughbred Racehorses Prolong Their Racing Careers?

Principal Investigator: Warwick Bayly, BVSc, PhD, DACVIM, Professor, Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences, Washington State University
This study will examine the impact of severe exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage (EIPH) on horses' careers and the health of the racing industry more broadly. In doing so, the study will assess whether regular furosemide treatment is associated with more career starts and greater longevity and the impact of banning furosemide for 2-year-olds on the duration of their careers and number of lifetime starts. The study will also seek to determine the extent to which severe EIPH impacts the number of subsequent starts, the periods between them and, when applicable, the time between the diagnosis of severe EIPH and retirement.

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You Can Lead A Horse To Water, But Study Shows He’ll Only Drink If It’s The Right Flavor

You can take a horse to water but you can't make him drink. A new study says adding a little flavor to the water may solve that problem.

Tessa Van Diest, a second-year veterinary student at Washington State University's Veterinary Teaching Hospital, and Dr. Jamie Kopper, associate professor at Iowa State University, were concerned that hospitalized horses that did not consume enough water could develop colic, a potentially life-threatening condition.

Traditionally, horses hospitalized at Washington State that don't voluntarily drink are offered water flavored with peppermint, sweet feed, or apple electrolytes. Until this study, no one had documented the horses' response.

“We were choosing some things that were commonly done in our hospital to try and get horses to drink water, and we wanted to see if they actually worked,” said Kopper.

The researchers chose 40 horses for the study, a mix of trail horses, pleasure horses, and show horses of different disciplines.

“Most of the horses were Quarter Horse-type horses typically presenting for a lameness and getting followed up with surgery or some sort of diagnostic imaging,” Kopper said.

The horses were divided into four groups. Each horse within a group was given a bucket of plain water and a bucket of flavored water (peppermint, sweet feed, or commercial apple electrolyte), according to its flavor grouping. Horses in the control group were offered two buckets of plain water. Assistant professor Clark Hogan helped to compile the statistics.

Kopper said the results of the 72-hour study were surprising and not at all what the researchers had expected.

“I think what surprised me the most was the horses actually did not appear to like the peppermint flavoring or the apple-electrolyte flavoring, and drank way more plain water compared to those two flavors,” she said.

Even horses that loved peppermint candy shunned the peppermint water.

“We actually had one owner who was really surprised because she said peppermints were one of her horse's favorite treats,” Kopper said. “But it was pretty uniform across the board that all the horses that were given the option of having peppermint in their water hardly drank that water at all and almost drank all their water from the plain water bucket.

“What I really took away from that was that if you're going to try flavoring a horse's water to try to get them to drink more, it's always important to give them a bucket of normal water as well, because sometimes what we think they might like, they actually wouldn't like, and it would have the opposite effect—drinking less.”

The winner of the taste test was sweet-feed flavored water, which the horses in that group significantly preferred over plain water.

Practical flavorings

For the study, Diest and Kopper chose flavorings that would be readily available to the horse owner: commercial Purina sweet feed purchased from the feed store; McCormick peppermint extract sold by the local grocery store; and apple-flavored electrolytes. To achieve the sweet-feed flavor, the researchers simply put a cup of sweet feed in the bottom of a bucket of water.

Could the researchers have used simply molasses to flavor the water, because it is the common flavor in commercial sweet feeds? Yes, but there was a matter of practicality. Not every stable has a jug of molasses sitting on the shelf, but every stable has sweet feed.

Kopper said that adding salt to a horse's diet also is a common way to encourage a horse to drink more water. However, clinicians must consider the illness for which a horse is hospitalized to assure feeding extra salt is safe. Also, horses that are being held off feed during treatment would not be able to be fed salt.

Other uses

Knowing your horse's preference would be useful in situations other than illness or hospitalization, Kopper said. Horses on the racing or show circuit, and even pleasure horses hauled to trail rides, may balk at water that tastes different from what they are accustomed to at their home barn.

“Definitely, each [study] horse was unique,” Kopper said. “So there were some horses that just loved the sweet-feed water and would drink and drink and drink it. Other horses had less of an opinion about it. So figuring out where your horse falls and if it has a flavor preference could be really helpful.”

Kopper suggested that horse owners set up their own taste test at home in advance to determine which flavor a horse prefers. Then they can carry that flavoring with them when they are away from home and add it to the water if the horse shuns the unfamiliar taste.

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Major Racing Organizations Fund First-Of-Its-Kind Furosemide, EIPH Study In 2-Year-Old Racehorses

The Stronach Group together with Breeders' Cup Ltd., Churchill Downs Inc., Keeneland, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the New York Racing Association have agreed to jointly fund North America's largest study on the effects of furosemide and on the prevalence and severity of Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH) in two-year-old racehorses.

The study, formally titled Furosemide: Its Effects on the Prevalence and Severity of Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (EIPH) and the Immune System's Normal Response to Exercise in Two-Year-Old Racehorses, began this month and is being led by Dr. Warwick Bayly and Dr. Macarena Sanz from the Department of Veterinary Clinical Services at Washington State University's College of Veterinary Medicine. This study represents the largest study ever to focus on evaluating the effects of furosemide on two-year-old racehorses.

The study will be focused on two-year-old racehorses only and will aim to address the debate surrounding whether or not injection of furosemide has beneficial, detrimental or no effects on the welfare of these racehorses. The use of furosemide and its effects has been a dominant issue confronting North American racing for more than a decade. The study offers an opportunity to address unanswered questions at the heart of furosemide use, namely:

1. Does the administration of furosemide four hours before racing and/or training reduce the severity of EIPH in two-year-old racehorses?
2. Does the pre-race administration of furosemide four hours before racing effect a horse's performance?

The study will evaluate the endoscopic exams from at least 600 horses from three groups representing the major racing jurisdictions of California, Delaware, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. Horses will be evaluated in three groups: 1) those who are given furosemide at least 48 hours before racing or not at all; 2) those who are given furosemide 24 hours before racing or not at all and; 3) those who are administered furosemide four hours before racing. Veterinary practitioners from each of the jurisdictions will be asked to recruit trainers who are existing clients to voluntarily participate in the study.

“This study provides an opportunity to fill a critical knowledge gap on the use of furosemide,” said Dr. Warwick Bayly, Professor, Equine Medicine, Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine. “As a first-of-its-kind study of this depth, it is our hope that once completed we will be able to provide additional information that will enable the horse racing industry to address the regulation of furosemide in the United States from a scientifically-informed perspective.”

“The current patchwork of rules and regulations across the United States regarding the administration of furosemide does a disservice to the horses and the practitioners who care for them,” said Dr. Dionne Benson, Chief Veterinary Officer, The Stronach Group. “This study is an opportunity for industry stakeholders to come together to invest in meaningful steps to address pressing questions so that we may develop a higher and more consistent standard of rules and regulations.”

“The use of Lasix has long been a highly debated topic. This is our opportunity, as advocates for the safety and welfare of our racehorses, to collect and analyze vital real-life information that can be used to help answer some questions regarding the use of Lasix and its effect, but also guide common-sense regulation around Lasix use,” said Dr. Will Farmer, Equine Medical Director, Churchill Downs Incorporated.

“This study represents a unique collaboration of North American racing interests to further understand the true rate of EIPH in young racehorses through endoscopic examinations performed in post-race settings,” said Dr. Stuart Brown, Equine Safety Director – Sales and Racing, Keeneland. “The potential to gain insight under the present landscape of furosemide use across various racing jurisdictions will help shape decisions that benefit the safety and welfare of the equine athlete in competition.”

Preliminary results from the study are expected to be available in Spring 2021, assuming the quantity and quality of the samples satisfy the requirements for statistical relevance as set out by Dr. Bayly and Dr. Sanz.

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