Four months after the death of U.S. show jumper Chromatic BF at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh, the U.S. Equestrian Federation has acknowledged that medications administered by a federation veterinarian likely contributed to the gelding’s death and has announced several new horse welfare initiatives that were championed by his owner and breeder, Kc Branscomb.

According to a Tuesday statement from USEF, the three new initiatives are:

• ​Revisions to the Horse Participation Consent Agreement that a horse’s owners enter into with USEF when their horse is selected to represent the country. The new agreement will stipulate that, “except in an emergency, no medications will be administered to horses by team veterinarians at international competitions without prior consent of the athlete, who is the person responsible under FEI regulations for substances present in a horse.” 

• Continuing education for USEF team veterinarians: USEF, in collaboration with the American Association of Equine Practitioners, will develop a continuing education program for USEF team veterinarians to ensure they are on the cutting edge of performance sports medicine and horse welfare in areas such as emerging therapies, equine exercise physiology, and pharmacology.

• Establishment of a research program in Chromatic BF’s name: “To promote a better understanding of sport horse welfare and encourage scientific research to improve the lives and well-being of our high-performance equine athletes, USEF has pledged to make a financial contribution to establish a philanthropic fund in Chromatic BF’s name, which will be used to support research related to caring for sport horses,” stated the release from the USEF. 

USEF did not provide a timeline for implementing the initiatives or a dollar amount for its contribution to the education fund, with a spokeswoman saying Tuesday that the announcement “reflects the information available at this time,” and that updates will be shared as more information becomes available.

Shot ‘Probably Contributor’ To Death

In the immediate aftermath of “Chromatic’s” death, which happened several hours after he and rider Jill Humphrey finished third in the second round of the World Cup Final, Branscomb began pushing for changes to the horse participation agreement that governs who makes medical decisions for horses while they represent the U.S. in competition. In Chromatic’s case, the agreement meant that neither his rider nor owner were consulted before he was administered a cocktail of medications, including Selevit, Traumeel, Legend, Adequan and arnica meant to aid muscle recovery. The horse began seizing, collapsed and died minutes after the injection. Those changes are reflected in the first initiative, which will make the rider the point of contact for all non-emergency treatments.

When Chromatic’s final, inconclusive necropsy report was released in June, USEF officials and Branscomb were at odds over the most likely cause of his death. USEF officials pointed to a line in the report that said tissue samples “raise the suspicion equine exercise-induced pulmonary hemorrhage,” and stated that, “[a]ccording to the final report, the administered medications were not identified as the cause of death,” while Branscomb was steadfast in her belief that the IV injection killed him. 

Branscomb broadened her efforts, hoping to not just change the horse participation agreement but to encourage USEF to acknowledge the role the shot likely played in Chromatic’s death and institute larger, institutional changes in the way USEF veterinarians are trained to treat and support horses assigned to their care.

In its Tuesday announcement, USEF for the first time publicly acknowledged the role that shot likely played in the gelding’s death. 

“While the post-mortem report was inconclusive, following USEF’s engagement of experts to study the findings, USEF believes the most probable contributor is related to medications administered to the horse by a USEF appointed veterinarian shortly before the horse collapsed,” the Tuesday statement said. “The USEF appointed veterinarian made the decision to administer FEI-permitted medications that he believed would help sustain the horse’s performance in the days that followed.”

Branscomb, who for months has been working behind the scenes with USEF officials—at times cooperatively, at times threatening legal action—said she was thrilled to see the federation step up to both acknowledge the role human error may have played in her horse’s death and work proactively to help ensure such mistakes aren’t made in the future, acknowledging such a move “took courage” on the part of senior officials.

“I feel like we’re in a really good place now,” she said. “I think, like any situation where there’s the death of a beloved horse, there’s going to be strong opinions on both sides, and there were times for sure when we agreed to disagree, but in the end, what’s important is that we’ve come together to do the right thing, both for the legacy of that wonderful horse, but most importantly for the industry as a whole. I mean, this is a really huge step forward in putting horses first, and recognizing that that is the common bond that brings us all together. At the end of the day, why we do this is because we love horses.”

Horse Participation Agreement

The current horse participation agreement was outdated, Branscomb said, harkening back to the old U.S. Equestrian Team days when owners essentially gave their horses to the team to use.

“Owners like me, if we wanted our horses to participate in these championship events, we had to essentially loan—I mean, that was a word in the agreement, ‘loan’—our horses and give up any custody and control,” Branscomb said. 

In Chromatic’s case, that meant Branscomb was alerted to the fact that her horse was being administered the injection in question by a call from her groom, rather than after any discussion with or approval from her or Humphrey. The new agreement designates the rider as the point person who must be consulted before any non-emergency treatments are administered. Branscomb said the decision to use the rider rather than the owner as that point of contact has to do with FEI and USEF rules, as well as the fact that many horses now are owned by syndicates with no clear single person in a position of authority to make decisions.

The new agreement will, she said, make it “clear that some human being that knows and loves that horse is going to be the one making the decision whether to medicate or not.”

Continuing Education And Research

The continuing educations initiatives focused on performance sports medicine will be developed collaboratively between USEF and AAEP, the USEF statement said. 

The idea behind them is to ensure treating veterinarians are well-informed not just on the latest changes to medication rules about what cannot be administered during competition, but also about the risks and benefits of the therapies they are allowed to use, including nutraceuticals, pharmaceuticals, homeopathic treatments, and emerging therapies.

“What’s exciting about this is we’re going to get the best-in-class science-based information about what all these emerging therapies actually do and don’t do, and what the opportunity and dangers of using them are, and we’re going to keep updating that information, and that’s what the third [initiative] is for, with research,” Branscomb said. “But there’s already a lot of information available that can be packaged, that can go out to these veterinarians to make sure they really are on the cutting edge of current scientific knowledge of what works.”  

USEF also has committed to contributing an as-of-yet undecided amount to establishing a research fund in Chromatic’s name. That fund would be specifically directed toward funding research that contributes to improving the health and well-being of performance horses. Branscomb said she, too, plans “to be out dialing for dollars” to fund the program in the name of sport horse welfare. Branscomb noted that some widely used therapeutic modalities haven’t been studied in depth, and she hopes that can occur thanks to the fund.

“The research fund is designed to support the work of developing the education program in cooperation with the AAEP, so that the material that goes to these treating vets is actually well thought-out, based in an understanding of the research,” she said. “It’s going to take top quality veterinarians and people in universities to get the information compiled and organized and packaged in a way that it can be efficiently digested by these USEF veterinarians. So this first part of the fund is just helping fund the education, but the other part is doing these actual experiments.”

Branscomb said she’s looking forward to what the new USEF initiatives can do for the sport and the horses and is no longer considering legal action. 

“I think we’ve come together now for a really, really good set of programs that will actually make a difference,” she said. “All I’ve ever wanted from the beginning was for the legacy of my horse to be something good for the sport. I don’t think the best ideas of how to help horses, and how to change the industry in a positive direction, are going to come from the courtroom.”

USEF senior leadership were complimentary of Branscomb and her efforts in their Tuesday statement.

“Kc’s decision to work collaboratively with USEF and to move forward demonstrates her passion and commitment to the betterment of the lives of performance horses,” USEF Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel Sonja Keating said. “We are grateful to her for that and look forward to implementing these new initiatives. As the guardian of the sport, horse health and well-being are top priorities for USEF, and these new initiatives align with our mission as a federation.” 

“On behalf of the staff and leadership of the USEF, we want to thank the owner for working collaboratively with USEF to turn the loss of Chromatic BF into a positive path forward for learning to improve the future of sport horses in the U.S. and beyond.” USEF Chief Executive Officer Bill Moroney added.