# 21 Polo Ponies drop dead **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 20, 2009, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777 "2009-04-20T20:58:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/41 "2009-04-21T12:20:14Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > As far as I know, ferrets wouldn’t do anything similar, because they are not food hoarders, are they? Hamsters would, as they are notorious for hoarding. I can confirm that they do hoard food, though perhaps not quite so industriously. I had a ferret in High School (back when they were still illegal exotic pets) and when we moved out of our townhouse we found her food EVERYWHERE. She used to eat a mix of cat food and “Gainsburgers” dog food. Well we thought she did. It seemed clear that she really only ate the cat food. We found a good ten pounds of fossilized Gainsburgers all over the house. Thnak goodness the things had dried up and turned white - I can’t imagine what the place would have smelled like otherwise. :eek: Of course, maybe then we would have found out sooner . . . ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/42 "2009-04-21T13:22:57Z")
> [@not\_alice](#): > > I suspect Ed Norton in the stables without changing out of his sewer uniform. the man loves his polloponies! **Mmm - Rachel, you’ve come back!** First thing I thought when I saw the story. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/43 "2009-04-21T14:46:14Z")
That’s a lot of glue. And great story- the giggles started at I Have Almonds And You Don’t, and grew from there. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/44 "2009-04-21T15:54:01Z")
My first thought was blister beetles but I guess they’d have to have had a heck of an infestation of them to kill that many horses that fast. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/45 "2009-04-21T18:00:32Z")
> [@kittenblue](#): > > So the 100 horses who died at EquiTransfer (in the link above) died in October…have they issued the results of the toxicology report on them yet? Apparently [botulism](http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/sfl-horses-dead-polo-mass-deaths,0,869636.story), as I said upthread. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/46 "2009-04-22T04:29:22Z")
> [@Wile\_E](#): > > My first thought was blister beetles but I guess they’d have to have had a heck of an infestation of them to kill that many horses that fast. Heck of a blister beetle, Brownie! – couldn’t resist ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/47 "2009-04-22T04:38:00Z")
This is bad enough, but what a sight it would be if 21 polo elephants were to drop dead. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![shantih](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f6c823/32.png) [@shantih](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shantih)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2009, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/48 "2009-04-22T10:24:28Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I think that one of my favorite bits is the fact that the squirrel is Traumatized by the Christmas tree, and tries to hide under the nearest border collie. I repost the story every now and then because there’s always people who haven’t read it yet…and people who need to re-read it, too. > > As far as I know, ferrets wouldn’t do anything similar, because they are not food hoarders, are they? Hamsters would, as they are notorious for hoarding. > > In the beginning of the story, the writer mentions that horses view new feeds with suspicion. Perhaps they are right to do so. Thanks for reposting that story! I had never read it before and now I’m trying to stifle the giggles. Like **corkboard** , I was especially ticked by I Have Almonds and You Don’t, but I also loved the image of the squirrel smirking at the hawk through the window, with a treat in each paw. ---
**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/49 "2009-04-23T17:52:47Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Some informed speculation over at [Fugly Horse of the Day](http://fuglyhorseoftheday.blogspot.com/2009/04/too-bad-horses-couldnt-just-say-no.html) is that the ponies: > > > [@](#): > > > > …had a reaction to tainted steroids administered by an Argentine vet not licensed to practice here. Close. It’s now being called [a pharmacy error](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article/article?f=/n/a/2009/04/22/national/a154344D79.DTL) - [they were attempting to replicate a vitamin supplement called Biodyl that’s banned in the US](http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/story/1013142.html), but is apparently perfectly fine and legal in Venezuela (where the ponies are from) and in much of the world. If they’d been able to bring the commercially-prepared supplement into the US, the ponies would most likely still be alive and well. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/50 "2009-04-23T19:31:38Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com)’s coverage of the tragedy and its accidental cause: [Florida pharmacy says it wrongly prepped horse meds before match - CNN.com](http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/04/23/polo.pony.deaths/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/51 "2009-04-23T19:52:56Z")
That pharmacy is toast. I’ve never heard of a 1) pharmacy for humans that mixes up special batches for animals 2) for a combination of ingredients which together are banned by the FDA. Any other perspective or thoughts on this. Thanks for the squirrel story. Well written funny stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/52 "2009-04-23T20:01:03Z")
> [@Shirley\_Ujest](#): > > That pharmacy is toast. > > I’ve never heard of a 1) pharmacy for humans that mixes up special batches for animals It can happen. A friend of mine had to get some weird medicine for her cat made at a compounding pharmacy. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/53 "2009-04-23T20:15:06Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > It can happen. A friend of mine had to get some weird medicine for her cat made at a compounding pharmacy. I had to get digoxin mixed up as a liquid medication to give to one of my ferrets, who had heart problems. Children also take a liquid version of it if they have heart problems, so regular pharmacies are used to this. I walked up with a prescription to the pharmacy at my then-workplace (a hospital), and the pharmacist who took it did a double-take and asked how old the child was who was on this dose. I said it was for a ~2 lb ferret, and he visibly relaxed; apparently the dose looked really wrong for anyone who’d be an outpatient, as it’s weight-related. As for the mixture in question, if I understand it right, none of those ingredients are banned, but the **mixture** in question hasn’t been FDA approved - and, I assume, not submitted for testing. But yes, the pharmacy screwed up bigtime if it was in fact their error. (Versus if the vet wrote up the wrong dosing on the scrip.) ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2009, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777/54 "2009-04-23T21:35:48Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > It can happen. A friend of mine had to get some weird medicine for her cat made at a compounding pharmacy. When a rat of ours had cancer, we had steroids mixed for him at a local pharmacy. Apparently, the pharmacist there also does medications for the St. Louis zoo. But yeah, the pharmacists in this story screwed up big time. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/21-polo-ponies-drop-dead/493777.md?page=2)