Posted on 04/20/2009 9:50:20 AM PDT by JoeProBono
Not a bad thought. That is why we need more info on transportation method, history etc. One piece of evidence to suggest otherwise is that several horses died during the next several hours. Yes, horses with CO or cyanide, show a cherry-red appearance to the blood.
My money’s on smuggling of narcotics in balloons by someone handling these critters.
Excruciatingly sad. I wonder whether these lovely animals were on steroids, hormones, or other drugs and might have been overdosed.
Peculiar, though, that they died while being unloaded from their transport. And none died in transit.
Bad feed...no way. Polo ponies aren’t cheap, they are cared for like royalty. Had to be deliberate.
This is getting much reekier. Apparently the owner of about half those horses is Victor Vargas, who recently went through an acrimonious divorce and turned around and bought a hugely expensive home in Palm Beach, very close to Wellington where it is thought the horses were poisoned on arrival:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/sports/othersports/21polo.html
“Veterinarians who examined the animals said that it appeared that they had died from heart failure caused by a toxin of some sort. ... the animals might have been exposed to contaminated hay or deliberately poisoned. The horses all came from the same stable but had various owners. Some belonged to the team’s owner, Victor Vargas, an immensely wealthy Venezuelan banker. The remaining horses were owned by individual riders on the team,....
“Mr. Vargas, who recently went through an acrimonious divorce in Palm Beach, became well known in the area last year when he purchased a $70 million home, one of the most expensive residential real estate deals in the country. “
Leave it!
(Sorry, it just slipped out. Nothing funny about a lot of dead horses.)
Mr. Vargas, who recently went through an acrimonious divorce in Palm Beach, became well known in the area last year when he purchased a $70 million home, one of the most expensive residential real estate deals in the country. He could not be reached for comment, but Mr. Rizzo described him as “in shock and mourning.”
You don’t suppose ex-wifey exacted her revenge, do you?
At least someone didn’t find 21 horses heads in the beds upon awakening.
They were already speculating about that at the courthouse in Palm Beach today
.
Inevitable
There is a direct statistical correlation between an economic downturn and the sudden deaths of throughbreds. I have heard that perhaps more than half of all “sudden deaths” among six and seven figure throughbred horses are the result of an execution for the purpose of collecting insurance proceeds.
ping for later
I know what you mean. I’m waiting for the chance to say “Can it core a apple?”.
I could see one or two "balloons" busting but 21 horses??
“...each one valued at $100,000....”hmmmmm, maybe, but anything is only worth what someone else will pay for it and polo ponies are, alot of times, off-the-track T-breds who for some or another reason aren’t in the money enough to support their cost of care. Sometimes, the players get minimally injured off-the-trackers who can be “re-habbed” or can be “buted” and made to run through their lameness. It sounds like some “non-comprende” groom at the barn OD’d them on their “supplement” or grabbed the wrong container.
I hope they test the heck out of them and get to the bottom of it. People have abused sport horses for years and gotten away with it.........I know, I own one that was able to be re-habbed and lives his life like a horse should....fresh air, clean, green pastures, clean water, trails to ride out on, not with all the artificial entrapments that make them “stronger, faster, leaner, meaner”........money machines for their status seeking owners.........
...and they’re off!
Poison....most likely.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.