Time for a little horse sense, Avril

There is a delight in seeing our social betters get themselves into such bother. The antics of the equestrian fraternity are wondrous.

All over a horse's urine. But a few questions suggest themselves. The first concerns Cian O'Connor. It seems O'Connor while riding one of his horses, Waterford Crystal, at the Olympic Games last summer was aware at the time that another of his horses, ABC Landliebe, had already failed a doping test for the drug fluphenazine. O'Connor must have been greatly upset by this news and although he made some inquiries, they were only cursory ones.

Anyway, his vet was away so he could not check. But wouldn't you think that if one horse had failed a drug test and the rider wasn't sure how this could have happened that he would have made urgent and full inquiries as to how this could have occurred lest anything untoward happen with the horse he was riding in the Olympics?

And to make certain that there would be no trouble with the Olympic authorities, wouldn't you think he would have made a full declaration there and then about all the drugs that had been given Waterford Crystal, to pre-empt trouble later on?

O'Connor and his vet have claimed they were not aware that fluphenazine would still be in the horse's system one month after being administered. This would seem to suggest a lack of awareness of the testing sophistication that had developed in the US and the concern among equestrian authorities about how the drug was used as a performance enhancer.

The drug was used widely for horses in the US for some time as a performance enhancer. In 2001 the equestrian authorities announced it was testing aggressively for the drug and in 2002 they announced they were deploying a more sophisticated testing procedure that would enable them to find the drug in a horse's system up to three or four weeks after it had been administered.

The International Equestrian Federation, concerned about this development, started to develop its own testing procedure and mechanisms and, without an obligation to do so, announced in July 2004 that it had introduced advanced testing procedures for the detection of fluphenazine.

Fluphenazine is used as an anti-psychotic sedative for humans and it has been used for horses as a long-acting mild tranquilliser since the 1980s, especially in the US. The purpose of using the drug in horses is to "quieten" the horse in the treatment of an injury (as appears to have been the Waterford Crystal case) or it can be used as a performance enhancer, making a "hot" horse easier to handle in the crucial last steps before a jump.

In the US, riders told the federation they had their horses injected once a month and this improved horses' performance. It is surprising that neither Mr O'Connor nor his vet were aware of what had happened in the US in relation to fluphenazine over the previous several years.

It is also surprising they were unaware of the 2002/3 developments with the International Equestrian Federation in relation to this and that they did not know of the warning issued just before the Olympic Games.

Among the world's great scandals, the doping of horses seems to me to be low on the list, although, apparently, fluphenazine has serious side effects, one of them being psychosis - horses can go mad, literally, on the drug.

But even at that, horses going mad is not among the world's most pressing issues, such as the relief of world hunger, the ending of the arms race and getting rid of the Progressive Democrats.

But Avril Doyle might be expected to be less sanguine, especially as there is little else she is sanguine about. The guff about "double jeopardy" is entirely implausible: even the rugby authorities allow for a national authority to impose sanctions additional to sanctions imposed by international bodies.

While it is accepted that the drug was not administered to Waterford Crystal to enhance his performance and that it was administered "innocently", isn't there a culture of zero tolerance in sport generally?

So was special favour shown Cian O'Connor in having him back on the Irish equestrian team so soon after the federation ban had expired? The national organisation could have used its procedures to decide to keep him off the national team for a further period. The suspicion of special favour is heightened by allegations (which have been denied) that he exerted influence in the choice of riders for the Nations Cup at the RDS last Friday.

I would certainly hope no public monies are given to these show-jumping riders or their hangers on. This is an elite sport and it is ludicrous it is included in the Olympic Games.

How many Ethiopians compete in equestrian events? And it is not just because there is no tradition of show-jumping in Ethiopia but because of the high financial barrier to entry into the sport. The same, of course, is true in Ireland.

PS I should acknowledge that colleagues have suggested I myself might try this slow-acting tranquilliser!