Following Chromatic BF’s tragic death during the 2024 FEI Jumping World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) has announced three new initiatives to support sport horse welfare. The initiatives include revisions to the USEF’s Horse Participation Consent Agreement, the development of a continuing education program for USEF team veterinarians, and the establishment of an education and research program in Chromatic BF’s name. 

In accordance with the FEI Veterinary Regulations art. 1079, a post-mortem examination was conducted after Chromatic BF collapsed and died in the stable in Riyadh on 18 April. Prior to his collapse and death, the 13-year-old gelding had just finished third in the second round of the competition in Riyadh – set at 1.60m, with a jump-off – after a double clear with his rider, USA’s Jill Humphrey. The day before, on 17 April, Chromatic BF had also jumped clear in the first round – finishing 12^th. Sitting 5^th on the overall ranking after the first two rounds, the gelding – bred, born and raised in California by his owner Kc Branscomb – caught everyone’s attention at the World Cup Final.

The final post-mortem report – completed on 8 June by the Department of Pathology at the King Faisal University in Saudi Arabia – stated that the cause of Chromatic’s death was severe diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage and edema. The report detailed that the pulmonary hemorrhages and edema “(…) could be attributed to multiple causes, including, disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), cardiopulmonary failure, shock, and exercise-associated fatal pulmonary hemorrhage.”

However, the post-mortem report also detailed how Chromatic at 10.41 PM on 18 April – roughly two hours after the second round of the World Cup Final – had been treated with several different types of medication: 4 milliliters of Legend, 5 milliliters of Adequan, 20 milliliters of Traumeel, 20 milliliters of Arnica and 20 milliliters of Selevit – none of which are prohibited by the FEI. The medication was administered by the USEF team veterinarian, without prior consultation with Chromatic’s own team.

Legend, Adequan, Traumeel and Arnica are traditionally used for joint and muscular relief. Selevit is an injectable solution which contains selenium, vitamin B12, vitamin E, adenosine-5 monophosphoric acid (AMP) and sorbitol, and is used on calves, cows, lambs, pigs and horses to treat severely selenium deficient animals. Selenium is a micronutrient mineral that in small doses plays an important role in a healthy equine diet. However, an excessive amount of selenium can cause poisoning and an acute poisoning can cause rapid death. Selevit is for example used to treat muscular dystrophy in calves, lamb and swine, as well as to treat and prevent deficiency states of vitamin E and selenium, but is also for treatment of muscle fatigue and muscle overload.

At 10.44 PM, minutes after having been treated with the different medication as listed in the post-mortem report, Chromatic returned to the stable before he one minute later started to seizure violently. At 10.48 PM, Chromatic, already prone, was given fluid therapy with 20 ml Dexamethasone. The gelding was pronounced dead at 10.59 PM.

As Chromatic’s owner, Kc Branscomb had prior to the World Cup Final signed USEF’s Horse Participation Agreement – as required by the USEF. In effect, under this agreement, owners would loan their horse to the USEF for a certain event and time frame. At the time, the agreement stated that: “For purposes of horse welfare, by signing this Agreement the horse owner(s) give their full permission to the USEF and its agents to administer medication to their horse(s) in the interest of the horse(s) welfare and well-being during the loan period.” 

When the findings in the final post-mortem report were revealed by several American equestrian media outlets back in June, USEF released a statement where it pointed out that the administered medications had not been identified as the cause of death. Now, nearly four months after Chromatic BF passed away, there has been new development in the case – USEF now points to the medications as the most probable cause of 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 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,” USEF wrote in a press release issued 13 August.

“I recognize Chromatic’s tragic death was the unintended consequence of a single veterinarian acting alone without prior consultation of anyone on Chromatic BF’s own team out of a well-intentioned but mistaken effort to help the horse prepare for the jumping final to be held two days later,” Kc Branscomb, the breeder and lifetime owner of Chromatic BF, said in the press release. “I truly appreciate that the USEF is taking substantive steps now towards improving sport horse welfare and better protecting all our competition horses.”  

According to the press release from USEF, Branscomb and USEF have “(…) worked together to develop a series of initiatives aimed at learning from this tragedy and mitigating the risk of a reoccurrence.”

Revisions to the Horse Participation Consent Agreement include how, except in an emergency, no medications will be administered to horses by team veterinarians at international competitions without prior consent of the rider – who is the person responsible under FEI regulations for substances present in a horse.

Furthermore, USEF will, in collaboration with the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) veterinarians, “(...) 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.”

Additionally, USEF stated that 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 (…)” it 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.

“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 and General Counsel Sonja Keating said in the press release from USEF. “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,” Bill Moroney, USEF Chief Executive Officer, concluded the USEF press release.