Quote:
Originally Posted by deeb
Horse tonics back then ( juice ! ) had small amounts of arsenic and strychnine, both of which are poisinous and toxic . Humans can build up a tolernace to arsenic by gradually increasing the amount ingested. Don't know if it was for worms or digestion problems
Strychnine used to be in rodent poison. Arsenic was one of the chemical Paul Ehrlich used to kill the syphillis germ. After 600 -plus tries he got it right.
Don't know if Tommy was careless . He claimed that the horse had been given "tonics " for a while. The movie showed that he cared deeply for the horse and Phar Lap thrived under his care.
Running in a new country ( dirt track ) and new surroundings may have weakened him enough to let a overdose have more effect.
The Aussies still blame the Yanks for this !
Woodcock became a sucessful trainer .
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Arsenic was and still is used to get horses to eat , of course with things like Winstrol its use is not as common anymore but it might be again.