- Equipoise is a scientific term meaning "perfectly balanced." This name was given to American Thoroughbred champion Equipoise, who ran from 1932 to 1934 and became a successful sire until his sudden death at age 10. Equipoise was first made in a lab in the 1930's, when the horse was still well known. The name is not trademarked, so it became used by makers of veterinary pharmaceuticals in Canada, Mexico, Australia and Europe. Other brand names include Ganabol, Maxi-Gain, Equi-Gain, Boldebol-H and Sybolin. The most popular maker is Squibb.
- It is illegal for any professional human athlete to take Equipoise before competition. For example, the substance is banned by Major League Baseball. Steroids stay in the human body for five months, so some critics claim that they use it months before a competition. Steroids are illegal for horse sports in Europe, including racing, but are not illegal in America on a national level and are not regulated. Some states like California do ban Equipoise.
- The testosterone in Equipoise helps make it a muscle builder. It does not seem to put muscle on as dramatically or as quickly as other kinds of steroids. It also greatly increases the appetite, to take in the fuel needed (particularly protein) to have the cells increase their production of tissues in order to make more muscles. It's best used when injected into the muscle. In horses, the injections are two to three weeks apart, but people have been known to take small doses (even as low as 1 cc) twice a week.
- Equipoise does increase muscle mass, stamina and tolerance to pain in both humans and horses. In horses, it does make them very aggressive. Long-term use of anabolic steroids has proven to be very risky for both horses and humans, resulting in sterility, hair loss, skin problems and damage to joints, muscles and tendons due to training too hard. Eight Belles, who had to be euthanized for breaking down in the 2008 Kentucky Derby, was on Equipoise.
- Public pressure and state laws are under way to ban all steroids from horse racing and all horse sports. More and more human sports organizations are coming down hard on athletes caught taking Equipoise. More refined drug tests are being developed to catch these athletes.
