More than 20 polo horses dead as mystery deepens in Florida

Florida agriculture scientists are performing necropsies Monday on 21 horses that died as they were prepared to compete in a Sunday polo match in Wellington, Florida."We'll be testing blood and tissue to see what the common denominator was here -- was it something injected, was it bad water and so forth," said Terence McElroy, a spokesman for the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.The horses were part of the Venezuelan-based Lechuza Caracas team and were being kept at the team's trailers on the grounds of the International Polo Club Palm Beach. Fifteen horses that seemed disoriented died before Sunday's match, said McElroy, and their bodies were sent to the state-run Kissimmee Diagnostic Laboratories near Orlando, Florida.Two horses initially collapsed, and as veterinarians and team officials scrambled to revive them, five others became dizzy, Tim O'Connor, spokesman for the polo club, said Sunday.