Theodore O’Connors’ little bro
I have often wondered what made them it was worth working with such a small pony and bring him on to become the wonderful event horse he was. If he was anything like his little brother Coda then mystery solved. This is a video of Coda’s 2nd jump school ever, age 3. I am looking forward to seeing more from him in the future and how he progesses. For more information on him click DC al Coda
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Blood test could hold key to preventing major injuries
Could a simple blood test one day help save high performance horses from catastrophic bone fractures?
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The promise is held in research being conducted in the United States which has shown that many horses who suffered major fractures had preliminary signs of bone damage.
“We describe it as microdamage,” says Professor Wayne McIlwraith, director of the Orthopaedic Research Centre at Colorado State University.
“It consists of microcracks, but there is also more diffuse breakdown in the substance of the bone with death of bone cells, as well as breakdown in the collagen framework,” says the New Zealand-born equine surgeon.
Professor McIlwraith and others who have conducted research in the field feel “pretty confident” that this bone damage precedes several different kinds of common leg fractures, including humerus, condylar and sesamoid fractures – the last two in the fetlock joint.
“It’s becoming clear,” he says, “that detecting the presence of existing damage to the horse’s musculoskeletal structure through early recognition techniques is critical to fracture prevention.”
Bone scans will pick up microdamage, but it is not a practical option for the broader testing of equine athletes such as racehorses.
However, the discovery of biomarkers – chemicals released by the body in response to the microdamage – has opened the door to the possibility that a blood test could one day identify at-risk horses in all disciplines, from racing to endurance and eventing.
“The problem with scans is you are not going to get every horse getting it done. The idea behind biomarkers is that we could have a practical technique for identifying horses at risk and then horses with elevated biomarkers would get a scan.”
Professor McIlwraith believes a blood test could be commercially available within 2-3 years. “We are working with a company in the States to develop a commercial panel.”
He says research needs to focus on identifying further additions to the number of biomarkers for which testing can be undertaken. This would help improve the overall predictability.
“At the moment we are up to 70% predictability,” he says, referring to the results of a yet-to-be-published study in Southern California.
The research was conducted by Dr Dave Frisbie and Professor McIlwraith in collaboration with racetrack veterinarians. “We now want to move from 70% to 95%-plus,” he says.
The first person to look at chip fragments and recognised that they occurred in diseased (microdamaged) bone was Professor Roy Poole at the University of California, Davis.
However, it was Dr Chris Kawcak, working at Colorado State University, who showed this microdamage can develop with exercise and that it is always associated with the fracture line in catastrophic injuries.
Professor McIlwraith believes regular testing of racehorses would have a huge impact in reducing catastrophic injuries.
“The idea is that we could identify horses at risk, with biomarkers being a reflection of microdamage. We would then scan them to get an idea of how much damage was done.
“The beauty of all of this is that microdamage is reversible in many instances. The horses could be laid up and then go back into training in 2-3 months.
“The only area of microdamage that may be career-ending is palmar metacarpal disease in the fetlock joint. This is a particularly severe problem that occurs in the bottom-back part of the cannon bone where the sesamoids articulate. It arises in the bone and then can result in both pieces of bone breaking out,” Professor McIlwraith says.
Some consider it a predisposing problem with condylar fractures, he adds.
Dr McIlwraith says the rate of serious injuries is a major issue in racing, but he cautions that biomarker testing should not be seen as a cure-all.
“Other factors, such as racing surfaces and training regimens, must be evaluated for their roles in catastrophic injury, and a screening test is no substitute for proper horse management.
“We also must examine other purported injury factors, such as durability, two-year-old racing, and medication. That said, an easy-to-use test is a significant step toward an injury-free horse.”
Such testing cannot come quickly enough for a racing industry under growing scrutiny over its safety record.
The high profile deaths in the United States of Barbaro from leg fractures suffered in the 2006 Preakness Stakes and Eight Belles in this year’s Kentucky Derby has focused attention on what the US industry is doing to reduce the death toll and rate of serious injury.
Questions over racehorse durability have focused on whether breeding practices have played a part in the shortening of race careers.
Professor McIlwraith notes the efforts within US racing to improve safety. “The industry has certainly formed a number of committees to look at this issue. Some of their efforts have been hampered by individual states [with] individual rules, but this is improving” he says.
“It is the only major professional sport [in the US] that does not have a national authority.” Such a goal is proving difficult to achieve.
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Positive moves include the establishment of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium (RMTC) that has stake holders from all segments of the industry and has been working since 2001 to establish uniform medication rules throughout the country.
The RMTC was established after a racing medication summit that was organised by the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) and chaired by Professor McIlwraith, who was president of AAEP at the time.
The industry has also seen tighter regulations over medication, including use of anabolic steroids; improvements to racetrack surfaces; and research support for further work on race surfaces and biomarkers.
“The thoroughbred racing industry has had two summits on welfare and safety of the racehorse in the past two years and there are strong working committees coming out of those summits,” says Professor McIlwraith, who chairs the Race Track Surface committee.
The durability issue in racehorses will be difficult to tackle, he says. The main message from breeders is that if the market selected for durability, they would breed accordingly.
“The Jockey Club has started a durability index where the number of starts for progeny of a given stallion is evaluated. However, I feel people are still going to buy for the elite racehorse that they think is going to win a classic race for them.
“So the durability deal is a difficult situation to achieve.”
However, the issue is coming under increasing scrutiny.
“I don’t know if the industry ever bred for durability. But it is a recognised fact that the average number of starts is half of what they were 20 years ago so the industry is paying a price.” That price, he suggests, results from the greater priority put on racing success than on durability.
“I think many people in the racing industry have got the message that we can’t just carry on ‘business as usual’.
“Things are never going to be the same regarding huge attendances at race tracks … most of us can accept that getting people to the races was easy when it was only the legal method of gambling and that is not the case anymore.
“Many of the younger generation are not interested in horse racing. These are all factors in the continued viability of racing.
“Many people argue that we’re breeding a more fragile horse because of injury-prone genetics or blood lines. I wouldn’t say that, but I would say that for several hundred years, we’ve bred horses to be extremely fast.
“We’ve placed a priority on creating good racehorses based on speed, and over time, race horses have developed into very light-boned animals because they are more efficient at speed.
“I don’t believe we simply must expand the gene pool of today’s racing horses. We absolutely must place a value on a horse’s durability and soundness.
“To consider durability – how well a horse can avoid or overcome an injury and how well it ages – and soundness, we must look at a horse’s build, pedigree and how long it can race and remain healthy when considering selecting it as a racer.”
Professor McIlwraith says he agrees with the US industry’s move towards banning anabolic steroids but he doubts they have been a big factor in injury rates. “But with human sports such as baseball and cycling finally getting rid of them, the old adage of ‘perception is reality’ dictated elimination of anabolic steroid use – at least within 4-6 weeks of racing.”
It was important, however, to distinguish them from the corticosteroids, which are an important medication in the treatment of joints.
However, not all corticosteroids are good for joints. Depo-Medrol, for example, should not be used in high-motion joints, he says. “We still have not gotten everybody educated on the good ones versus the bad ones.
“So, in that vein, one corticosteroid has been a factor in the injury rate, but other commonly used ones such as betamethasone esters (Celestone) and triamcinolone acetonide (Vetalog) have not been.”
Professor McIlwraith and Professor Mick Peterson, a PhD engineer at the University of Maine, have published two papers on the objective evaluation of racetrack surfaces and the changes brought about by different maintenance regimens.
Their work resulted in the development of a machine to make the measurement. The plan is to build them and have them available at every race track in the US.
“Racetrack superintendents – at least with dirt and synthetics – want these day-to-day objective figures to help them maintain their tracks.”
Professor McIlwraith says synthetic surfaces still require maintenance and while they may have played a part in lowering the catastrophic injury rate to 1.5 per 1000 starts, there is still a way to go.
On dirt, in the US, based on recent data (national data had been lacking up until 2 years ago) the average number of catastrophic injuries per 1000 starts is 2.0 on dirt and 1.5 on synthetic racetracks.
Track measurements have tended to focus on the impact of vertical impact forces.
The method developed by Professors McIlwraith and Peterson assesses the shear strength as well. This is a measurement of grip (lack of slide) and how the hoof holds the track. A high potential for such forces in a track poses a greater risk of catastrophic injuries in horses.
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If the shear strength is higher than ideal the hoof will not slide when it goes into the track and there will be more jarring on the hoof. Alternatively, if the shear strength is too low, “cupping out” will occur, such as happens when our foot slips when running up a sand hill.
“These things can be manipulated with dirt and synthetics,” he says. “We haven’t really got into turf tracks yet to decide what is optimal.”
Differences in fatal injury rates around the world also warrant further investigation to identify the factors that may be at play, ranging from the durability issue in breeding, to different stances on medication and differences in track surfaces.
In the US, Professor McIlwraith believes the industry must take a hard look at the practice of claiming.
Claiming is the practice of racing where all the horses in the field are for sale. It has the potential to put unsound horses into racing, he says.
“Many of the races in the United States are claiming races, and therefore the majority of horses racing are ‘claimers’.
“This means that the horse is for sale every time it races, and claiming a horse can be considered an easy way to get into the racehorse business – but it’s also a way for owners to get rid of horses.
“Some horses in claiming races have musculoskeletal problems and don’t always have the best care. In other countries, claiming doesn’t occur at the level it does in the United States.
“There is no question that the level of claiming races in the United States impacts the number of injuries horses suffer during races because their health history is not disclosed to new owners.”
The AAEP formed a Racing Taskforce, comprising 25 members veterinary equine practitioners involved in all aspect of the racing industry, after the catastrophic injury of Eight Belles in the last Kentucky Derby.
It was brought together to look at all issues, but particularly medication, as several accusations had been made that this was a major factor in injury.
Professor McIlwraith participated in the task force, which also looked at the issue of claiming. It has recommended a rule that would prohibit racing a claimed horse back too quickly. It has also suggested that the claiming price had to be higher (rather than lower) in the horse’s first start after being claimed.
by Neil Clarkson for HorseTalk.com.nz
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Scheaffer
I would like to introduce everyone to my favorite blog. It is (biting knuckles) on a rival blog host but I simply can’t help sharing it anyways. Everyone: please meet Scheaffer.
One small donkey’s view of the world.
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This is Rocky. He is a 17hh Thoroughbred, born in 2004. He’s papered but never ran on the flat. He ran 3 times over jumps and got better each time. The current owner has had him for almost 2 years. He cribs without a crib collar on but does not when he is wearing it. That is his only vice. He has a fabulous attitude, is very generous and a real trier. I loved his jump and his gallop and his honesty. Really a lovely horse. Rocky also ships, clips, and is quiet. This video is from the first and only time I got to ride him and the is the first time he ever went through a grid.
Asking $12,000
For more information email Kate at fittyweasel@hotmail.com
Uncategorized | Comments (2)Rouncy Tote Bags
Rouncy Tote Bags are being sold today on Tack of the Day. This is exciting because Rouncy is the brain child of Wendy Kingsley, a good friend of mine. I am quite proud of her for accomplishing all this. Get your own tote at http://www.tackoftheday.com/extra/default.aspx
Uncategorized | Comment (0)New horse’s NSAID trial complete
by: Edited Press Release
In a recently completed 429-horse trial, researchers reinforced the effectiveness and safety profile of Equioxx (firocoxib), the first equine oral, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) to be approved in more than 20 years.
“This research helps prove the benefits of Equioxx, and it also demonstrates the commitment to continued research for all Merial products,” said Doug Carithers, DVM, director of marketing trials and publications at Merial. “This is one of the largest equine NSAID studies conducted after product launch, and the results validate what we know veterinarians and owners nationwide see in horses after using Equioxx.”
Equioxx is proven to control the joint pain and inflammation associated with equine osteoarthritis, which is one of the most common causes of lameness in horses. Also known as degenerative joint disease, osteoarthritis can develop in horses as young as 2 years old.
From May 2007 to February 2008, horses diagnosed with osteoarthritis were enrolled in the Equioxx Experience Trial by veterinarians at 80 sites in 25 states. The study included horses from 1 to 33 years old, representing more than 10 breeds. After a 14-day trial of Equioxx, both veterinarians and their handlers reported results. Some of the key findings include:
* Improvement continued through duration of 14-day trial
* Improvement was consistent regardless of breed, age, or weight of horse
* Improvement was consistent regardless of the joint(s) involved
* 87.6% of handlers reported horses as “moving better”
* 96% of handlers believed Equioxx was palatable for their horse(s)
The trial evaluated horses with both single- and multiple-joint osteoarthritis diagnoses. Of those cases, 50% of horses were diagnosed with osteoarthritis in the tarsus (hock) joint, and more than 27% of horses showed osteoarthritis in the fetlock joint.
In previous research, Equioxx was shown to work quickly to provide 24 hours of pain relief and is easily administered as an oral paste.
Since its launch in 2007, Equioxx is the only NSAID approved for use up to 14 consecutive days by the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA) and United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) when used at the recommended dose.
“We believe in demonstrating the results of Equioxx in practical, everyday situations both with continued research and with customers across the country,” Carithers said.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Barbaro Fund Supports Research Projects
(Edited press release)
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association Dec. 5 announced that its subsidiary, NTRA Charities, has disbursed $90,801 in support of one new and two continuing equine medical research projects.
The disbursements were made from the NTRA Charities – Barbaro Memorial Fund, established in memory of the 2006 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Barbaro, who succumbed to laminitis, a disease of the hoof, in 2007. Funds for the studies will flow through the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.
All three studies involve laminitis research. The new study, “Effect of Digital Hypothermia on Inflammatory Injury in Laminitis,” by Dr. James Belknap of Ohio State University, is a two-year project funded for $82,109.
The two continuing projects are “Targeting 5-HT in Equine Laminitis,” by Dr. Douglas Allen at University of Georgia and “Treatment of Equine Laminitis with Doxycycline,” by Dr. Susan Eades at Louisiana State University.
These two studies were funded with a $100,000 contribution from the Barbaro fund to the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation in 2007; an additional $8,692 completes the projects in 2008.
Both projects are on schedule to produce research papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. The Barbaro Fund contributed an additional $60,000 in 2007 toward laminitis research projects and programs at the University of Pennsylvania, bringing its total disbursements to $250,801.
“We are proud that the NTRA Charities – Barbaro Memorial Fund is making this important laminitis research possible, and we salute the Barbaro Memorial Fund’s many contributors, who are collectively ensuring that Barbaro’s legacy lives on in a tangible and essential way,” said Alex Waldrop, president and CEO of the NTRA and NTRA Charities.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)How to rope a deer – vaguely horse-related.
Roping A Deer (Names have been removed to protect the UNEDUCATED!)
Actual letter from a guy who farms and writes well!
I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it.
The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregate at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home.
I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope.
The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it.
After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up — 3 of them. I picked out.. ..a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw.. .my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me.
I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation.
I took a step towards it…it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and then received an education.
The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope.
That deer EXPLODED.
The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope and with some dignity.
A deer– no chance.
That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I had originally imagined.
The only up side is that they do not have as much stamina as many other animals.
A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope.
I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the hing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual.
Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer’s momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, and I didn’t want the deer to have to suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder – a little trap I had set before hand…kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and I started moving up so I could get my rope back.
Did you know that deer bite? They do!
I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist.
Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head–almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts.
The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds.
Being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now), tricked it.
While I kept it busy tearing the tendons out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day.
Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal — like a horse –strikes at you with their hooves and you can’t get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape.
This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run.
The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down.
Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head.
I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away.
So now I know why when people go deer hunting they bring a rifle with a scope to sort of even the odds.
Uncategorized | Comment (1)20 Thoroughbreds Adopted via TheHorse.com Service
In the month since its launch, 20 Thoroughbreds have found new homes via TheHorse.com’s free listing service for Thoroughbreds available to good homes. See the list of horses that have found new homes.
Another 55 are currently available. If you are looking for your next equine athlete, or if you have room at your farm and in your heart for another horse, please visit the Thoroughbred Adoption Service listing on TheHorse.com/Horses/Available.
If you have a registered Thoroughbred that needs a home, you may place the description of the horse on the service for free. Just visit the home page of TheHorse.com and click on Thoroughbred Adoption Service.
For more information on the new Thoroughbred Adoption Service please see the article Thoroughbred Adoption Service Launched for FREE Horses.
Please help us spread the word.
Uncategorized | Comment (0)Ireland’s Miniature Horses to Get Official Studbook, Passports
The owners of Ireland’s smallest equines have big cause for celebration, as that country’s Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food last week officially recognized the Miniature Horse and Pony Society of Ireland (MHPSI). As a result, the Irish Horse Register will maintain a studbook and issue equine passports for Irish Miniature Horses and ponies beginning Feb. 1, 2009.
Society members have been working for three years to reach this milestone, said Martina Colton, MHPSI secretary. “We are actually very excited about it. Up until now we’ve had to register our horses in England or Scotland. It’s great news,” said Colton.
The studbook will include Shetlands, Falabellas, British, American and Dutch Miniatures, Spotted Horses and Ponies, and other equines registered with the International Miniature Horse and Pony Society.
According to European Union laws, all horses and ponies must be accompanied by an identification document, such as an equine passport, when transported from one location to another.
“There are quite a lot of miniatures without a passport in Ireland, so this is quite important,” said Colton, although some currently have passports issued by other EU countries.
The procedure and fees to apply for an equine passport will be the same as for full-sized horses, according to Colton. With the application, owners must submit a marking chart completed by their veterinarian. As part of the identification process, all horses must be microchipped.
In addition, stallions must be DNA tested and approved as sound for breeding. “A veterinarian will check the animals for any defects,” said Colton. Forms, guidelines, and evaluation criteria will be posted to the Society’s Web site.
by: Irene Stamatelakys for TheHorse.com
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