Just saw this annoucment: http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=20153
It makes me wonder, with a potential Triple Crown winner on their hands, why the trainer didn't get the filling in the leg ultrasounded prior to letting him do the gallop? The article doesnt say whether the horse had a history of filling, which might have influenced his decision.
I'm not one to try and play "back seat vet" or "back seat horse owner" since there's always circumstances that aren't fully reported, BUT with it being such a public case, and dealing with several cases of "superficial digital tendonitis" I just wonder. The last thing I would do a week prior to Tevis would be to take my horse out that had filling in one leg and do a conditioning ride on it --> If I had any thought I would do Tevis on that horse still, I would ultrasound it first to see what, if any, visible damage there was, before risking further damage.
Further out from the race, I might do exactly what the trainer did --> give the horse some time off, wait until it dissapeared (I think they waited?) and then go out for a light conditioning ride and see what happened. I do this all the time, especially with my horse's history because filling isn't a reliably indicator of whether there's an reinjury in Farley's leg right now (although it IS an indicator that I did something that was probably too much).
Even with tremendous public pressure I'm glad the decision was made for the horse's sake, although I'm dissapointed (as I'm sure everyone is) that there will be no triple crown winner this year. May we all have the determination and courage to do the same by our horses when that time comes!
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I gathered from all I read that he was exercised lightly at a walk the day before the last gallop. I assumed (and maybe I'm wrong, cuz boy I can be!) that they walked because it was filled, the filling went down, then they galloped the next day, and he came back in sore. I did follow this closely.
ReplyDeleteYes, kudos to those who put the horse first.
Cool. That makes a lot more sense to me. It just didn't seem logical that when faced with the the kind of value that he represented that they would skimp on the ultrasounds.
ReplyDeleteYour thoughts on this subject very similar to my own. The end of our "hopes" this year - yet again...
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