Posted on 05/20/2006 11:13:23 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Some horses run until they are 10 years old.Start to slow down at that time. My TB is 27 and can still go at racing speed. Just not long. Great horses are generally retired by 5 yrs so they can have a sucessfull career at stud. No need to take a chance by that time and they have won all that is out there.
Geldings are raced longer since no chance of breeding. Mares also get retired for breeding purposes
IIRC they drug 'em up..hang 'em in a sling and eventually set them up with some kind of splint that takes the pressure off the fetlock area while the mending takes place.
But it's one thing to do that to a "common" horse, quite another to do it on a high strung horse that just wants to run.
So Sad.
prisoner6
has PETA weighed in on this yet?
The day I won the lottery, I'll buy Kentucky. :)
WIN -- not won, or I'd already own KY. :)
I meant exactly what I said. There is nothing wrong with me.
You don't think someone saying they are so physically sickened that they won't be eating tonight is going overboard?
If it wasn't for gambling, there wouldn't be horse racing and horses wouldn't be injured in this manner. I have no personal problem with horse racing, and i could understand the owners, trainer, rider and those close to the horse being phyically sickened, but not many beyond that. It's part of the risks of the sport.
Post 346 was meant for you
I actually feel bad for the horse and was really upset about it. But to cancel dinner plans?
He was sound as a dollar from the time my trainer picked him up until he was eventually turned out to pasture at age 22, and cossetted by two teenage twin girls until the day of his death. I showed him and he did very well. A tall, skinny chestnut T'bred with a Roman nose and an attitude. He tended to loaf around, but if you lifted the reins on him he still had a breathtaking turn of speed for 100 yards or so. And he could do his everies, so he was one hundred percent sound.
Pin firing worked for years when there wasn't anything better. Because the lower leg is more bone and ligament than flesh it does not have a good blood supply, creating a soft tissue injury increases blood flow to the area and allowed them to heal.
Somebody on one of my horse racing forums is watching TVG, and she said that Frank Lyons, who is a trainer and VERY good at noticing talent, at least on TV, said that Sweetnorthernsaint did bump Barbaro a bit just before he broke down, but didn't think that was the cause. He thinks, from watching it in slow motion (and they break things down on TVG to the point of nauseum) that he took a bad step. I tend to think he may have slipped a bit because of the sudden move to the right he took, but I could be mistaken.
Not at all. I only know what I saw. Period. No need to get huffy just because my opinion is harsher than yours about what happened and about the safety record of the sport.
Ruffian, Go For Wand, Barbaro and so many, many others. Somewhere along the line I stopped seeing it as a sport and started seeing it as something cruel. If you find objection in that, just chalk it up to my shattered illusions and let it go.
Why are you here. Why can't you leave us alone. You are being as bad as the nuts who hate Bush going into the Daily Dose. You are here just to rile us up. Why don't you go home and go to bed.
The trick is if the foot doesn't work, it doesn't get enough circulation. As soon as can be possible, the horse needs to move.
Somehow I bet that statement doesn't go over well on this thread. Would you happen to be a New Mexico priest?
This is a dangerous sport at times and it's good to keep in perspective that accidents happen at tracks every day at every track.
Ok, I can see that. But wouldn't letting them rest for a few months help too?
I just came to the thread, but I guess the issue is blood supply to the foot. If the blood supply is compromised, they will have to put him down. Such a beautiful animal... it's a shame.
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