Drugs and the other problems in racing
Below is a link to the second article in the New York Times series on horse racing and its problems: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/30/us/casino-cash-fuels-use-of-injured-horses-at-racetracks.html?_r=2&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
Here is a link to an article on drugs in horse racing: http://tuesdayshorse.wordpress.com/2012/04/30/all-the-pretty-racehorses-full-of-all-the-ugly-drugs/
The link below has a list (and links) to many other related articles on horse racing and breeding: http://www.horsefund.org/horse-racing-resources.php
Trainer using science and technology to train
I received a link to this article today:
It’s nice to see some publicity about those using science and technology to condition racehorses. Australia and New Zealand seem to be leading the way in using heart rate monitors and other tools to get facts about the horses they train.
I will be rooting for Ortensia on June 19th!
More reflections on Lasix
Recently, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board (NYSRWB) opened a two-week comment period on the raceday use of Lasix. The proponents of Lasix make strong arguments for its use. In fact, regular readers may remember that not too long ago I reversed my own position on using Lasix from no to yes. This was based on an article which stated that bleeding (Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage – EIPH) is responsible for sudden deaths on the racetrack. To me, that seemed an unacceptable risk.
There is a lot written about Lasix, mostly pro, and I’ve read a lot of it. I confess that I make many decisions based on what could be termed intuition,gut feeling, or instinct – something just feels right or wrong. I may have no logical reason at the time I make a choice, but eventually the information will either come to me or it will work its way from the depths of my mind into consciousness.
Lasix is just such a case. Gut said no. Then, second-guessing my gut, I swayed over to yes, despite the fact that I do not believe bleeding is caused by high blood pressure caused by fluid in the horse’s system. Horses evolved to run. They evolved a spleen which contains up to 30% of their red blood cells. A spleen which contracts during flight to flood the horse’s system with extra blood cells. They are born blood dopers. I am fairly certain that nature built them to withstand extra fluid in their bodies.
But Lasix has been proven to reduce or prevent bleeding. Why?
The other day light dawned at Marblehead. All the stuff I read and heard finally got processed by my brain and the critical question floated into consciousness. Lasix is a diuretic. It is given hours before a race to flush water from the horse. The horse races and doesn’t bleed. But wait!! In other places in the world, Lasix is not allowed on race day, however, horses are TRAINED on it. It still prevents bleeding. How can that be? A diuretic given days before the race prevents EIPH? And there is my answer. Lasix does prevent bleeding. But NOT because it’s a diuretic
Some internet research quickly revealed the fact that Lasix (furosemide) is a sulfonamide. Sulfonamides are drugs that prevent the growth of bacteria in the body. See below:
Definition
Purpose
And there it is. A good argument for the real cause of bleeding. If using Lasix 72 hours (or more) before a race (the amount of time it takes to give a negative drug test) prevents bleeding, it’s due to its being a sulfonamide, NOT a diuretic. The diuretic effects of Lasix last 2-4 hours. Certainly not 72.
So, my position on Lasix returns to the original. No. We will not be using Lasix. I will however do some research on natural, legal, substances that work on the same bacteria as sulfonamides.
A new look at racing
In the April issue of Equus magazine, there was an article on Kerry Thomas, who’s using herd behavior/psychology to bring out the best in performance horses. I found the article intriguing and put Mr. Thomas’s book on my wishlist.
Coincidentally, a friend emailed me the following link: http://kentuckyconfidential.com/2012/04/30/introduction-thomas-analyzes-the-2012-kentucky-derby-field/ I was surprised to find Mr. Thomas again. After reading this new article I went to his website: The Thomas Herding Technique to check it out. There is a lot of great information there – thought provoking. And it would be absolutely fantastic if Thoroughbred trainers would adopt his method. Certainly the horses would have a better life and be happier!
I have also put a link to his site under the Links section of the blog.
Thoroughbred Times Response to the New York Times article on Breakdowns in Racing
Basically the industry response to the New York Times article was agreement. There was no real denial – which is a good sign as far as I’m concerned – no one vehemently denied the truth.
Dubai Gold Cup
During the first running of the 2012 Dubai Gold Cup (not World Cup), a horse broke his leg and fell. In the re-running of the Gold Cup, following the World Cup, two more horses broke down, one clearly breaking a leg. I told a friend that I blame drugs. She pointed out that horses in Dubai must not have any drugs in their systems when they race, so that couldn’t be the problem.
It dawned on me that for some reason people do not associate side-effects with drugs given to horses. As if all drugs given to horses do exactly what they’re meant to do and nothing else. After all, horses can’t complain and tell us they have side-effects. This is a caring person and yet the same mentality is present, as if giving a horse drugs is really nothing, no more long-term than taking an aspirin. All is good once the drugs are out of the system.
The fact is that the three most common types of drugs given to horses DO have side effects. Furosemide causes bone loss in people, steroids (not anabolic steroids) cause bone loss in people, and studies have shown that Bute causes bone loss in horses. Each by itself causes bone loss along with other side-effects. Most horses getting one get all three. How can that be without side effects? I am suspicious that the number of catastrophic cannon bone fractures is the result, at least in part, of the Thoroughbred industry’s reliance on drugs.
And I have to say I am sick and tired of hearing from the media, and people in the industry what fantastic treatment racehorses get. As if being confined to a cage with nice bedding is wonderful. The actual fact is that zoo animals are now treated better than horses. It has been recognized that keeping a tiger (a solitary creature in the wild by the way) in a cage is cruel. Ditto other wild animals. Efforts are made to assure that wild animals have enclosures, diets, and activities which mimic those that they would have in nature. If it’s cruel to keep a solitary animal in a cage why is it not cruel to keep a herd animal, whose mental health depends on social structure, in a cage? Why? Because with horses we don’t call it a cage, we call it a stall. That is the only difference between a stall and a cage. The name. That and the fact that the cage is not completely closed – the inmate can stick his or her head out.
Racehorses do not get fantastic treatment. They are not treated like royalty. They are caged, drugged, mentally and emotionally starved, fed diets unsuitable to their health – with over 90% estimated to have ulcers. They are made to work – for man – with no reward other than to go back to their cage. Yes, they get bathed every day – wow – and of course that is NOT something they choose to do in the wild. They choose to roll in the dirt and cover themselves with mud. Their coats shine – so what? Would you feel better in a cage if your hair looked good? In all that is done to horses at the track what is done FOR the horse? And what is done for MAN?
I never thought I would say those words. But I do believe them. Horses at the track are so unhappy that when one gets loose it’s often catastrophic. Be it on the track or the backside, they run. Blindly. They crash into other horses on the track. I personally saw a horse crash into a massive dumpster – bigger than the ones you’ll see at McDonalds. Crash into it and push it a couple feet. Of course he injured himself and fell to the ground, where he lay on his side, still running, until finally someone came to put him out of his misery.
I have agreed that everyone cannot give their horses the lifestyle I give mine. Maybe that shouldn’t be an excuse. Maybe if the only option is a cage we shouldn’t be allowed to have racehorses.
I really do debate racing Chance, Zola, or Lena. Racing is dangerous. Any time you run a horse at top speed there is risk. Sometimes I ask myself if I would race them if I was a billionaire. Would I? I would, not for money, but to show that horses do not have to be tortured to perform well. That humane treatment gets the same or even better results.
How many people think or have heard how intelligent dolphins are? Killer whales? Elephants? Grey parrots? And yet cows and horses are labeled as stupid. They are no less intelligent than dolphins or parrots – but because we use them as beasts of burden – and eat them – they must be labeled as stupid dumb animals – so that we can justify treating them badly. It’s time to stop.
A horse is not an accessory, a tool, an investment, or a commodity – it’s a living, breathing, thinking creature. Each one deserves to be treated as such.
Review of Lasix use in racing
One of the partners in Lena recently sent me a video on the use of Lasix. The video was produced by a human cardiac surgeon, who is also heavily involved with racehorses. I had been told that his views were pro-Lasix and I was interested in seeing what he had to say, but still skeptical and anti-Lasix.
The video skipped over the differences (large) between horses and humans regarding breathing and blood flow, but one thing that was said made me do some research when the video was over. Horses can die from bleeding.
Maybe I am alone in not knowing this, but it sure came as a shock. My first search was “horse deaths caused by bleeding”. This turned up an article from the L.A. Times (dated July 24, 1988). See excerpt below:
“Bleeding in race horses–a common syndrome at most tracks–has been identified as a possible major cause of sudden death in a controversial new study that concludes the phenomenon may explain many race-horse deaths previously thought to be heart attacks.
The finding surprised experts at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center veterinary complex, which headed the research project. The study was published earlier this month in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Assn. In a study of nine horses that died at two Pennsylvania tracks between 1981 and 1983, the New Bolton Center team found that bleeding was responsible in every case.
The study said this phenomenon often does not show itself through nosebleeds, as was previously thought. In fact, of the horses studied, only four of nine had visible nosebleeds.”
To read the entire article click here.
Even more disturbing was the following: “Both Soma and Sweeney questioned whether significant numbers of horses that appear to have breakdown injuries have had medical seizures just before they were hurt. Soma said slow-motion videotapes of injuries generally reveal that a fatal breakdown is preceded by a hyperextension of the leg and that injured horses often slow down after they are hurt and do not completely collapse.”
The very idea is extremely concerning. Perhaps that’s what happened to Eight Belles. Could it be?
I don’t necessarily believe the theory presented by Dr. Dedomenico – and widely accepted in the industry – that blood pressure is to blame. I have read Dr. Cook’s book, Specifications for Speed in the Racehorse: The Airflow Factors, and also found a third theory during my searching that makes a lot of sense – to me at least – and believe there is another cause, or perhaps a combination of causes of EIPH.
Here is a brief article on Dr. Cook’s beliefs. http://review.barnmice.com/the-bleeder%E2%80%99s-list/ And a link to Doug Ahart’s theory http://www.racehorseherbal.com/Racehorse_Injuries/EIPH/eiph.html. In addition, here is a link to a method that appears to be working and could actually validate Mr. Ahart’s theory. http://www.centurion-systems.co.uk/respiratory4.htm
Whatever the cause, for me, the risk is too great to take the chance and until more facts are available, the horses will race with Lasix.
Study Shows Long Toe – Low Heel Related to Racehorse Injuries
I stumbled over this the other day while searching for material for the online trimming course I’m offering.
I quote from the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit Issue 2 – Sponsored by the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation:
“Long toes can cause strain on tendons, the suspensory ligament and the sesamoid bones while short toes combined with high heels can cause concussion to the hoof (putting the horse at risk for navicular disease, ringbone, and arthritis). Low toe angles have been reported for horses with musculoskeletal and/or lameness problems.
In one California study, all groups of injured horses had acute toe and heel angles suggesting that decreasing the difference between toe and heel angles should decrease the risk of suspensory apparatus failure for Thoroughbred racehorses and should be considered to help prevent injury.”
Imagine my surprise when I see that this was published in 2007! This is the report that caused toe grabs to be banned, but apparently that was the only thing that racing decided to embrace. Sadly.
For those who want to read the whole report, which is well worth a read, click here.
A big step forward to helping horses?
Hopefully!
A New York task force has submitted their report recommending that a percentage of gambling revenue – and purses – go toward the aftercare of racehorses in the state of New York. If we are lucky, the state will adopt the plan, which would be a tremendous boon for horses. In addition, it could become a model for all states that have racing.
To read the article, click here. To view/download the entire report, click here.
A big step forward toward humane methods
I just read that a bitless bridle has been approved for Standardbred racing in all the Nordic countries (Finland, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway). Wow!! And best of all, the first horse to race in the newly approved bridle finished second!
- View from the driveway January 25, 2012
Recent Comments