Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

husker02 — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 03:00:17 GMT

Excellent article.

If only all race horse owners could follow the examples shown by the connections of the Great Zenyatta.

They held her back till she was age 3, and it seems to have paid off.

She is a healthy retired girl now.

Zenyatta had a perfect family that truly cared about her health and well being. The Mosses' and Sheriffs' and the groom and all that touched Zenyatta's life has shown the industry how its done.

Best to ReRun and all they do to help Thoroughbred's.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Mary Johnson — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:48:52 GMT

Thank you, Dr. Orman, for standing up for the "discarded" horses of the racing industry. Everything you have stated is "right on". Many of these so called owners/trainers have very little regard for the welfare of these athletes AFTER these horses are no longer able to earn a few dollars. I have personal experience with these low level horses who have nowhere to go because of their injuries. As a proud member of the non-racing public, I am tired of picking up the broken bodies. I now want the racing industry to be accountable, and, until they are, I continue to applaud the industry's precipitous decline.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Jean in Chicago — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 22:45:58 GMT

Elaine & Donut Jimmy, I don't think its 2yr old RACING that is so helpful, its the early CONDITIONING that is vital. But my point is that each horse is an individual and needs to be evaluated as such. Go back and look at the lists of early hot prospects for the Derby and count up how many of them actually made it into the gate. And these days the pressure is even greater to race youngsters since a really good horse may not even be able to run in the Derby because he/she doesn't have enough purse money accumulated.

Convene, I agree about the days before Bute. Running sore horses with pain masking meds just increases the danger, not only to them, but also to their riders.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Robin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:46:13 GMT

I worked on the track for many years and most trainers do horrible things to their horses just to win a race for their owners. The owners have no idea what the vets have done to get the horse to the race.They get their picture taken in the winners circle and have no idea how bad the horse is doing the day after the race.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Micheala Chilton — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 09:41:41 GMT

A very sad article for me to read, I am an ex groom/track rider from the uk who spent 20+ yeas working with some of the best horses in the uk, here we cannot inject horses with steriods and race them it is a banned substance and as horses are routinely dope tested at the racecourse it will be picked up and the trainer will be fined on the first time, second time a ban will be given. We here in the uk have national hunt racing which causes even more stress to joints ligaments and tendons, however if a horse has an injury the correct treatment is given with time off. I am studying a degree in equine business management at present with the ambition of opening my own thoroughbred rehab centre for both racing and retraining, I have my own thoroughbred ex racer who I got from a centre, years ago there were no homes for theses horses to go to after racing, but now it is well funded and promoted, although there are still nowhere near enough places for all the retiring horses. There are many classes specifically for ex racers here in every single dicipline and there is much televised racing here where the promotion of retraining is advertised. I think firstly the USA must ban the injecting of joints in racers to stop this happening, I find it appalling that this kind of thing goes on, it is totally unacceptable to run a horse to the point that it is broken beyond repair. Somebody needs to bring this to the attention of the racing authorities in the USA so that it stops.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Claudia — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 04:27:57 GMT

I purchased a 6 year old OTT TB mare March of 2010. The current owner had rescued her and she was underweight. I traced her tattoo and learned a, "celebrity" owned her. She was raced for two years. During the slow work she held up fine, month 6 we stepped it up and she injured a stifle.Pretty complex injury and she stumped 2 vets. 1 vet had prior track experience. we've been rehabbing the stifle and I can't help but wonder if this complex injury was why she was retired off the track and discarded. I would love to recommend to others to purchase or adopt an OTT TB, but I don't know if I'd do it again. The racing owners do not appear to be concerned with the after life of these animals. Sad state of society.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Convene — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 02:02:35 GMT

Yup! The horse really must come first. Another argument for going back to that long-ago time BB (Before Bute et al). The horse knew he was sore - and the trainer knew too. If he decided to persist anyway, the signs were usually there for the officials to see and (if they were doing their jobs) scratch the horse. With today's new diagnostic methods, we should be able to do even better - and it's high time we did!

Just a thought ... With no evidence, hinted or otherwise, that Blame did not retire sound, it's sort of unfair to suggest perhaps he didn't. He doesn't deserve that, nor do his connections.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Cindi — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:58:43 GMT

I cannot thank you enough for posting this opinion and see a number of good ideas expressed in the comments.

I frequent what qualifies as a grade b track with low level claiming races. Thankfully, the majority of owners care for and about their horses (it is definitely horse country and it shows)but I always worry where the horses go after their final race, and it is on my mind the whole time I'm there. It is bittersweet - I love the horses, love to watch them run, and they are handled and treated very well at the track.

TB's are extremely smart and versatile and if owners think about their whole life from the get go, conditions will certainly improve for the horses. Thanks again for the blog.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Susan — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 01:04:39 GMT

Yesterday I wrote about my experience in trying to rescue a mare from a probable heartbreaking ending.

Thanks everyone for the advise. I appreciate it.

After following this mare for all her career, and all her trainers and owners, I did get in touch with a great organization in California who spoke to the trainer on my behalf. They feel eventually she'll get claimed to an inferior track and they'll be able to recapture their investment. I realize that they are not likely to give her up as long as they can get her into the gate-even if she runs last, they are willing to chance her fate against the possibility of her paying a bill.

In watching her pass from owner to owner, I can see that she has given up. She isnt bright-she doesnt care. Its so sad

In an event, my intent is to claim her in a few months-just hope she can hold out another 90 days.

I own show horses-when my horses end their careers they spend their days enjoying life relaxing away from horse shows. I would never own a horse that I couldnt afford-they are commitments-they are family.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Catherine — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 00:23:39 GMT

Where are the ethics of the vets who continue to "mask" the horses pain enabling the trainer to continue racing a horse that without injections is not sound. The whole racing business is just sickening. There are so few fairy tales sadly. It is not just the racing industry that has this issue,lets face it.

What about the breeders who just breed and breed without thought of trying to breed sounder healthier, better quality horses. I live near Ocala and constantly see hundreds of yearlings in fields. Do these breeders really need to breed so many horses. The mind just boggles at the amount of backyard breeding out there that just compounds the unwanted horse situation.

Breeders should strive to breed sound healthy strong horses not just randomly, like they are trying to win the lottery......

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

anita from missouri — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 23:48:58 GMT

It is so sad when greed wins out over respect of life. These horses give their all, they should be treated with dignity and given the care they deserve.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Pam Graham — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 20:09:08 GMT

Beautiful resolution! Thank you so much for advocating for this.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

charles stevens — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:37:13 GMT

Why do they allow two year olds to race, or train for

racing as threes? The bones have not finished growing and fully connecting at the knee bone until they are two. Since a horse's age is dated from the 1st of January this means that any horse born late in the year is way underdeveloped when started as a "2" which he or she could really be 18, 20 or less months old.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Susan in Kentucky — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 19:27:10 GMT

Last summer 2010 we took in a fantastic 8 YO race mare who could no longer run (she had been placed on her track's vet list). We were looking for a potential broodmare and she is exactly what we wanted. X-rays here show 2 small bone chips in one fetlock, but since "retiring" she is now running around like a 2 YO !! She has a forever home and is living a VERY pampered life. After +6 years on the track with numerous wins + earning a ton of money for her connections, she deserved better than a dog food can. And she got it with us !! But how many other ex-racers end up in Canada or Mexico ?? Sad situation and the owners need to step up to the plate and take more responsibility.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Teddy's Mom — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:15:38 GMT

Thank you for this beautiful piece. You are so right. The Mosses deserve "Owners of the Year" - and decade! - for putting Zenyatta's welfare first throughout her career and enabling her to race sound, healthy and happy through her six-year-old year. In another owner's hands, she might have been pushed when too young and still growing, and been injured or worse.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

goodwin — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:30:25 GMT

Thank you for this article. As an owner of an OTTB with a broken hock for the last eight years, I understand first hand how these poor horses are limited in their abilities after the track has taken their best years. I tried to "find a home' for him, but realized that I would have to be that home, because of an understanding of his limitations.

The most prevailing problem is the whole claiming structure of racing. It provides a downward ladder for these equine athletes, and you can watch as last year's allowance runners start being put up in claiming races at lesser and lesser amounts. Then, they can always be shipped to a willing trainer at one of the grade b tracks to run for even less money, until the claiming value is more than the value of the horse, and then we know what happens. Perhaps there should be a rule that any horse cannot run at a certain lesser amount than it's best win, or some other stop-gap measure, which would prevent this downward slide of the horses' value, as their ability to compete diminishes with compiling physical issues.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Pat — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 15:48:06 GMT

Christine - this is an amazing article and I thank you so much for writing it. I hope that those who should read it...do so!

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Rita — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 14:40:43 GMT

This was very good, sure hope many of these trainers read it. We need Steve Haskins to support this article to get more exposure.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Scenceable — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 05:00:17 GMT

shes fast- racehorses are x rayed a lot. Way more often than twice a year. These horses are vet checked all the time. The checking isn't the problem. Not enough people act on the soreness.

I think 2 year old racing should be totally phased out. I saw awesome feather in person and wanted to cry. That horse looks like a yearling and has run 6 times already. Ugh

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Terry — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 01:02:34 GMT

I wish every single Thoroughbred owner and trainer would pay attention to this article. When horses are big (Quality Road was over 16 hands as a yearling!) there is a temptation to treat them as adult horses. That is part of the problem too. If horse racing would just eliminate 2-year-old stakes races altogether, that might help remove the temptation to race these babies too soon because of the big bucks.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

FlyFilly — Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:38 GMT

As someone who used to work with a rescue, I was always astonished by the answer I heard provided a few times by owners who didn't retire horses sound--"But can't you just use him as a pasture buddy or something?" The answer, in most cases, is no, although we will always try.

Owners of larger farms who have a handful of pasture friends or nurse mares tend not to understand that (especially in these economic times), retiring a horse "pasture sound" alone isn't enough to guarantee its secure future. In our business lives we all seek to become more multi-talented, adaptable, useful in order to survive and sadly, those needs extend to our pets in some cases--they have to be rideable, at least a little. Very, very rarely did we adopt out horses for lives of leisure as buddies or playmates since the market crash. People just can't afford it anymore, and your horse can't afford you to take chances with its future. Please read this, and pass it on.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Carol — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 23:02:49 GMT

Dr Orman,

It seems to me that if a horse is repeatedly being injected with cortizone then it is a veterinarian doing this. Perhaps the vets need to think about what they are doing and maybe refuse to repeatedly inject horses joints. I don't think you can entirely blame the owners, most of them leave the decisions to their trainers. Both trainers and vets have the ability to say no

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

WT — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 22:36:48 GMT

The owners are generally not the ones choosing to inject joints. It's the trainers. The owners don't know about it until they get the vet bill.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Ditty — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:45:48 GMT

wonderful article...Thank you.

As to Stem cell... yes it works, refer to www.Vet-Stem.com. As a therapist it is just amazing the results on a lot of different issues. No I am not associated with Vet-Stem in any capacity. I have personal experience that it works.. as for price, very affordable, one harvest 24 hour turn around and stem cells stored indefinately for furture use..

Again thanks Dr.O for the aricle.

re: Sound Advice - By Dr. Christine Orman

Dona — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 20:45:17 GMT

Your article certainly highlights just how special the ZENYATTA TEAM were.

Thank you for you take on this problem. Unfortunatly, unless it's mandatory, I can't see the Racing Industry really getting behind this problem. The responsibile parties are going to do what they can even if some need a carrot such as a tax deductible donation but the ill-willed are there and unless stopped by monotoring and regulation, the plight of Misty will continue to the demise of racing.