Mig went down hard

[Riot]

Originally Posted by chucklestheclown

Why the heck are you talking down to me? I KNOW it was a misstep that caused the fall, Blackthroatedwind seems to have a problem with that.

You don't know any such thing for sure. There are several causes for fractured sesamoids. Many times sesamoids just fracture - pull, break apart - during the stress of racing. That's very common.

This is why at sales of young horses, we look closely at the sesamoid bones, because some things we see are associated with increased chance of future fracture.

His 'legs were not broken'. Two small bones (they are about 1-inch triangles) at the back of his right front ankle, embedded in tendons, not the big cannon leg bone, broke.

The horse was running. During running, one sesamoid fractured, then (probably fairly immediately) the other one (due to the instability caused by the first), then the horse went down virtually immediately as a result of the sesamoid fractures in one leg (two small sesamoid bones, in one right front ankle).

Sesamoids do not fracture as a result of falling (nearly always), the fractured sesamoids caused the fall because the suspensory tendons that the sesamoids are a part of, that helps holds up the leg is compromised and the horse can no longer bear weight on that leg (to say it simply). Part of the support mechanism has failed.

Yes, bones can just fracture spontaneously, or a bad step causes overextension, etc.

Sometimes early in the race, the rider can feel a bad step and get the horse pulled up. But horses are tired and heavy on their forehands in the end of races, the muscles are fatigued causing more tendon laxity, and there is a greater chance of disaster happening more severely, more quickly.

It does not appear the horse suffered very much (from the press), as the ambulance and vet got to him, gave him pain & tranq medication, put the leg in the appropriate immobilization splint (causes marked decrease in pain), and took him back to his stall where the appropriate and virtually only possible decision was made to euthanize him.

Here, go read this http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/hor...-disaster.aspx and look at the pictures here http://www.wiwfarm.com/sesamoid_injuries.htm