"Do We Need a Sturdier Racehorse?"

[keithting]

Lasix, lasix, and more lasix.....

It works the same way in humans - the more medicine you take, the "less hearty" you become and the more medical problems that eventually result.

There was also a great roundtable article in the Bloodhorse several years ago (around 2008). One of the panel members talked about the lower nutrient quality in equine feed today. I believe that this is also true in humans where our foodstuff has less nutrients and vitamin-content than it did say 80 years ago.

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by keithting

Lasix, lasix, and more lasix.....

It works the same way in humans - the more medicine you take, the "less hearty" you become and the more medical problems that eventually result.

There was also a great roundtable article in the Bloodhorse several years ago (around 2008). One of the panel members talked about the lower nutrient quality in equine feed today. I believe that this is also true in humans where our foodstuff has less nutrients and vitamin-content than it did say 80 years ago.

I would disagree and say that nutrition is much better due to better studies on supplements and absorbability and the overall accessability of supplements.

While the commercial market has encouraged the breeding of more precocious types, I think the way horses are campaigned now gives a greater perception of increased fraility than really exists.

[johnny pinwheel]

I would say all of the above except over racing 2 yo's if anything they are under raced and the breed is weakening from all factors. two year olds run like 3 to 4 times and thats it, many don't race at all or once. everyone talks about the 2 yo crop but it does not matter anymore because there will be at least half a dozen horses going for the derby next year that we have not even heard of yet. and the handful thats on everyones radar that won't even make it until spring.(its like a yearly tradition now). the breed is definetly weaker. the training methods are out of necessity because many horses can't make a hard campaign. i don't know, maybe a race every two or 3 months or more is what they consider a "hard" campaign now!!! but it is killing the following of average folks and media coverage. "average joe" in his arm chair is not going to be captured by some horse that wins 4 times a year and retires.............name recognition is the name of any game......stars sell.......flashes in the pan are not remembered by people that are not avid fans! thats what we get now and it does not sell this game AT ALL! as someone else stated , once farms went from an outfit of "winning" to the greed of "breeding" the game has gone down hill and hard! now, you've got "investment" groups coming into horse racing. It used be a sport where the owners of the best horses wanted to win and brag......the money was an after thought. Most of them had money(from other sources) and didn't care if they made a dime........they wanted to say they had the fastest horse. theres a reason it was called the sport of kings.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by keithting

Lasix, lasix, and more lasix......

Lasix has nothing at all do with affecting structural soundness of bone, tendon and muscle.

The statement, "It works the same way in humans - the more medicine you take, the "less hearty" you become and the more medical problems that eventually result" is a gross generality tending towards falseness, not truth.

To make strong-boned horses, you have to train them and run them when the bone is quickly able to respond to develop into strong bone (young horses). To develop a big efficient cardiovascular system, same thing.

When the PETA and AR yahoos came after horse racing for racing young horses, vets involved in horse racing accumulated the studies done over time and provided the backdrop to prove that if we stop racing young horses, we'll break down a whole lot more.

And as Sightseek pointed out, nutrition is improved nowadays, with most nutritional problems now being from oversupplementation and overnutrition, not deficiency. There is a concern with some strains of foodstuffs (grains) not having the nutritional breadth of the past (due to years of selection for other factors) but the nutritional profiles of grain mixes can be readily ascertained nowadays.