"Do We Need a Sturdier Racehorse?"

[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.