From Lauren:
Your Weekly “Why Does My OTTB (insert weird quirk here)?” Q&A
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Good morning, Eventing Nation! With February in full swing and the first recognized events in most areas right around the corner (we know, Area III, you have recognized events ALLLLLL the time), the schooling shows are already starting to fill up the calendar here in Area VIII and I can’t wait to get back in the ring! Oh yeah, and there is that silly Hallmark holiday with chocolate (yay!), wine (double yay!), and significant others (usually too much trouble unless they have four legs and can wear a saddle). This week brings the return of the Q & A you have all grown to love. Next week, more questions will follow as well as an update on MY latest OTTB prospect that I just picked up on Friday morning. Cross your fingers, toes, and eyes that he vets and enjoy these new EN reader queries.
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I got my guy off the track just over a year ago as a 3yo (now 5yo) and he has a habit of grinding his teeth (or even what looks like chewing on his tongue/rubbing his tongue over his back molars) any time he’s feeling particularly anxious or if it’s feeding time. Is this a personal habit or do you see a lot of horses at the track manifest their anxiety in the same manner? If so do you know any tricks to help curb this behavior? He’s getting his teeth done in a couple weeks and I’m interested to see what the vet says about what his wear patterns look like and if he’s actually grinding them down or just making awkward faces at me. (contributed by EN reader Celeste Coulter)
Teeth grinding and, really, mouth quirks in general are par for the course with OTTB’s. None of them have ever manifested this behavior seriously enough for me to be concerned or for them to cause any physical damage to themselves. It is sometimes a problem in show ring understandably, but a little bit of molasses in the mouth before going in the ring or even dirt/sand will curb the behavior long enough to ride a test. I have never had to employ those methods, however, and have often found that, under saddle at least, bit and noseband changes can fix most mouth issues. Just last year I had a lovely young Oldenburg whose owner swore up and down her was a teeth grinder but, while he did often make that low pitches squeaking noise when moving the bit around in his mouth during work, it was never a problem that I had but one that she certainly felt she had to deal with and in a Warmblood to boot. Hopefully your vet will be able to give you a good report!
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A question about skin issues: my horse came from the track with some kind of funk, I don’t know what and my vet couldn’t pin it down as any particular infection, but a friend who used to be an exercise rider said she always heard it generically called “skin disease” at the track. Over the last year it’s been a reoccurring problem where some sort of skin issue will pop up, we’ll finally get it cleared up, he’ll be dandy for a few weeks then, BAM there’s another one. The oddest part is that the issue never presents itself in the same way. It’s always in a new location with new symptoms and takes a different level of treatment and aggression each time. My vet more or less felt like this was his form of the “after track crash” where his immune system was just having to bolster up and get used to his new environment and new lifestyle. We put him on a supplement to aid his coat health and generally aid his immune system and that’s definitely helped significantly, but every once in a while he’ll get another minor round of skin crud. Do a lot of horses coming off the track deal with this same problem? (also contributed by EN reader Celeste Coulter)
‘Skin Disease’ is a pretty common general term at the track and often encompasses rain rot, scratches, and common fungi. I certainly agree with your vet that skin issues post-racing are very common and a result of ‘crashing’ from any number of treatments a horse experienced on the track. These days, with anabolic steroid use lower than it has ever been (and technically illegal), you don’t see nearly as much ‘crashing’ but even ‘crashes’ from supplements fed at the racetrack are common because they are often fed in such quantities and doses that they begin to inhibit the horse’s natural ability to produce whatever they are being supplemented with (such as iron, which is often a primary culprit when ‘crashing’ occurs). Their natural level will usually return to normal in 6 months or so but I certainly suggest drawing blood to evaluate baseline levels after leaving the track and to rule out systemic infections (most people immediately treat ‘skin disease’ locally and topically when it can just easily be a manifestation of a systemic infection or imbalance).
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I am currently looking at an OTTB as a project horse. He’s turning 4 this year and was just not a good race horse based on his record so now his owner has him at a H/J barn that does quick OTTB turn around sales. I rode him and he seems sensible. One question I had, though, was in a couple of his races the comments section says that he ‘stopped’. Is this something I should avoid…I really have no idea how much translates from their performance on the track to when they have to leave the start box–is he likely to get 1/2 way through cross country and just park it? (contributed by EN reader Ashley Beheler)
When the term ‘stopped’ is seen on a race chart with fair regularity and is officially defined by Equibase as ‘a description of a horse who gives way suddenly or races forwardly and tires badly’. A horse that is said to have stopped may have sustained a mild injury such as a soft tissue sprain, may have suffered from Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhage (in more common terminally, the horse may have ‘bled’ though blood may not have been present in the nostrils), may have had a breathing issue such as a displaced soft palate, or may simply have run as far and as fast as his or her training allowed and given up the ghost. Often, young horses especially will ‘run out of trainer’ and run their eyeballs out for most of the race and then just hit a fitness wall. When other horses ‘stop’, there may be hundred reasons and the best way to discern when is to watch the replay. Equibase offers replays of nearly all North American races for a fee and many races can be found for free at Cal Racing Replays In any event, a comment of ‘stopped’ on a chart does not immediately concern me in the slightest, though numerous races where horses ‘stop’ can be a bit more of a red flag. Also, do not be even the slightest bit concerned that old Cinder Blocks is gonna park it after the water on XC. As Eventers, even at Rolex, horses never reach the speeds that racing demands of them and such short periods of such all-out efforts are typically the catalysts for ‘stopping’.
Also, a useful link to bookmark is This Glossary of Racing Chart Terms on Equibase.
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I encourage you to send any horse-specific or general-knowledge questions to me via email ([email protected]) for more in-depth and on-point answers and am certainly happy to help you read any charts that you simply cannot translate from racetrack gibberish. Go Eventing and go gallop a former racehorse.
