“Why Does My OTTB (insert weird quirk here)?” Volume VII
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Horse-specific questions were a bit sparse this week (and I was snowed under with organizing and carrying out a Jimmy Wofford Clinic) so here are a few generic questions that I often here from parties interested in purchasing OTTB’s.
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Why do trainers bow tendons on two year olds? Why don’t they make sure they are fit before they run them to try to prevent this?
Honestly, I do not see many bowed tendons in two year olds. Bucked shins, lots. Suspensory damage, some. But not a lot of tendons. It is not beneficial to anyone involved to rush horses. However, our current racing circuit structure promotes prodigious maturity. I personally do not think Thoroughbreds should run at all at the age of two. However, the racing industry is all about investment versus return and the quicker the return, the better. Every day, the horse continues to require care and cost money and there are races being run all of over the country every single day that can offset those costs. Being able to afford to purchase a modestly priced sale yearling is a lot different than being able to afford to campaign one. DAY rates at racing stables range from $50/day to $150/day NOT including farrier, vet, medication, race day fees, etc. That’s a lot of cost to try to offset. Owners are also all types of educated, from those who like to try to read condition books and pick out races (most unsuitable) to those who just see dollar signs, not animals. There are great owners too, but they are hard to come by. No owner buys a yearling expecting to wait two years to run it and recoup any investment. This is just a hard fact of life and unfortunate reality of the industry.
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Aren’t hot walkers hard on OTTB hocks and joints?
I am not fond of mechanical hot walkers. Dangerous all the way around. However, they have really fallen out of fashion at all but the poorest tracks. Humans walking horses in the barn (also known as hotwalkers) are not hard on their joints in my opinion. They don’t walk for extended periods of time, most get to go out and graze if there is grass, and the footing is usually carefully maintained (and raked in a herringbone pattern ;)).
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Why don’t any OTTB’s learn “whoa” (the word)?
30 mph of wind in ponies’ ears sort of drowned out any words of suggestion. It may seem counter-intuitive, but when I go to pull a horse up from gallop I completely relax my body and my hold on the reins. That usually signals to them that we are done and they pull themselves up. Exceptions to every rule on that one though.
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I do hope that some of my answers to the questions above have demystified atleast one of your OTTB’s strange quirks and I encourage you to send any further, horse-specific questions to me via email ( [email protected]) for more in-depth and on-point answers. The EN and COTH response has been great and I look forward to make more thought-provoking questions! Go Eventing and go gallop a (former) racehorse!
