Eight Belles' tragic breakdown after the Derby...

Well, as much as I have mixed emotions about horse racing, I watched the Derby today. Actually, I was very interested to see if they talked about the PolyFlex glue-on shoes worn by Big Brown and Pyro; while it's not barefoot, and still a peripheral loading device, it IS a break from the traditional nailed on aluminum shoe, and bound to make people -- even non-horse people -- think. Eight Belles' tragic breakdown was, I thought, rather downplayed...tough for the industry after all the negative publicity with Barbaro, I guess.

There are surely many issues with horse racing, not the least of which are the young age at which horses are raced, the high octane diet designed to grow them BIG at a young age (Eight Belles was a 17 hand 3 yr old filly!), the distance and frequency they are made to run, and the surfaces upon which they compete. But the relevance to barefoot hoofcare is, I think, bound to become a discussion. The horse racing industry funds much of equine research; if barefoot starts to make sense to them, imagine the impact to hoofcare everywhere. Just look at the millions of dollars being spent to resurface tracks across the country. If only that would be applied to hoof research!! The Northern California track vet recently advised the CHRB to consider allowing horses to race barefoot. (I'm sure they all smirked at her and moved on to the next agenda item, but hey, she gets major kudos for broaching the subject!)

That a shoe nailed to the hoof greatly reduces the shock absorption inherent in the bare hoof has been scientifically established. While I cannot find relevant research regarding aluminum racing plates and catastrophic injuries of this type, research does exist supporting the increased risk of such injuries when horses are shod with toe grabs. Is there a connection between shoes and catastrophic musculoskeletal injuries in equine athletes? It's hard to believe there isn't. Now if more trainers would just start training their horses barefoot, the rules that a horse must be shod to race might change, and we might see the research....one can only hope...

Author's notes:

TheBloodHorse.com reports that Eight Belles "...suffered condylar fractures in both forelegs. The left was dislocated and opened the skin, contaminating the injury. She fractured "at least one sesamoid' in her right leg..." according to Dr. Larry Bramlage, the American Association of Equine Practitioner's on call veterinarian on site at Churchill Downs

Also from thebloodhorse.com, the following paragraph taken from the article "Broken Legs Aren't Death" by Sharon Biggs, published May 21, 2006:

"The most common long bone fracture that Nunamaker sees...is the lateral condylar fracture. "Although this is commonly seen here at the University of Pennsylvania, fractures in other parts of the country and in other parts of the world are in fact different. It's all based on training, the surfaces animals race and work on, as well as what kind of shoes they wear," says Nunamaker.

ESPN ran a story on Big Brown's glue on shoes on May 1st. It quotes the trainer talking about the colt's feet having a heavier pulse and carrying heat in nailed on aluminum shoes -- two classic signs of laminitis. In his glue-ons, Big Brown's feet are cool and calm. It also talks about the flexibility of the PolyFlex shoes. Read the entire article here:

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown08/news/story?id=3377688