Conventional Training--The Ugly II

I react to the photo as follows:
1. Stupid fool.
2. There but for grace go I.
3. Stupid fool.

The second "stupid fool" is more deliberate as the neurons in the thick cranium visualizing black ice ahead begin to fire in realization that the car off the road is there for reasons other than this stuff "just happens".

Accidents on the ice are metaphoric to Charismatic that his fracture is other than "just part of the game". And Charismatic's fracture is metaphoric to all injuries on the racetrack which in this opinion happen for definite reasons. Regrettably most of these relate to inadequate, questionably conceived training.

Charismatic suffered a serious condylar fracture (ends of the cannon) and also fractured his sesamoids (little bones in the ankle-fetlock). I speculate the condylar fracture caused the sesamoid fracture instead of the other way around.

We understand fracture etiology. We also understand how to prevent it. Two possibilities:
What happens #1: The bone is overborn by forces placed upon it exploding or disintegrating the mineral latticework that held the cells of the bone together. The bone essentially is weaker than the force placed upon it.

Can we develop bone in the thoroughbred? See the Maryland Shin study and several other studies I'll post on later. You develop bone by "working" horses fast. And so, when you're dealing with such as "I never work horses Wayne" we get a clue as to how Charismatic may have ended up in the hospital ward.

You get a further clue when you begin to analyze the effect on bone development of 4f works at 12.5 sec/f for races over a mile in sub twelves. For the logically challenged--the preparation is inadequate.

To the Michael Matz's of the world, and I salute your accomplishments, you may want to consider how much bone you are developing on wood chip or synthetic tracks at Fair Hill. There may have been a reason that Barbaro failed to change leads in the stretch in his first three races and did so in the Fl. Derby only when forced to by a close running horse.

2. What happens #2: The fracture develops cumulatively. We know that every strenuous concussive work creates microscopic soft spots in bone tissue which essentially consists of fluid present for healing. This process is similar to micro tears of muscle fiber when we run hard or lift hard. In conditioned tissue this stuff heals in 24 to 48 hours. Things such as anti-inflamatories and icing aid the healing process.

However in unconditioned tissue, or in conditioned tissue that we surprise, e.g. by failing appropriate warm up, by pre-race ponying that only warms up one lead, etc., (I'll avoid another warm up rant) the fluid and swelling are more voluminous over greater area and less easily disposed of. The little closely spaced bubbles of watery fluid between the mineral lattice work may stick around a few days, and when that next work comes upon the inadequate or improperly warmed up bone, the fissure increases in size, and so on, until finally we have an invisible watery separation that will give at some point.

Developing stress fractures as in #2 above are the potential nightmare for every trainer. They are difficult to diagnose giving off few signs initially, and also because they may occur anywhere. Due to this known difficulty (please pay attention conventional trainers), you can never ever surprise the horse with a work for which it is unprepared. The old timers understood this stuff instinctively. You can see in their protocols how they gradually increase distance and speed with greatest of care. Those sorts did not just suddenly decide to breeze young two year olds 3f to see what they've got (see Mandella) or (again Mandella) "if they really need speed, I'd just as soon race them". The old timers known for working up to mile breezes would scoff for good reason at the 4f, 5f crap you see today.

Additionally, appropriate warm ups to prepare the individual bone (and muscle and tendon) cells are essential to avoiding this sort of developing fracture. Visualize a bone or muscle cell as a belt in your hands. You gradually increase tension on the belt, and it holds. If you just snap the belt hard enough, it might break. In warm up, you need a little fast concussive work to gradually increase tension before they come out of the gate.

Today's work:
1/20/07 Day 3: 18 min pasture romp with three or four 1f bursts at 90% speed in the snow. Passed on tack work.
1/21/07: Day 1: Rest.
Day 2: We skipped due to inadequate work on 1/20
1/22/07: Day 3: RR was pleasantly surprised how well the horses were able to work on the snow in the paddock. 30 lbs Astride was placed on horse and worked on snow around bumpy ground in paddock 5 x 3f at snappy gallop and appropriate rest between heats. About 100 yds of each one furlong went in two min gallop speed or slightly faster. Horses refused to completely open up in the snow. After 5min the Astride was removed from the horse and we repeated the same 5 x 3f riderless. Nice work for a terrible training day. The horse again pooped out at the end and showed less energy than he had been. Disappointing.