BC Classic: Initial Impressions

Calcification, correctly termed ossification, is proving a challenge, and so, while RR does a little research, a brief look at the BC Classic where I've just viewed the superb HRTV production with L. Pincay and Jeff Siegel, and Millie Ball.

Siegel's 10/29/09 top 8 with RR comments:

1. Zenyatta--ridiculous as is it seems, Siegel/Pincay just opined they might be "afraid" to run in the Ladies Classic. Risks besmerching the record. Well, that's hardly a vote of confidence. After a campaign of soft races and training they're understandably (and finally) stepping it up in the latest breeze which shows a giant talented horse flashing a definite threat even in the male classic. I'd prefer she run on Friday, but, that's me. There's also a Shirriffs interview. Nice fellow. The sort you like to run against. Love the wife.

2. Rip Van Winkle--bits and pieces of info. Rip Van W. looks sleek and in better shape and condition then you tend to see on this side of the Atlantic. Training facilities would seem give a big advantage even while I still fail to get the horse blankets. From the trainer of High Chaparral so we take note, but with distaste, since these are the same Irish muggers that killed George Washington.

3. Summer Bird: Looks more the bare Grade I instead of championship animal. I need to see a little more. Has the advantage of a long campaign with continual training.

4. Gio Pointi. Seen to little to form an opinion. Semi-unimpressed with a trainer interview I saw the other day.

5. Einstein: Helen Pitts trains like she rides. We're German here and calls 'em as we sees 'em. Helen will have something flattering to say about me if I ever make it to the track.

6. Quality Road: training will bear watching on the probable most talented horse. Why does Siegel have him 6th?

7. Richard's Kid: looking at his build and stride, I think he's a cut below. But, best training bears watching.

8. Twice Over: know zero about him.

9. Best of the rest: Mine That Bird looked weak when they finally tried some real speed and distance in the latest breeze. MTB gets to sit in his stall and breathe in fresh wood shavings 24/7. Possibly all we need to know is that the days of Calvin Borel training are in the past. As I noted with Eion Harty: beware of animal trainers whose favorite sport is hunting.

I'm shocked shocked Colonel John was omitted from Siegel's list. Does he know something? Looks like typical Eion Harty powder puff stuff on that last breeze. This horse needs speed work. But, talent and finally some volume training comes into the race. I expect him to be tough, and believe he ought to be in the top 3.

Regal Ransom: hard to ignore.

Training: How many feet of rain this month? From a point of the weather making it impossible to train I never considered that it might get worse. It has. We took the week off. I'll post on our stable soon.

Zeroing In On Minimum Frequency

The July and before posts had speculated minimum frequency of speed work for FR (race appropriate fracture resistance) to range from 3-8 days. More frequent speed work than 3 days--let's say two day spacing or every day-- creates risk of fracture from doing too much. As to every 3 days, we know from Preston Burch training there's very little risk to a 3 day interval. It was speculated that Iver's 4 day interval is probably closest to the ideal spacing in terms of engaging the appropriate modeling process at the cellular level. But, if we increase the interval from 4 days on up through 8 days, each succeeding day of waiting for speed work creates less and less protection in terms of FR till we get to the 8th day which is thought to give the barest of minimums in benefits. Over 8 days, meaning a 9 day or more interval is thought to be useless--see Warpass and numerous others.

But, the above conclusions were drawn purely from a molecular/cellular/atomic analysis, and there were some other things yet to cover as noted in my "Wrapping Up Frequency" post of 7/14/09.

That post posed further questions:
1. Are there other remodeling processes to consider besides the micro or cellular processes?
2. What about remodeling and the larger than microscopic structures such as the osteons or the leg bones in their entirety?
3. Detraining and its affect on FR.

The July posts to present went on to consider #2 above, and the conclusion was that for reasons of structure and function the "larger" structures within the bone tissue, and the bone itself fail to provide any concerns in terms of the frequency with which the horse does speed work.

This leaves two questions. Detraining will be a big undertaking, and I'll look at that last. First up is the question whether there may be other remodeling processes to consider besides what has already been considered with bone glue protein density and pressure, and compaction and increase in volume of microscopic tissue. In this regard I am primarily concerned with the role of calcification and the effect of exercise on the calcification process.

Calcification, the rate of calcification, the correct rate and end product of calcification of the bone matrix needs to be considered, although unknown at this time if any conclusions will be possible. The questions, next post.

Training:
Tues. Oct. 27. Skipped this one. First day time winter chill, standing water, and motivation battered by continual bad weather does in RR. Off due to lack of motivation. Second day off after Sunday's rains. Another deluge coming in on Thurs.

Here's one worth a look! Application to horses?

On With Question Of Frequency

There is a nice series of posts here in July 2009 involving the molecular processes of bone remodeling for anyone caring to look. At that point the blog lost a little steam But, there is a summary of what had yet to be considered at that point here:

http://ratherrapid.blogspot.com/2009/07/wrapping-up-frequency.html

Noting that all this is very technical even to the point that yours truly has difficulty recalling the details, the true aim is to reach some definitive conclusions which are worthy of the same indeed because the details were considered.

I believe there is enough info to believe that FR (race appropriate fracture resistance) requires minimally :12.5/sec speed for 4f every 3 to 8 days. Question whether spacing as long as 8 days is sufficient, but we also need to consider whether 7,6 or 5 days is sufficient. I can say for sure that speed work every 3-4 days will definitely do the job.

But, before nailing it down, I want to consider the unfinished business referred to in the 7/14 post, and that is next.

Training:
Sat. and Sun.10/25 and 26: Both horses tacked for 10 min in very wet conditions--trot,walk.
Mon. 10/26: Another inch+ of rain Sun makes things impossible: Off.

Getting Back To Figuring Frequency

Horses see the track now days, certainly much more than even 3 and 4 years ago. Did you notice Vineyard Haven? Aside from the irony of Sheik Mo winning a Grade I race with a $5000 stud fee, look at VH's PPs which show logical training! VH was seeing the track before the Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel. Rue the day when the Sheik and his trainers figure things out concerning exercise physiology. That may be happening. And, btw, is Lido Palace, the sire of VH another e.g. of how potentially superb sires get buried by incessant stupidity. Lido Palace (awesome) race record, here:

http://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/sr_sire_page.asp?refno=5691899&origin=singlesearch

Although more and more as I do my handicapping I notice horses being breezed/raced on a far more logical schedule than certainly the 1990s on into early 2000s, there are still those 1990s trainers hanging on. Kathy Walsh at Santa Anita is an example of that. I noticed in the Oak Tree Race #1 today Walsh has a horse in that, well, has yet to see the track for a breeze since early Oct. Big Bertha is the name. She's fast. I expect a fade.

But, those 1990s trainers are gradually getting replaced or changing their ways. You see an occasional 5 and 6f breeze even from Nick Zito these days. The steroids are gone and probably the reality of the competition is soaking in to these habitually negligent idiots.

But, the present subject here, instead of racing performance, is "minimums"--what is the least we can do with the horse and still maintain fracture resistance (FR)? The blog way back when determined a minimum speed of 12.5 sec/f over a distance of 4f to even engage bone remodelling. You have to do that much to do anything for the bones. But, how often?

Per last post we look at physiology and anatomy of bone at the molecular level. There is indeed now, last post, some research indicating the affect of "angles of strain" on osteon strength. What happens at the molecular/cellular/atomic level within the bone tissue--i.e. how our speed work affects those tissues, will give us specifics of "minimum frequency" for FR.

Training:
Sat. 10/24: After three weather days off we're back at it. There's still standing water at the farm with 3 more heavy rain days predicted next week. This night both horses tacked for 10 min. in the pasture--walk,trot, gallop, to get back into things.

Anatomy, Physiology Smoking Gun

The above illustration is the most clear I've found, and refreshes my own memory of what was discussed here way back in July.

While it has always been clear that bone remodels when exposed to the stress of exercise, the manner and mode of this remodeling in horses at the molecular/microscopic level has hardly been looked at, except on this blog. There is human research mostly involving osteoporosis but much of that is "for sale". I have, however, bumped into one paragraph of research that, voila, does support much of what was surmised on this blog way back in July and before. It's technical, but an encapsulation of basic info, if you care to read. The highlights and info in parentheses has been added:

(Excerpt appearing in the Journal of Orthopaedic Research based on work done in the Department of Kinesiology, Penn State University in January 2006. Unknown, of course, why it takes till the year 2006 to ask the questions. Nevertheless, significant info.)

"The objective of this study was to determine if the material properties of bone at the lamellar level are related to the predominant mode and magnitude of mechanical strain experienced in situ. The tibia and first metatarsal bones of five unpaired cadaveric lower extremities were instrumented with strain gauge rosettes and subjected to repeated loading trials in an apparatus that replicates the muscle forces and external loads experienced by the foot while walking. The spatial distributions of axial strain within diaphyseal cross sections taken from each bone were subsequently determined. Nanoindentation measurements were then performed on the same cross sections to determine the compressive elastic moduli of individual lamellae located with osteonal, interstitial and outer circumferential microstructures. 20% of the variance in interstitial elastic modulus within cross-sections of diaphyseal bone was explained by local strain magnitude. Lamellae residing in regions of compressive strain displayed significantly higher compressive elastic modulus values than those located in predominantly tensile regions. Elastic moduli of interstitial lamellae were 11% greater than those of osteonal or outer circumferential lamellae, irrespective of strain or anatomical location. (i.e. greater strain on the inner than the outer bone.) in the material properties of individual bone lamellae located within different anatomical location. Differences exist in the material properties of individual bone lamellae located within different anatomical regions and different micro structures, AND THESE DIFFERENCES ARE RELATED TO THE DISTRIBUTION OF AXIAL STRAIN. THESE FINDINGS SUGGEST THAT MECHANICAL STRAIN, OR ANOTHER CLOSELY RELATED VARIABLE, MAY INFLUENCE THE DESIGN AND ULTIMATE MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF THE EXTRA-CELLULAR MATRIX FOUND IN LAMELLAR BONE."

There you have it. Exercise--the exercise program--influences the "design and ultimate mechanical behavior of the extra-cellular matrix"!!! We can avoid further speculation, intuition be dammed, the schematic, formula and design of our program--i.e. speed, distance and frequency does significantly impact both design and strength of the larger bone structures. In this sense, what the horse does on track, i.e. the precise exercise schematic, matters.

Training:
Fri. 10/23: Off a 3rd straight day due to wet conditions.

Revisiting Frequency

Here at RR.com we're under water once again, to re-echo a familiar theme. 3 more days of rain this week in cold, overcast weather will put our pasture track out of commission for another several days. I'll be posting soon on racing plans for this little stable which have gone depressingly awry primarily due to constant rain in KCMO.

For this post I will try to get back to the blog's main subject to date, which is injury prevention, to where I had left off, which is the question of frequency and how often we need to breeze/race a horse to achieve and maintain fracture resistance (FR).

My new strategy to get back on course with a difficult subject, is to "feel" my way back to were I was, and then hopefully some progress and a final conclusion.

In terms purely of "frequency" and how much the horse needs to work, this has been looked at in two ways: 1. trainer stats have been examined, and, for those trainers, their injury rates in view of what they're doing with their horses has been calculated, and 2. an analysis of the physiology involved in terms of frequency and fracture resistance.

I have yet to look at the important concept of detraining, and, really, had yet to complete the look at physiology when the blog bogged down a bit. Again, hopefully, things will get going here again.

The trainer stats will be revisited for they provide significant empirical evidence of how FR works in terms of frequency. If, e.g., this or that trainer does speed work every 9 days and those horses have a lower or higher than average rate of injury, presumably we may draw some conclusions.

But, first I want to take a final look at bone physiology and make whatever conclusions are possible based on what's been considered so far on the blog.

Training:
Wed. and Thurs. 10/21 and 22: Off due to 1.5 inches of rain.

Training

Mon and Tues. 10/19 and 20: both days both horses did 10 min. riderless work in the mud and were ridden mostly at the walk for 10 min. Raining again at training time.

Sun. Misc.

Today a day for jockey spills in the news including a 58 year old fellow at Blue Ribbon who died, and more pause for thought when we get on a horse. I was thinking this year of giving the gate a try. Big advantage to ride your own out of the gate. But, after today's news of several stumbles leaving the gate, I have decided to pass on gate work. Final decision. Unable, I'm thinking, to handle stumbling at my height. It's hard enough if your horse stumbles and your 5'1". At my height of 6' 1.5" its probably beyond danger and into folly. RIP to that fellow at Blue Ribbon!

Still trying to get back on subject here. A week ago on my trip I was thinking St. Louis for my boys is 50-50. Really a big step to give up the nice farm in KC. But terrible weather once again this week, and here we sit. By week's end I am 100% going. Then... get to the farm tonight and Big Art has got a serious eye injury, white "opacity" right in the center of his eye just to rear or the iris and touching it. Boy oh boy! Bad luck continues. Hit something or got it fighting. Maybe it will heal, but probably this horse has got vision obstruction in his right eye for life. We'll see.

Training:
Wed-Sat Off. It rained Tues, Wed and Fri. this week. Schedule to rain Wed, Thurs. and Fri. next week. Weather continues.
Sun. 10/18: Both horses went riderless in spurts in deep mud for 10 min.

Training

Tues. 10/13: Both horses 10 min riderless fast in rain and medium mud, cut short to accomodate Art who has done less work of late.
Wed. 10/14: After two hard riderless days in mud, off. And, raining again at training time.

Training

For commenter last post, ya on"south of the river". we just have to get out of KC to really train. How about this wet weather around here? I commented on Colonel John early in this blog. Thought his Goodwood race a nice effort. The jock quoted post race that CJ lacked speed, which corresponds with the You Tube videos CJ in training. I've lost so much $$$ betting on CJ I've quit, lol. Zenyata, she's another one that might suffer against top competition due to from her training, Shireffs like Hollendorfer being noted for failing to gallop much the week before a race. Note the finish of Tiago in the Goodwood--nice breezing schedule, and then inexplicable performance is an indicator of this. Shirrefs also trains Tiago. Unknown though what he does with Z. She's certainly a beautiful horse who might just outstride Rachel A. if they ever meet. Rachel probably has an advantage in trainers at this point, but that's only a guess!

Training:
Thurs-Sun. to 10/9-11: Off. deep mud and we miss one day due to my trip. We've lost what we gained with Rod by mid Sept. Nob's fall and the weather.
Mon. 10/12 we resume training. riderless intermittent in mud for about 10 min with some light spurting.

Late Lead Change Wins Goodwood

We saw why Kieran Fallon traveled 4000 miles to ride the Goodwood. They're here early for the Breeder's Cup probably. Gitano Herando was squeezed and remained on his left lead at the 3/16 and then changed by himself in mid stretch to have enough fresh lead strength to hold off Colonel John. CJ really needed a race like that. Could be interesting in the BC. We'll see how Eion Hardy trains him on in. Failed to see a flopping tongue today. And,y ours truly wins $3.00. Richard's Kid to show. We only report our wins.

Training:
Weather is beating us down. Winter arrives in early Oct., good grief. 2 inches of rain Thurs. The horses are off. Try to do a little in the mud Sun. morning. We have a winter training strategy that I'll be posting. It promises to be cold!

Training

Wed. 10/7: Both horses tacked 1.25 miles with about 4f gallop. Before the gallops the horses did 3 miles of paddock play with lots of stops between and one 1/2 mile at near full speed.
Thurs. 10/8: Off. Rain.

Training

Patience is a tired mare but she plods on. That's Henry V. And, from the same play 'we sit patiently and inly ruminate', in this case yesterday's rain, last week's two rains, and the 2.2 inches coming in. But, we plod on.
Sat. 10/3: Off.
Sun. 10/4: Both horses did mostly :14s riderless for 2 miles + 1/2 mile trot under tack. Nob getting his sea legs back after the fall states he can now hold up his head to see. That's good news.
Mon. 10/5: 2 miles continuous riderless up into :13s which is as fast as the chopped up paddock allows right now + .8 mile tack trot with Nob reporting he's unable to hold up his head again, which is believed to be weather related with rain coming in. The plan is to increase tack work gradually, Nob's condition requiring the horses be completely under control.
Tues. 10/6: Nice day but two straight hard workouts require a rest giving note to avoid an overdose of concussion and bending and twisting of fragile bone. Off. Walk out office door at 5:00 p.m. and into the first winter cold.

Farm Report II: The Fall (continued)

Inconsistent blogging and multiple distractions. Finish up the tale of the momentous fall of Mr. Nob a week ago. Nob reports probable compression fracture of a vertebrae where back joins neck and a cracked rib. Nob has trouble keeping his head up for straight ahead vision and walks a bit hunched backed.

Many rider falls, but we rarely get the gory details. Here Nob gives his full report. What's the thought process? Jock Terry McGee once told me that when there's a problem on board you usually have 2 seconds. In Nob's particular fall, what was the thought process, what's it like hitting the ground, and what are your thoughts and feelings after you hit? Read on.

The exceptionally calm Rodney never burped through his breaking process, but on this particular evening we'd twice unwittingly put Rod in panic situations(last post), and Nob admits being oblivious to this as the gallop commenced. Nob should have considered possible problems resulting from the pre-ride panics, and instead, proceeded merrily as normal in the more dangerous conditions which exist at late dusk.

Rod has a guttural pouch problem that stops him from breathing in the trot to gallop transition requiring a rein technique from the rider that permits breathing to commence.

On this night, Nob trotted the horse on past the usual start gallop point after stopping to fix his equipment (last post) putting the horse further on guard in near dark, Nob oblivious.

In fairness to Nob, the reason he was oblivious is, as always, commencing the gallop Nob was totally focused on getting the horse to breathe. The following is the report of what happened as reported by Nob:

As he started the gallop the horse was breathing fine, but within about three strides was unable to get his breath. Nob then commenced with the rein technique that takes about three more strides to get the horse breathing. This technique requires a completely lose rein (without snug contact with the mouth) and relieves the rider of his 3rd point of contact with the horse (the other two points of contact being feet in the stirrups) , and thus affects the rider's balance and thus requires complete focus on maintaining balance.

It was in this very moment, of course, while Nob had only the two point balance and was focused on the horse's breathing, that the horse bolted sharply left.

This suspended 6 ft. 1 inch Nob in midair to the right of the horse both feet in stirrups.

Nob said his first thought was to right himself with the horse. His second was that this might fail and the feet would get hung up in the stirrups. The 3rd thought--better to fall then get hung up, and down he went.

The next thought--and Nob is still suspended in mid air as there are, as T. McGee said, 2 seconds--was get into fall technique mode: 1. feet the heck out of the stirrup, spin into proper tuck position, avoid(at all costs) a neck landing, and hopefully get hands down to break the fall.

Nob, still in the air, spun around, chest up, head in direction of horse's head, body parallel to the ground, but the thud came before the tuck because the horse was on a 30 degree uphill. The ground came faster than Nob had mentally calculated.

The hit was hard but could have been much worse. The impact partially knocked the breath out of Nob. Nob states in former falls he had hit so hard he was unable to breathe, but breathing ok here, and looked up and saw the horse 25 yards away staring at him.

Thereafter, said Nob, severe systemic trauma commences quickly. Difficult breathing, near fainting, and in this case stinging severely in both arms. A stinger, as in football. This, Nob said reminded him of a year 2000 fall where he lay paralyzed for 5 min. Nob said he'd landed flat on the back on the incline and the head was then whip lashed into the ground. He lay there for about 5 min trying several times to get up before enough strength came back to actually rise.

Nob said he was relieved he was walking the 1/3 mile back to the mounting stand, which was in the pasture that night, and to his surprise and almost astonishment, the horse--and this was about 8 minutes post fall, was standing like a statute by the mounting stand in his saddle and bridle, head up staring right into the pasture at Nob. And, thereafter, in the 200 yards it took Nob to walk to the horse, Rod never moved a muscle, kept his head up and stood still till Nob came up to him. The horse then put his head down in greeting. If you've ever been thrown from a horse--they run back to the barn and commiserate with their buddies. This time we have a display of loyalty from a horse that according to Nob created such an impression on him and his relationship to that particular horse, that it almost made the whole miserable experience worthwhile. Nob said he'd remember that horse frozen there in the near dark waiting for his rider.

Training:
Thurs. 10/1: Deep mud. Horses were driven in riderless play for about 10 min. intermittent fast as they could negotiate. fairly tough workout with Art removed early due to his layoff.
Fri. 10/2: Rod and Art race each other riderless in light mud. Probably 6-7 heats of 4f full speed. Rod took the lead for the first time, understood he was fast enough to keep the lead, and then seemed to enjoy keeping the lead. We're trying to get this horse to like his work. Bit of a break through and to see this horse flashing real speed.
Sat. 10/2: Off

Farm Report

Spectacular wild flowers and scenery around here at the moment with leaves in the first stage of turning. Although possibly a stand of flowers newly grown behind a tree near our track spooked Nob's horse on Sunday. Fairly constant rain in September that we have resolved will continue, and trying to figure out what to do. St. Louis is more and more becoming the prominent thought.

And, with October, which I'd thought might be the beginning of an unusually early winter, also a sense of foreboding. The temps have been 20 degrees below normal since April. Any reason to believe this will do anything but continue, even if Sept. has been an exception.

And, Nob's spill. Avoid making too much of it except every fall provides instruction for the next one. Nob said it had been so long since he last fell (2003) that in the split second his memory of how to fall came too late. How to prevent? That is the question, and looking back on this one you could almost see it coming even with an extremely calm animal that has only rare and very momentary panics, as opposed to some others that go nuts repeatedly.

Got to the farm that evening and Rod had lost a front shoe from galloping in deep mud the night before meaning that after tacking it back on it would be near dark for the gallop. Sequence of events. Everything has a cause.

Next, during the pre-gallop mouth washing I accidentally brushed the hose against Rod's rear fetlock causing him a panic where he jumped forward and almost landed on my foot.

Then, reports Nob, early in the trot there was an equipment problem and Nob stopped the horse to fix this right where deer normally jump out. Nob said he considered "concerning" the horse because of the location and dusk, but thought this calm horse would be ok, which would prove to be famous last words. Within 10 min. pre-gallop Rod was in a spook situation twice.

Then the gallop began in a different more difficult location, again due to the equipment problem, and it was about 50 yards into actual galloping where the fall occurred. Continue this next.

Training:
Tues. 9/29:
Art: Unbelievably the horse has lost a shoe and complete skin over one front heel bulb. Bulb completely exposed. Off.
Rod: trotted 1.6 miles. Nob unable to look up as nothing supporting his neck. Unable thus to gallop.

Wed. 9/30:
Rod: Nob's neck is better but he's still riding like a sack of potatoes due to soreness everywhere. This one lasts 3/4 mile trot as Nob is severely whip lashed again when horse stumbles so badly at the trot that he almost lands on his nose. Nob in pain and unable to go on.
Art: Nob unable to ride. Paddock is like a dried egg carton with sharp shards of mud in them and it is decided too risky to go riderless. Why risk a severely cut leg with the rain coming in that will soften things. Yup. Questionable week for our training.