More Bone Microscopy

Consider:

collagen fibril
naked collagen fibril
coated collagen fibril

At left is a coated fibril with collagen molecules shaped hexagonally ( blue blobs) surrounded by a water-mineral composite consisting of bone glue, HA mineral crystals, and water where ratio of mineral to the rest depends on age of the fibril. This fibril over time will crystallize completely, and the organic collagen will die. At that point the fibril becomes part of the overall mineral matrix of the cortical (hard) bone.

A newborn fibril is naked in the sense that as it ages HA crystals will commence to form on
its outside skin(note the HA mineral bumps on the outside of these fibrils). Thus we refer to coated fibrils (at left). As the fibril ages HA rings (mineralized rings) commence to form around the fibril and these HA rings will continue to multiply until they bump into those of an adjoining fibril.

The above is essential knowledge to the Planck finding that the strength of these microscopic structures appears to depend upon the shape and volume of the HA crystals, both internal in the fibril, and the the crystals that make up the outer coating. Last post I'd speculated whether shape and volume might be affected by exercise.

You may view the interesting academic exercise as to how these conclusions are reached by reading the Planck piece:

http://www.mpie.de/index.php?id=2697

but, essentially, they model the structure mathematically, calculate the "elastic properties"(strength) of the collagen molecule-water composite inside the naked fibril, repeat the calculations for a coated fibril and one with HA rings, and finally compare these calculations to determine differences in "elastic properties" or strength. The conclusion basically is that the naked fibril has little strength compared to the coated fibrils. But, there is more.

Similarly to the manner in which astronomers can measure the size of the known universe by measuring our distance from a super novae, these physicists can arrive at some amazing conclusions provided they have made a few measurements. Continue next post.

Training: whenever we believe the weather could hardly get worse, its does. Off.

M One Rifle And Other Important Matters

M One Rifle by One Man Army wins the $300,000.00 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita. I'd have been a fly on the wall to hear Doug O'Neil explaining to J. Paul Reddam how his $200,000 Smart Strike Colt was beaten lengths by the One Man Army colt. The first bred by Kingshaven, the second by Kingsway, apparently a hunter jumper farm in CA. There is hope, lol! Congrats to Bruce Headley!

straight back to business, Max Planck Institute:

transverse properties of individual collagen molecules are not known.

RR clicks dictionary--"transverse". "acting, lying or laying across". They're concerned how the individual collagen molecules "lie" within the collagen fibril. This is unknown, and so they presume a hexagonal arrangement (although looking at the Hansma images, I'm unable to see anything hexagonal. Maybe those blue blobs are more than one collagen molecule arranged six sidedly(?)

they suppose a hexagonal array of perfectly aligned cylindrical fibers(as opposed to real molecules--they are simulating) in an (isotropic) water-bone glue matrix, the "elasticity of which is due to hydrogen bonds linking collagen molecules, as well as the cross links provided by bone glue. You're getting the picture, here!

accurate estimates of the "effective properties" of this simulated "array"--"have been developed" in the year 1998, as it seems.

They seek to find out: "the transversely isotropic stiffness tensor" of the collagen-water composite. These can be evaluated by "numerical simulations" shown as equations in the Planck piece.

With the "values" or results of said equations they obtain "elastic constants" for the composite, and from this construct the "elastic stiffness tensor" of the "Homogenized collagen-water composite.

Thus, their method.

What does this produce?

It appears they find, drum roll, that strength depends (strongly) upon the "shape and volume" of the HA mineral platelets that coat the fibrils. i.e. different shapes and amounts, different strengths. Again, drum roll!!!

Training:
Mon. 12/28: we're still off due to weather. Might try a little play in deep snow in the morning.

FR (continued)

Bone morphology here, as the blog is deep into laying out an exercise schematic to optimize fracture resistance (FR) and providing substantiation for a conclusion to be posted here presumably sometime in the foreseeable future. Never mind that it's taken almost two years to get to minimums of 4f in :12.5s at "x" number of times per month. The "x" is next!

The nooks and crannies of this proved elusive due to lack of available (free) research, but, suddenly the Max Planck Institut provided some real live research both seeming to support much prior guess work, and leading to some previously unpredicted directions.

So, with this post I'll get on with it, and apologize in advance for the highly technical nature. I am visualizing Todd Plecher going forth into his next Derby prep with full understanding of "fibril arrays". For skeptics, it's going to happen one of these years!

So, where was this? Planck's lab--analyzing fibril arrays from the smallest microscopic structure to the next larger, and so on. They call this "hierarchical" analysis.

How so? "We employ different continuum micromechanics" to various materials, collagen and so on. These people are physicists. They establish models, and calculate by computer simulation(note the various mathematical formulas set out in the Planck piece). Out the other end come the conclusions:..."different mineralization scenarios are tested...(we) establish how the fraction of extrafibrillar minerals evolve with overall mineralization"...etc.

With this back ground, down to serious business:

1. Collagen-water composite inside the molecule. Within the mineralized collagen fibrils are collagen molecules arranged in staggered fashion. This "molecular packing" is quasi hexagonal with the intermolecular spaces being filled with water and bone glue. Hmmm.

Bears rereading. Bone glue proteins, which we know liberally coat the outside of the fibrils, are also within the fibril itself binding the individual collagen molecules together! I'm thinking possibly the exercise program change this ratio of water to glue withing the fibril for the better(!)?

The interior of the fibril the is composed of:

molecules
water
bone glue

which are held together by chemical-physical bonding between glue and hydrogen bonds resulting from the water.

And so, we have some understanding how our horse's bone molecules are held together.

Next the above material is put under (simulated) pressure:

various mathematical formulas apply to measure the "isotropic stiffness tensor" exposed to certain "shear moduli" of the above material.

Continue, next post.

Training:
Tues. 12/22: Off after last two days of speed work.
Wed. 12/23: Before the coming weather, we're able to get in one more of riderless speed work. The horses handle the medium mud very well. Unable to tack gallop in December due wet conditions, but, somehow up to 12/23 we've managed consistent riderless training that puts us way way ahead of December 2008. This date: 1/2 mile spurts in the mud as fast as they could go. Probably did 7 to 8 of these with short 60 second rests between.
Thurs. 12/24-Sat. 12/26 off due to 8 inches of snow.

Merry Christmas 2009

Distractions

Some early land plants 410 million years ago, above, as yours truly continues with paleontology. The very first plants on land actually arrived arrived about 460 million years ago, so you can see how much progress they made in 50 million years. Googling a map of the universe I'd said God must be very large, and with this paleontology I'm thinking possibly he/she is also a bit slow.

Consider e.g. these to lovely looking creatures from the same period as the plants above thought to be the very first visible land animals. What might our good Lord have been thinking here, since I somehow feel sure that there is a "fly" shortly within the making. Surely within the next 5 or 10 million years. And, naturally, with the invention of the fly, God also had to invent a horse.




And, who is the Prince Of Wales like fellow above?(Left click to enlarge these scenes from University of Aberdeen!)

Tomorrow here its back to the much more interesting collagen fibrils.
Training: 12/22: after two successive hard workouts: off.

Training:

Thurs. 12/17: 3 mile play workout with some spurts riderless. Each horse was tacked at the walk for 10 min.
Fri. 12/18: 5 x 4f, last 3 in full speed in slippery conditions--about :14s. Each horse was walk-trotted under tack for 10 min.
Sat. 12/19: Off
Sun. 12/20/09: In next two days rider too pressed for time to ride. Poor planning. We go riderless. 3 miles intermittently with very short rest, most of it in :15s. tough w/o for a slower day.
Mon. 12/21: riderless--1 mile warm up + 1 mile as fast as they could go in slippery conditions, about :14s + 1 mile, first half slower, last half fast as they could go. though workout.

Planck: "Material Design Properties In Bone"

Understanding the difference between a collagen fibril and a collagen molecule (fibrils are composed of individual molecules), a little more on "structure" from Planck:

"HA crystals (see first illustration last post) inside the collagen fibrils grow primarily in gaps between the collagen molecules"

Thus, in the image (above) of the worm shaped collagen fibrils, possibly the blue spots are collagen molecules and the white stuff consists of HA crystals! Additionally, I'm speculating the yellowish-tan outside the fibrils represents "extra fibrillar mineralization", an important but different material to be discussed.

Planck has measured the typical HA crystal within the collagen fibril at at 15 to 150 nn. 150 nn relatively speaking in electron microscopy is relatively large.

Note that HA crystals occur both within the collagen fibrils and outside and thus "between" the fibrils. HA crystals outside the fibril are referred to as "extra fibrillar" and the relative size (fraction) of these is "less well understood" in terms of each individual crystal--"a matter of debate" says Planck which I'm assuming would be akin to the health care debate.

But, what do we know about extra fibrillar crystallization?

Described as "mineral containing blobs on the fibril's surface"--that's how they appear gazing into an electron microscope. But then, at even higher resolution imaginging "each collagen fibril is individually coated with extra fibrillar HA minerals with various shapes and sizes and part of these mineral formations are arranged with a period of 67nm, the same as that of the underlying micro structure of 'naked' collagen fibrils". I'm taking this important observation to mean that the "size" of the extra fibrullar crystals in toto is about the same as the size of a collagen fibril. Imagine then multiple fibrils where the size of the material (HA crystals) between the fibrils is approximatley the same size as the fibrils themselves. I'm taking it in terms of quantification that in mature cortical bone the ratio of collagen fibrils to extra fibrillar HA crysals is roughly stacked 1-1, i.e. fibril-crystal-fibril-crystal with each being roughly the same size.

With these structural understandings established, Planck goes on to indicate there have been several important, mostly recent, studies to determine the mechanical properties of individual collagen fibrils under stress, and how the shape, orientation, and size of the HA crystals (i.e. the mineralization) affects structure strength. That is to say they are studying precisely what I am currently questioning, which is the affect of the percentage of mineralization on bone strength and toughness:

How in heavens name do they study the weigh bearing ability of single fibrils? Computers. They simulate.It's called "Molecular Dynamics (MD) simulations"! "The properties of a single collagen molecule (as opposed to 'fibril') have been assessed." The year 2007: Bhomik et. al investigated how the presence of HA crystals influences the mechanical behavior of collagen molecules.

Then, this bomb: Broedling et al. 2007, showed that the strength and the toughness of HA crystals depend on the size and arrangement pattern of the crystals (paraphrased for clarity).

The last above, of course, implies that arrangement patterns may differ, and thus so may strength and toughness according to the particular arrangement. Presume the reader is starting to understand where this is going. Continue, next post.

Tues. Misc.

A few images illustrating last post:
at top is a single bone collagen molecule followed by three molecules coming together as a fibril with dispersed mineral salt crystals between the molecules. Those helixes inside the molecule are chemicals produced by the osteoblast/osteocytes. Below, a Hansma electron microscopic image of a single fibril. I'm seeing little correlation in that with the above. Possibly a mistaken description somewhere. Hansma's site has disappeared for the moment.
Below, from Planck showing fibril arrays:
And an image of closely alligned fibrils.
This below illustrates where fibrils fit into an osteon. The striped patterned bands curling around the osteon are "collagen fibers".
Training:
Tues. 12/15 fourteen degrees, but also a regular off day.

Crucial Importance

At left a SW Research Institute image "collagen organization at the osteocyte lacunae." We need take a look at Planck on the meaning of "collagen organization."

Planck describes the situation small to large:

collagen "molecules".
collagen "fibrils"
collagen fibril "arrays".


So, at the nano level we have collagen molecules that come together to form a collagen fibril (see image last post) which, as it matures, mineralizes itself from the inside out with "hydroxyapatite (HA) minerals and H2O (water) which provides hydrogen (H) bonds for both the collagen molecules and the mineral molecules. Water helps to hold it altogether with H bonds! We add to this mix noncollagenous proteins (bone glue--again, image last post).

How does all this come together to form a fibril. "Self-arrangement" is the term used by Planck BUT I am speculating whether our exercise protocol might affect the arrangement!!!

This is just the beginning. The fibrils, being arranged by self assembly, have certain physical properties:

constituents
orientation
distribution
shape

Thus each fibril has certain percentages of organic to inorganic material (constituents) with the mineral salts within the collagen molecules having various shapes, distributions and orientation. Again, might such properties be affected by :12/f speed over mile distance by an equine?

Planck uses the term "crucial importance" to describe how all of the above in combo will affect the strength of bone material.

Training:
Sat. 12/12: second day in a row of riderless work as fast as the snow conditions allowed--about :14 speed. We stopped short of a full volume w/o.
Sun. 12/13: Though its 43 degrees and ideal conditions, appearance of the horses showed them a little ragged from two tough w/o in a row. Off.
Mon. 12/14: we go 36 hours after Sat. speed work. Well timed, I might add. Ground is crystallizing fast with strong north winds blowing in more extreme cold. This was the toughest w/o in a good long while as I deemed the horses getting back into condition after various woes of the past few months. 15 min. intermittent hard riderless. At least five 1/2 mile spurts as fast as they could go with very little rest between several--maybe 20 sec. Thus almost mile sprints in freezing mud. Art looks like a race horse. Rod, not so much.

More Planck.

Last post introduced that possibly "orientation", "shape", and"arrangement" of bone at the microscopic level might significantly impact FR. A closer reading of Planck, which follows, will be enormously helpful in explaining these concepts.

Above, bone tissue imaged at 200 nm from the Hansma website. Electron microscopy on Hansma seems to range image size from 500 nm to 50 nm. Thus the image above is quite small. It shows fractured mineralized collagen fibrils , hence the spacing and bone glue tearing apart. But the purpose here is only to show the actual appearance of the mineralized fibril as this "appearance" is important in understanding Planck.

Keep in mind that Type 1 bone collagen undergoes a maturation process from birth when it is purely collagen to death where it literally leaves behind a whitened shell of mineral matrix. The cell mineralizes completely over its lifetime. In the image notice the mineralized outer surface of the coated fibrils which appear to be of a rough grainy texture(left click to enlarge!).

Planck begins by stating it's goals, which are to examine bone material beginning with its the smallest microscopic components which are collagen molecules on up the much larger material which are groups of parallel collagen fibrils and also they will analyze all everything in between. They evolve the discussion step by step from the smallest to the largest to be examined, i.e. there's an unusual thoroughness here. They aim initially to discover the nature, character, evolution and behavior of these microscopic components and thereafter look at the "elastic properties" with an eye to understanding how material at this level affects bone strength and fracture resistance (FR).

The Abstract of the article states this as follows: "In this project we model the elastic properties of bone at the level of mineralized collagen fibrils via step-by-step homogenization from the staggered arrangement of collagen molecules up to an array of parallel mineralized fibrils."

There are two fascinating points in this article for our equines:
1. This provides indeed some very late research concerning bone at the microscopic level, and
2. They are looking at mineralization and the effect of mineralization on the elastic property (or strength) of bone tissue essentially as partners in crime with yours truly.

Onward, next post.

Training: nice riderless workouts for the conditions. We miss only two days due to very cold.
Sat. 12/12: Both horses were driven riderless for 10 min on partially frozen encrusted slippery mud and snow. But they seem to handle it well and we proceeded to run off about 4 consecutive half miles as fast as conditions allowed which probably was in :14s. We stopped this one a little short of a full workout as I deemed our fat one--Rod--had had enough. I want to maintain his enthusiasm although I hate to penalize the other horse.
Fri. 12/11: Perfect snow conditions for running. It's soft instead of crusty as a slight warm up from 5 degrees is at hand. Horses are driven riderless for 10 min. intermittently in play fashion. They're into it and run off several 2f spurts in :14s.
Wed. and Thurs. 12/9 and 10: Off due to weather.

Back To "Rearrangement"

At left a representation of a single mineralized bone collagen fibril. The Max Planck piece asks the question: what are the effective properties of this fibril?

The yellow in the illustration represents the "collagen-water matrix" which is the organic portion of this molecule. The red ellipses are mineral platelets produced within the collagen molecule. Planck calls these HA platelets with "HA" undoubtedly being a chemical signature for inorganic mineral salts.

AND, notice the alignment of the red ellipses, the HA platelets!!! The "elastic properties" (of this collagen fibril), says Planck "should strongly depend on the shape and volume fraction of the platelets". We learn that strength here depends on the number of the red ellipses, their alignment, and their percentage in terms of total volume in the molecule.

Now, let us focus! Is it conceivable that our exercise schematic might affect volume, alignment and even size within this collagen fibril? Conjecture that--yes--of course. A fat lazy couch potato fibril is going be different in appearance than one extracted from Triple Crown Winner Assault trained by another "Max" named Max Hirsch.

This is an intro to the Planck piece and hopefully will wet the appetite for more. The Planck post deals with patterns at the nano level. The illustration below represent patterns of extrafibrillar (outside the collagen fibril but plastered on to it) mineralization as another e.g. how Planck reveals bone organization from electron bonds to atoms, to molecules, to cells, and to osteons and the larger structures. Planck examines bone tissue in a hierarchical manner from smallest on up.

And again, how, precisely, might exercise affect this (larger) structure?

Training:
Thurs. 12/10: second day off due to weather.

SW Research Institute

Second link, last post. I might have some fun with this one since the researchers were dealing with "osteocyte loads" on "mouse bones".("we will measure osteocyte deformation ex vivo in mice long bones due to...") But, for weather and personal reasons strike all humor here and present a straightforward summary of the link.

First, some definitions, for which there is too much overlap for my taste, but bother to read through them to appreciate some very fine distinctions between bone "quality" and bone "strength" and bone "fracture toughness".

In the study


Bone quality = 1. bone porosity and mirco architecture. 2. bone mineral and organic constituents (i.e. is there more collagen or more mineralization in the bone sample). 3. micro damage accumulation.). May we presume that bone of high quality lacks porosity, has some ideal (but unknown) collagen/mineralization mix, and minimum micro damage.


Bone strength, as opposed to bone quality, seems to refer to bone mineral density + bone quality. I'm thinking you add "mineral density" to quality. If you have both you have strong bone. How do you get "mineral density" is a different but extraordinarily important question.



Interestingly BMD (bone mineral density)according to this study seems to account for but 4% of fracture risk, and the remaining 96% are unexplained for their purposes. I propose to clear up some of these mysteries


Then "bone fracture toughness" seemingly (to them) an amalgam of everything: porosity, micro architecture, osteonal morphology, collagen integrity, and micro damage "all of which are measures of bone quality."


Of further interest besides the forgoing definitions, the piece introduces the concepts of osteocyte loading (with mechanical strain) and subsequent deformation, substrate stretching, fluid flow in and around the bone cells. They go as far as to quantify this by showing x amount of deformation with y amount of strain. The point being, there is an "effect" the implication being increased mineralization resulting from strain.

But, that's where the useful part ends. Next post will summarize the Max Planck article.

Training:
Sun. 12/6: Art was driven riderless intermittently with short spurts up to :15 sec/f. Rod Off.
Mon. 12/7: Riderless workout intermittently for 10 min. numerous faster spurts in :14 range for both.
Tues. 12/8 With bad weather blowing in. we continue fast work and get possibly the best riderless fast work in quite a while. Numerous 2f near full speed bursts for both.
Wed. 12/9: Off

Some Help

At left, Max Planck (1858-1947) , credited with discovering quantum theory. A physicist.

With links from Southwest Research Institute and Max Planck Institut, posted again below, possibly enough info now from human bone research to stretch out some conclusions for our equines.

First, these links provide some terminology. From SW Research:

Bone Quality
Bone Strength
Bone Mineral Density
Bone Fracture Toughness
Bone Micro Damage

Somewhere way back I wanted to build a model. Something like FR = X. Do we have it now?

FR= Bone Quality + Bone Strength + Bone Mineral Density + Bone Fracture Toughness - Micro Damage.

Note relevant distinctions between quality, strength, toughness etc., the terms being used in a scientific sense to describe differing bone characteristics at the micro level, whereas on the blog I've used "fracture resistance" (FR), something contrasted again since this refers to bone withstanding force of a horse race!

But, do these terms mean-- "bone quality" etc.? And, is the above formula correct. E.g. If we have mineral density as opposed to Type 1 Bone Collagen predominance might we merely have a more brittle bone instead of a stronger bone? On these we have the help of the Max Planck piece that essentially discusses the formation of collagen, the mineral salts, etc.

I'm getting to this late, and Sunday is a road day. but thinking, when we look in wonder at our horse's radiating cannon post race, that possibly we'll know a little more than to think we merely have micro damage.

http://www.mpie.de/index.php?id=2697

http://www.swri.org/cms/Index.asp?ID=38

Training:
Fri. 12/4. fairly worthless pasture romp in bad weather. But we got something in.
Sat. 12/5 Last speed work now 4 days ago. It's above freezing today, and so near dark horses put in paddock for riderless speed work and Art limps in. Lost front left shoe. Unbelievable. Rod is driven at speed intermittently for 10 min. 2f spurts. He's into it, and its a nice work. On the downside, the formerly calm Rod now Mr. Spook. Panicked 3 times at the feed tub in today's wind. Nob declines to get on. We'll run Art in the morning before the trip.

From the Max Planck Institut

Can you in fact "build up your bones" by tapping on them with a stick per last post video? I kept waiting for that second fellow to head butt the rocks.

Consider what's happening there with those hard body trainers tapping themselves 100 times a day. Might we equate the concussive effect with our horse's hoofs striking the race track at speed? In terms of fracture resistance (FR) consider the trainer who puts his horses through this training every 9 days or longer spacing compared to Preston Burch and his every 3 day speed work. Is it the same effect in terms of "bone remodeling"?

And, the bone image above is there for a reason, to be referred to. I'm ready to draw some conclusions particularly with regard to the class assignment below which, while it supports many of the suppositions previously posted here, also caused a fairly radical change in my thinking with regard to exercise and the ossification/calcification process.

So, let's focus, get down to business, and find out what is really happening when we "strike" those bones. Here is a 2008 research paper from the Max Planck Institut. This refers to Hansma's work, but adds to Hansma, indicates exactly how those calcium deposits happen, and what they consist of. Next post will discuss this right on the money bit of research:

http://www.mpie.de/index.php?id=2697

Training:
Fri. 12/4: 25 degrees at training time. Wanted fast riderless paddock work, last speed being 3 days ago. Paddock too hard, dried crusted frozen mud. Thus a pasture romp, unsuccessful as it turned out. Horses insisted on galloping out of sight. There was at least once decent spurt though per usual the horses refused to extend on the hard going. The cold came in before the ground completely dried. We're batting 0.00 this year with the weather.

"Bone Remodeling"

Avoid confronting the above alone in dark alleyways, but, if you do, look out for that first guy's head.

Training:
Thurs. 12/3 we take the day off for reasons nefarious. As I consider, temps are 30 degrees colder today. Might be good to let TB (and, human) lungs adjust.

Training

Next bone post slowed by a mountain of new research material being gone through, some of it seemingly relevant. Hopefully tomorrow. We're giving the horses 36 hrs. from the last training session due to weather blowing in. December is officially here.

Conclusions Re Ossification/Calcification And Exercise

For the reader (hypothetically speaking), believe I'm honing in on the role of calcification/ossification. This was to be a post about conclusions, but then, in reviewing Hansma:

http://hansmalab.physics.ucsb.edu/index.html

I bumped into the term "biomedical bone research" where Hansma informs there are literally thousands of papers on this per year. Epiphany. You've got to know where to look. "Biomedical bone research" indeed googles to numerous bone papers, and RR becomes immediately distracted by a mountain of info. I'll be looking through these.

The blog question of the moment concerns the role of ossification/calcification in FR, whether this influences bone strength, and the extent to which the exercise program might affect this.

When we lay a horse off for a lengthy period, let's say 5 months, we might believe that in this lay off period there will be a reduction in cannon bone structure (and hence strength) due to lack of training. I have/had always had a vague notion that in the layoff period the cannon bone actually loses calcium and that on commencement of training we have to rebuild the lost calcium.

But, if we believe horse cannons lose calcium structure during layoffs, do we then have to also believe that horses rebuild this calcium structure when they get back into training--i.e. training causes calcification/ossification? If you believe one, you then must also believe the other.

BUT, is this what happens in the first place? After due considering I'm highly skeptical that the ossification process has much to do with FR, and will commence with these conclusions, next post.

Training:
Mon. 11/30: off
Tues. 12/1: On what I expect will be the last 60 degree day for quite a while--November temperatures were superb--Rod trots 5f before again throwing Mr. Nob. Without damage this time. Art goes 9f trot with a few f of gallop before also spooking in near dark. Both horses were then put in the paddock for riderless play for 10 min. They were into it with numerous full speed bursts.

Dec. 1 Farm Report

Faust: "I wish a tally daily to be taken
how much the trench in hand is gaining room."

--Goethe

The "trench" at the farm has been gaining very little room, although we're presently in two weeks of good weather, an act we've seen played out repeatedly. We get the horses just back into it then the next monsoons come in and knock out the track for 2 or 3 weeks.

The mid-November rains came as I'd built up some hope for a trainable December--if we could gallop through November followed by a decent December we'd be on the way. Never happened of course, and possibly this caused the final mental transformation in yours truly in terms of trying to train here in KCMO.

I have now basically given up the idea that, due to wet climate, we can make any progress at all at the farm, and will merely keep the horses in as good a condition as weather permits until we can determine a track situation and move them there.

How is this latter aspect going? We're considering several things--Eureka, although I'm unable to imagine after two years of constant rain without any race meets that there's any surface left there--Will Rogers in February, St. Louis starting in April, or Prairie Meadows.

A major concern is that after all this non-racing time that the horses still have their speed. I am worried about that in terms of major track competition. At any rate, there's nothing going on racing-wise within hailing distance at the moment, and we thus have the luxury of sitting back and preparing to the extent we can.

Next bone post hopefully up later today.

Training:
Sat. 11/28: Art: .8 +.8 trot. Rod: the suddenly spooky three year old a dangerous ride of late. Walk-trot for 10 min.
Sun. 11/29: Art: .8 +.8 mostly trot with ending with a 2f of strong gallop. The track is still only about 1/2 usable due to mud. Rod: tack work cancelled due to dark. Horse was driven riderless intermittently as fast as conditions allowed--short bursts of :14s.
Mon. 11/30: Off