RR Stable Update

Tap It Light (photo) wins Saturday's Tokyo City at Santa Anita. Sire: General Meeting. Auction History: $5000.00, 2005 Barrett's Oct.

Just a little something to sustain we small fry just as I'm noticing Distorted Humor with his $300,000 fee breaks through, finally, on this year's TC circuit. Won't last. Take a look at the PPs (Sunland Derby).

Why do the popular and even the commercial sires generally hold sway in the TC races. There's probably an explanation, although I've yet to figure what it is.

Before the bone posts proceed, here's a short RR stable update, such as it is. I have a new 5 mega pixel phone camera but am unable to extract the video as of yet. And thus our weather conditions I can only describe. Sum it up that the last gallop step on the farm was in mid Sept. 2009, and for 2010 we've either been under water or with 6 or more inches of snow for the year. Last time I recall our paddock being completely dry was maybe for two days in November, and then you'd have to go back to mid May. We're still quite upset over the loss of Art, but have come up with what looks like a plan. Money is being layed aside to buy a yearling in Sept., and it is probably at that point that I'll reluctantly abandon the farm and head to the race track. Unknown, for sure, but for now seems like something to shoot for. Buy the yearling and head to St. Louis for winter training. Will see.

Training:

6 inches of snow or under water last week. The horses instead of standing just in deep mud are standing in water all week. Had us thinking abscess, and indeed this is what developed as the week passed.

Thurs. 3/25: Off. Way too much water. Rod limping slightly as if he's in first stage of developing abscess on right hind.

Fri. 3/26: Slightly drier. Both horses are limping from abscesses but only a little. They're up for pasture romping and we let them go for a while till the older horse stopped himself and started limping more severely. His abscess was discovered and treated post gallop.

Sat. 3/27: Raining already. Got less than predicted. Rod walked under tack 10 min. with a slight limp from the presumed abscess.

Sun. 3/28: Off as I'm thinking abscess, but this proved luckily to probably have been a larger than usual abscess in the frog which had popped. Think the problem is solved. Will see tonight as we head into a week predicted dry. Last time we had one of those was....

Summary VII

Final summary post. Hansma and his exercising mice verified an exercise effect on mice femurs as published in June 2009. That's where the research (to my knowledge) stops and so we commence with speculation. How is calcium produced, and after production, how is calcium layed down within the bone tissue? The Qs further break down:

what is calcification?

what causes calcification?

what role calcification in bone strength and FR?

is there an exercise effect.

Calcium is more the generic term referring to the mineral salts produced within the Type I bone collagen cells in the form of hydroxyapetite (HA) platelets that self arrange within the collagen fibril and commence simultaneously to coat the outer skin and form rings around each fibril. The research implies certain chemical/physical/genetic triggers that cause each fibril to secrete the platelets. Query whether perhaps the squeezing and rearranging of bone tissue from equine speed work might accelerate these triggering processes?

After "production" by the fibrils there is a construction effect which Planck notes is two-fold:

1. The HA platelets themselves are "shaped" primarily into hexagonal shapes, but precise size and shape varies, and again we query whether there might be an exercise effect on platelet size and shape.

2. The platelets that coat the outer surface also self arrange generally in the form of rings, but it seems the arrangement may vary from total randomness to well organized patterns.

In terms of exercise effect on this, my posts were at the point of figuring how exercise might affect or change the manner in which platelets are layed down or constructed, as well as whether exercise might accelerate the production process. Hypothetically I'd suggested grabbing a single fibril at one end and slinging it with great force 240 times to simulate the affect of a mile race. Might such force affect the production, construction, and arrangement of HA platelets. That's where I'd left it.

Training:

Thurs. 3/25: Will post ground condition photos when I figure how this new 5 megapixel phone camera works. Relate, we're beyond mud. Sunny Friday. Weekend storms expected. Went to farm last two days to train. Declined to wade to the mounting stand to get on the horse. Off. walk in splashy conditions Fri.

Summary VI

Planck's research post gives a materials science perspective on the importance of the calcification in bone strength or FR (fracture resistance). This poses the question what causes calcification, and, may we affect the process by what we do with our horse. Interestingly, further research was discovered as posted early February from the Paul Hansma website.

We begin with the premise that the origin of calcification in bone is "poorly understood", although we know calcium originates in bone cells due to a chemical-physical process at the nano level. They have broken this down farther and farther to some tiny proteins but fail to know how those are produced. We may surmise this process developed over eons, and racing horses in our sliver of time is unlikely to affect how and in what quantity calcium is layed down. But, we need consider the dramatic impact on bone of forces operating on our horse at speed.

Planck states the volume fraction of calcium in bone varies from 33% to 52%. The remainder is water and organic material. Planck also notes the geometrical increase in strength from small increases in calcium volume.

Two questions with respect to horses and calcium:

Production and construction. Does speed work trigger calcium production or affect how HA mineral platelets are layed down inside and outside bone collagen fibrils?

Enter here the 4/09 Paul Hansma research with their Bone Diagnostic Instrument. Hansma sought to find out if exercising mice on a treadmill would affect mouse femurs. Indeed an exercise effect was discerned: 21 days of treadmill exercise 30 min/day produced significant bone changes.

Hansma answered the Q in a general sense, and, absent further research, we next commence speculation.

Training:

Tues. 3/23: Sunny 60 degree day whereas 2 days before was 6 inches of snow. Melting. Off.

Wed. 3/24: Pelting rain. Will see what conditions are at 7 p.m.

Summary V

Starts with a query. Since "extrafibrillar mineralization:--the mineral coating outside the fibril on the skin affects strength, can we somehow affect the quantity of these mineral rings around the fibril? Rhetorical Q at present.

But, Planck launched right in with measurements that permit some extrapolation.

bone is max 52% mineral salts. (The rest of bone is organic material and water.) If there is a "max" does this answer the Q above?

But, 70% of the minerals lie within the fibrils. Its the extrafibrillars that increase the strength!

Adjacent fibrils with tiny nano spacing between them--1 to 2 nm--tend to glue together or bridge together by bone glue or HA crystals. Extrafibrillar mineralization first thickens on the outside of the fibril then grows into rings. With the growth of rings, by Planck, the fibril grows considerably stiffer (stronger) in directions perpendicular to its axis. These rings are important. And, due to the geometric shape of the rings, the fibril, as rings grow around it, also maintains flexibility.

The geometric patterns (see illustrations in the posts) fill prior spaces with stronger extrafibrillar rings. AND--by certain mathematical machinations the Planck scientists figure out that growth of mineral platelets outside the fibrils corresponds exactly to the growth inside the fibril. Outside and in the minerals grow at the same rate. And so, when we get increased strength due to extrafibrillar growth, we're at the same time also increasing strength on the inside of each fibril!

With this knowledge they determine there are measurable differences in strength as the newborn baby fibril sans HA Platelets goes through its full process of mineralization as it ages. The important concept--indeed there are strength differences! An 8Belles fibril compared to an TC winner Assault fibril, perhaps!

Strength increases geometrically as mineralization, inside and out, increases. Planck concludes by determining the same measurement process can be done for fibril arrays, and indeed there are also strength differences resulting from the manner of alignment of fibril arrays, eg. parallel, cross linked, or random disorganization that you might get in a couch potato bone. The post of 1/31 shows images verifying the patterns theorized by Planck.

That brings me to end of January where the processes that we must consider in a "minimum frequency of speed work necessary for FR" equation are summarized:

rearrangement of materials and patterns
temporary increases in bone glue proteins
temporary compaction of the mineral lattice that will rebound over time unless reinforced by subsequent speed work

mineralization

Training

As the training posts have noted, the weather this year has reached the stage were it overcomes even our dam the torpedos effort that began with the 1/23 post. 3/20,3/21 and 3/22 all off due to 6 inches of snow fall. 50 degrees today. The pasture is a lake.

Summary IV

Hypothesis: "elastic properties of the fibril "depend on/correlate with" the shape and volume fraction of HA platelets.

The above articulates a central concept in injury prevention--bone "strength" correlates with the shape and % of the mineral platelets.

That was the Planck Instiut piece which, with unusual thoroughness, aims to discover the "elastic properties" of each microscopic component of bone, smallest to largest.

at nano level bone is:

collagen molecules--insides of the fibril (cell)
collagen fibrils
collagen fibril arrays

The "fibril" is the Type I Collagen Bone Cell that, in addition to nucleus, mitochondria etc. contains water and after birth secretes HA (hydroxyapetite) crystals (mineral salts) in the interior of each cell and also in rings around the outside surface that coat the fibril.

Between separate fibrils there is nano spacing filled in with bone glue proteins. We learn, through Planck, that fibrils vis a vis each other randomly self arrange into "fibril arrays", and that possibly we might influence the manner of arrangement by our exercise program.

Planck further breaks these "elastic properties" of bone:

constituents
orientation
distribution
shape.

Lest we blithely think this gets too complex, Planck notes the above as having "crucial importance", which we may recognize when we consider that the fibril arrays build themselves in concentric rings called osteons--which are the basic structures of cortical bone.

And, with this intro Planck gets down to business. Extra fibrillar mineralization are the mineral blobs on each fibril's surface. These blobs form the fibril outer coating. The blobs come in various shapes and sizes varying (possibly) according to what we've done with the bone. Through "molecular dynamic computer simulations" we test how the presence (shape and volume) of HA crystals influences mechanical behavior of the cells and molecules!

The outcome? Indeed strength and toughness depends on size and arrangement pattern (shape), which we may possibly influence!

Training:

3/20 and 21 Sat. and Sun. Off. 6 inches of snow.

Florida Derby

First TC race of the year that drew more than a yawn from me for various reasons. I was impressed by the 2nd place horse Pleasant Prince and his nice action down the stretch, and also by Rule. By the Florida Derby PPs looks as if we're hardly seeing Nafzger style training, or even Rick Dutrow type work thus far in the State of Florida in 2010. But, some (potentially) great horses.

Thus we have unraced stallion named Indy King (photo) from Richwine Farm, Anderson Indiana siring the second place horse in the Fla. Derby. Stud fee $1000, and I did put in all the zeros.

And, there is winner Icebox being driven down the stretch on his left lead and somehow winning. That was a head scratcher. But this bit of highly questionable race riding and training will serve as further test of RR(Injury Prevention) Rule #2 that you never persevere with a horse on the wrong lead, assuming you'd like the horse to race again. So, will Icebox survive to be seen again after this debacle of a race today for that horse? Same sort of thing that did in Georgie Boy a couple of years back. Will see.

Training:
Wed. 3/17: terrible ground conditions. Walked 20 min.

Thurs: 3/18: Visually pasture looks a little better, but when Nob got out there, very uneven. How bad is it? The horse stumbled badly at the walk. Hoofs still sinking deep into the ground and standing water here and there. Too dangerous to even trot our sky watching horse: walked 15 min.
Fri: 3/19: Riderless in running paddock. Horses driven 30 times around intermittently with plenty of rest between 2f spurts through alternating deep and medium mud and standing water puddles. Tack work canceled. The horse had had enough.
Sat. 3/20: Off. 4 inches of snow.

Summary III

12. SW Research Institute of San Antonio 2008 is summarized 11/27 and 11/28/09 and, similar to U of Utah 2005 focuses on "osteocyte function responding to mechanical loading", i.e. response of bone collagen producing cells to exercise. Again, they decline posting their results. But this post provides a mouthful of seemingly relevant terms:

bone quality
fracture toughness
bone strength
bone mineral density
porosity
microarchitecture
osteonal morphology
collagen integrity
micro damage

and, allowed me to tack together an interesting formula:

FR = bone quality + bone strength + bone mineral density + fracture toughness- micro damage.

This is a lot to consider when we take our horse out, but is this sort of inquiry and terminology getting us anywhere?

13. I thought so until bumping into a Max Planck Institute research piece which follows up on Paul's Hansma's work, and proceeds in the manner of the thesis of Andres Tovar looking at "calcification" unit to unit, cell to cell at the atomic microscopic level in the manner of a materials scientist. And, I might add as an aside, the video appearing in the post of 12/3/09 is the highlight of this blog to date and worth the price of admission.

16. With Planck it seems, we get down to real business: what are the effective properties of the fibril? What are the elastic properties of the fibril? We take one couch potato, extract a bone collagen fibril and compare it to another extracted from Triple Crown Winner Assault. How might these bone cells compare? Planck examines this from smallest to largest going up the chain: electron bond, atoms, molecules, cells, fibrils, fibril arrays, to the osteons, cell to cell, unit to unit.

17. The Planck piece changes the focus right down to it's essence. By Planck we change focus from amount and quantity of calcification, which is uncertain, to observable changes in response to exercise and stress that involve orientation, arrangement and shape of bone at the microscopic level. The difference between our unexercised and exercised bone seems to involve the manner in which the calcium is layed down!

Training:
5 days after the last rain we have a lot of mud and standing water here and there but it has dried enough that the horses can do their first running in two weeks. A couple of rare sunny days and then rain comes in again next week. We're just hoping to extract the trailer from the mud one of these days to get the heck out of here.
Tues. 3/16: walk-trot under tack for 20 min. with the horse again stumbling over the terrible going and almost falling on his face. the rider is nervous, but ground slowly improving.
Wed. 3/17: riderless pasture romp.

Summary II

7. The questions posed: is there an "ideal" state of calcification for our race horses, and may exercise affect this? Does an exercised bone contain different quantities, quality, density of calcium? Answering the questions requires technical knowledge, For future reference we need remember only our conclusions.

8. Bone material over the eons establishes a balance or equilibrium between construction and destruction--osteoblasts/osteoclasts. Are these processes affected by concussive stress?

9. Several videos show the organization and construction of bone, Nov. 09--osteons, osteocytes, lamelae, fiber organization etc.

10. 11/18/09 we stumble onto some research and start to see answers. U. of Utah Dept. of Orthopedic Surgery (2005):

First--for understanding--were do bone mineral salts that comprise bone come from? What part of the bone produces mineral salts? After we pin point where mineral salts/calcification originates we may then focus on the method and manner in which the mineral salts are layed down, and then how stress/exercise might affect this process. Note that the 11-12/09 posts describe these complexities in detail.

Mineral salts originate in the osteocytes cells that permeate cortical bone(Edit--this statement probably is incorrect. What originates in osteocytes are newborn Type I bone collagen cells which will be secreting mineral salts as they age.). The U. Of Utah study interestingly determines that stress/exercise fails to produce any increase in the number of osteocytes or the manner in which they function--i.e. in this instance they are unable to see any affect of stress on the calcifying structures! We will learn later that the exercise effect, instead of being on number of cells or any increase in the amount of mineral salt production, is on the manner and mode in which the mineral salts are deposited.

11. Next I ran into the S.W. Research Institute article indicating there is a definite exercise effect on mineral salt production, contrary to the implications of the U. of Utah study. Continue next post.

Training:
Mon. 10/15 4th straight day of walk. Nob tried trotting. No way on this ground with the horse's head pointed skyward. I have never seen our pasture ground in this bad a condition.

A Review

"(it) does well, but, how does it do well?
It does well to those that do to it."
--Mr. S in Hamlet

S.W. Research Institute uses Bone fracture toughness" to describe the quality or characteristic of bone material that resists breakage and holds up under stress. For our horses I have termed this FR or "fracture resistance", which has presumable significance considering such as 8Belles, Mi Rey, Bonnie Brown Eyes, et. al. When we send our horse out there, is their FR??? For, without it, we risk anything from loss of our racer to unmitigated disaster.

For horse people--owners and trainers--there is the vague general notion that speed work and training will increase "density and strength". If you ask 10 different trainers how this happens and at what point in training FR is achieved, they will either look at you like you're crazy or you will get 10 different answers. Does anyone on the back stretch really have a clue, which serves as the explanation why every animal there will in general be permanently retired within two years, and most much earlier.

We blaze on, and try to get some answers. But first a confession that due (in part) to the complexities involved, but mostly because of distractions and diversions, yours truly has got to get back into this and figure where this was. And so, a post or two to summarize and get back on course.

SW Research summarizes the various complexities in the microstructure of bone (see post of 12/7/09) summarizing FR as an amalgam of everything in bone microstructure, including:

fibril constituents
micro structure
orientation
distribution
mineral content %
mineral platelet shape and size
arrangement, direction, density, and content of fibril arrays

Each of the above has its own chapter, and hopefully, as I look back, much of this has been covered on the blog. I will stop here today and hope to produce a short coherent review next.

Training: will be posted a bit later.

Training

Tribal Rule
http://www.bloodhorse.com/stallion-register/sr_sire_page.asp?refno=4035307&origin=horseProfile
has struck again Saturday with Alphie's Bet. Congrats to the connections, and good to see the $6000.00 stud fee winning the Sham, up from what, $0, a couple of years ago when Georgie Boy by Tribal Rule, and trainer Kathy Walsh were on the Derby Trail. Might Zayat Stables and their 34 million be paying attention? Doubtful. They never do. This times its Alexis Barba, whom I guess I'd heard of, and so both Tribal Rule Derby prospects have women trainers! Will I get over my deeply ingrained prejudice against women trainers for which undoubtedly I'll hang by my toe nails in hell? Presious Passion and Mary Hartman come to mind! I am a fan. Yet, we'll see. The Georgie Boy-Kathy Walsh story here:
http://ratherrapid.blogspot.com/2008/04/georgie-boy-and-spacing-works.html

And, then there is "True Linet" and our good prognosticator Rich:

http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/TAM031010USA6.pdf

Good call Rich! (when the chart disappears, note the horse won. See Rich's comment last post!)

Training:

Do we get a little sick and tired of seeing this (today's radar) around here? When the desk jockeys are complaining about the weather, it's bad. Five straight days of rain in KC and we're deeper into nowhere'sville.
Mon. 3/8: the closest we've been to dry for a while. 15 min walk-trot under tack. Unable to do riderless. Mud.
Tues. 3/09: Rained. The footing is so bad the horses are unable to walk in the pasture without concerning themselves they'll sink two inches down. Even the 15 year old who's a dancer and training to be a pony refused the trot. All we could do is walk. Went 8 min. fearing how much of this you do with hoofs full of mud and a lot of weight on the back.
Wed. 3/10: Off. Driving rain when I got to the farm.

Mon. Misc.

We marked March 7 as the arrival of spring hoping the single digit night time temps of 10 days ago were the last cold blast. The (ineptly shot) video below serves as a winter 2010 memorial here in KC, and also the last photos of Art, who died on the farm last week. Art is the horse nearest the pigeons. Thanks to Rich and Bill Pressey

http://www.horsetrainingscience.blogspot.com/

for the kind comments. We went 15 years around here without a fence injury much less a fatality. In Art's case I overlooked the Russian roulette aspect. Improbability, after 15 years here, finally occurred reminding of the wisdom of working every day at staving off that final bullet.

But, we go on. The good news here would be that the other horse, Rolling Rodney, morphed over a fairly brutal winter into what looks to the eye like a major league race horse. I'll post a picture soon. In Rodney's case the problems involve what you're unable to see in a photo. But for now the horse sure "looks like" he can run.

I am working on the next post bone post and intend to finish my thoughts there, and then get on to the interesting topic of performance, which, were things to go as planned, would coincide with preparing Rod to race.

Training: Snow melting on top of another foot of precip. Impossible ground conditions.
Thurs. 3/4: 15 min walk under tack.
Fri. 3/5: 15 min. walk under tack.
Sat: 3/6: 15 min under tack. ground drying and able to trot here and there.
Sun: 3/7: Riderless intermittent 10 min in deep mud. Skipped tack work.

Training

Tues 3/2: off.
Wed. 3/3: 10 min walk under tack, splashy conditions.
Thurs. 3/3: 15 min tack walk. splashy.

Amart Postscript

Just two out there in the field today when I arrived to train. Got out the saddle pad. It's one size fits all now. We're down to one race horse here, if we may use the term "race horse" for Rolling Rodney, our four year old and highly problematical remaining specimen. It's always the really good one's that something seems happens to. The surreal events on my farm Saturday turned into numbness and a queasy stomach Sunday morning. Neighbor Dennis hoisted Art's body on his big rig over to a far corner of a field where Art will rest in peace on his farm.

And, neighbor Beth called to commiserate and point out how, in retrospect, when Art arrived at her place his behavior was much calmer than on his other escapades. Obviously Art was in trouble immediately and it took we humans a while to recognize the extent of his problem. Possibly the difference in symptoms between impaction or gaseous colic and a twisted intestine lies in that Art never a single time tried to get down or roll.

By today, Monday, I was left only with sobering reality. This rambunctious young horse had occupied a lot of my time and thought the last three years. Me and his two horse buddies are going to miss him for a while.

And, there is the issue of the fence where Art got caught. It nags a little. I'll decline describing the amount of effort and money that has gone into restoring the 1940 era field and barbed wire fence that was in sad shape when I rented this farm 15 years ago. And while the area where Art got caught Sat. had been slated for repair eventually, it was Art himself that delayed that by continually escaping and forcing our fence work on the east 1/2 mile for the last year. A lot of our 3.5 miles of fence is now No Climb, but there are still a lot of areas where a horse might get caught in field fence. But, with horses there are risks around every corner. You try to eliminate the high percentages, and unless you're going to spend 100% of your time and money protecting them, you have to accept the low level risk and hope for the best. Even tonight I did a couple of things that might have resulted in a hurt horse. Happens every day, but that is the nature of the animal, very strong, and very fragile.

I have decided to continue my operation, and also this blog. This is what I do, I guess. We'll see how it goes. Rationally, after all the dramatics, me and the two horses in the field will miss the horse named Amart, and we'll try to honor his memory by keeping on. That's the way horse racing is.

Training:
Rod has done riderless work in terrible ground conditions the last three days. He has also been walked under tack for three days straight.