Monday--Back To Bones

The deep pockets and their $200,000 horses win their share of races, but a $9500 colt won the Pat O'Brien Saturday. And, what's with the flopping tongue on Rachel Alexandra. First Curlin, now her. Can someone in Rasmussen Barn figure out how to tie a tongue tie? Rachel probably was cooked down the stretch, yet, anyone notice how she was playing with her tongue instead of concentrating on the race at the 1/16 pole?

On 8/1 with that little epiphany on calcium receptors mucking up prior thought process, the subject became lost again for a time. Back on track this week hopefully to reason out how frequently the horse must do speed work to minimally achieve fracture resistance (FR) in its bone structure.

Various processes have been identified that operate on horse's bones at speed some of which are "destructive" of the bone tissue and some "constructive". In particular the blog had focused on:

bone glue proteins and their role in the bone density equation

compaction and subsequent bounce back of the mineral lattice

Included also is the calcification process and how this works in terms of fracture resistance. The following paragraphs lifted from my 7/22 post provide a review:

"The thing or process that has been omitted from the discussion and continues to nag is the on-going process of calcification resulting from interaction of the osteoblasts/clasts. Normal thinking about "bone remodeling" probably refers exactly to this process of calcification. The general theory would be that exercised bone undergoes a process of destruction/reconstruction whereby additional calcium is layed down and bone thereby becomes denser and stronger.

Based on my exam of this, I believe there is much more involved than the simplistic calcification idea of remodeling. While certainly over time exercise will stimulate the calcification process, increase the total volume of calcium salts within bone tissue, and hence cause increased density, I am unable to pin point the time frames involved, and this makes me a little uncomfortable in reaching final conclusions involving necessary frequency of speed work for FR(fracture resistance).

About all that I am able to come up with in terms of the calcification process is that there is that it is possible to do to much or too frequent speed work since horse exercise also involves damage to individual bone cells. You must be careful to avoid exceeding the point where bone is able to repair over time these little pockets of destruction. And, that it is possible to do too little speed work in terms that the stimulus to calcify is insufficient to activate the processes necessary for FR. Probably there is an "optimal" formula of exercise where building up and tearing down of bone at the nano level operates. Where this optimal point is involves total guess work...."

And so, I'll try to recommence this and come to as swift a conclusion as possible to the question: how often do we need to breeze/race our horse to achieve FR?

Training:

Fri. 8/27: Off

Sat. 8/28: riderless 3 x 4f at about 85% speed. Lazy Rod is back. Then 4 times around the new course, gallop/trot. He did well. Ears normal instead of parallel pointed. Got this backwards. Need to do the tack work before the speed work!

Sun. 8/29: Tack work around the new 3.5f course was trot-gallop. First strong gallop in a while. The horse did well. Powerful, reports Mr. Nob, and also--given fact the horse may bolt at any time--hair raising.

Summer Over?

A little sadness with last days of August, knowing weatherwise what's coming. As a kid it was about the 28th or 29th we took the last dives into the swimming pool with a little nostalgia about summer past and how long before we'd could be back.

Now days thoughts of winter are just a pain in the a___ especially the idea of preparing a horse through that sort of weather. Best to avoid thinking about it and take advantage of the few good days left. We've had now 5 weeks of dry here in KC which has us thinking of heading to a race track should this continue. Message to our horse!

You win Travers with a $5000 stud fee. Nice! Will we see Fly Down again? Pressured 4f on one lead, same lead gallop out. Almost 1 mile on the same lead. Highly doubtful.

Late News Flash: Awesome Of Course standing for $1750.00 at Legend Farm somewhere in Oklahoma sires winner of Florida Susan Girl Stakes.

Training:

Fri. 8/27: Off

Sat. 8/28: riderless 3 x 4f at about 85% speed. Lazy Rod is back. Then 4 times around the new course, gallop/trot. He did well. Ears normal instead of parallel pointed. Got this backwards. Need to do the tack work before the speed work!

Jock Safety Concluded

I've been forced this month to take a look at the subject due to our own "safety" problems at the farm. Thinking about safety--also in view of the published serious injuries of the last few days--it seems fairly obvious that much could be done improve chances of riders caught up in serious events.

While it is less a need for jocks due to foot placement, for exercise riders an effective safety stirrup might prevent most of the serious injuries out there. Additional pads have always been a weight problem for riders. With modern light weight materials appropriate padding, better helmets with strategic bars inevitably will come on line.

What causes the delay? Likely as all in our sport, the few manufacturers probably lack both funds for research and an adequate market for production. If you're going to make a change in a product you risk your entire enterprise with an accusation of negligence.

Seems to me that changes in safety equipment need come first from proposals originating in organizations such as the NTRA Safety-Integrity Committee or be mandated by Racing Commissions. As a rider, I wish they'd get on it.

Training:

Tues. 8/24: Off

Wed. 8/25: 4 x 3f riderless speed to get back into speed work + one mile walk under tack.

Thurs. 8/26: 1 mile walk trot around the newly plotted course. The progress this night--instead of the ears up ready for the bolt, the horse had more normal twitching ear movement through most of this work. That's sort of big and will recommence galloping tonight.

Jock Safety III

Biggest culprits in race rider injuries? Likely the little dudes at left.

We have the insanity that in year 2010 stirrup manufacturers have yet to produce a race exercise stirrup that allows foot escape in emergencies.? Instead, numerous exercise riders motor down the race track, boots completely encased in the irons, risking stirrup entanglement at the slightest maneuver.

There are rider techniques, of course, reducing risks of getting caught up. Mine is shallow toe placement as opposed to the stupid riding practice of sticking the toe in till iron meets boot heel.

Absent available light entangle proof race irons, and given my suddenly dangerous animal, I've determined to experiment with some iron safety on my own. Next week I'll try some duct tape over the front of the iron that might prevent the toe from slipping in and becoming entangled. Will report how this turns out.

Additional pad protection illustrated last post also would deserve consideration. With the inevitable big fall coming with Rolling Rodney, I'll mosey over to Dick's Sporting goods next week and look at some football pads as my old hips, shoulders and coccyx might appreciate a little padding at the landing. There may be some photos on here soon with myself looking more a full back than race rider, although with weekly reports of serious injury and death at the track, it's possibly more smart than pea hearted for riders to consider piecing together safety equipment to the max.

Training:

Tues. 8/24: Off

Wed. 8/25: 4 x 3f riderless speed to get back into speed work + one mile walk under tack.

Jock Safety-Mechanics of Correct Falling

Might gear of this sort have prevented Gary Stevens broken collar bone?

Last night I was practicing falls. For illustration I have fallen off big Rod about 4 times in 12 months. Each of these falls has been the body of the horse suddenly disappearing under me due to a bolt, my body suspended in mid air and then descending to the ground like a sack of potatoes. The body protector, last post will soften ground impact considerably, but advise that though the distance is short the impact is large. On one of the falls I lost my breathing and had trouble breathing for maybe 30 seconds.

The thought process of the fall sequence is something like this:

1. Oops.

2. get feet out of stirrups.

3. I'm in mid air and will impact shortly.

4. Thud.

5. Surprise how hard the thud is and how quickly it comes.

What's missing above is the thought of "prepare for impact". If, e.g., one would only get their hands down to break impact, would concussion be reduced!

Last night practicing falls I jumped off the porch about 15 inches to the ground, landed feet first, and rolled to the ground with the idea of using my hands to break the fall, which is as gentle a falling as it gets.

I was extremely surprised at the concussive force from this gentle falling on my wrist and arms. Trying to break your fall in this manner at speed from a much higher distance is likely to have little effect at speed except to fracture your wrist, arms and even shoulders.

Thinking this through, I realized the aim in correct falling is to break the downward momentum by rolling with the force. Instead of stopping one's speedily moving downward descent (160 lbs x a coefficient of acceleration) abruptly with the hands, what seems necessary is-- at first contact-- to roll in direction of the force in effort to reduce it while aiming to avoid rolling into a hoof or worse.

Does Jock gear protect? Strides have been made, but the sport is in the dark ages. Consider e.g. this--take a look at the back view to consider the additional protection!

http://store.nike.com/us/en_us/?cp=usns_CSE_081109_Froogle&l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-240164/pgid-240165&CAWELAID=385305114#l=shop,pdp,ctr-inline/cid-1/pid-240164/pgid-240165

Training:

Sun. 8/22: 1 mile walk on wet ground.

8/23: 1 mile trot + 5 x 3f riderless play spurts.

8/24: Off. Office commitment torpedoes w/o.

Jockey Safety

"If there were no ear to hear me,

Still the pounding heart would fear me.

For in most manifold array, I exert relentless sway,

Haunt the seaway, haunt the canyon,

Ever timorous companion.

Ever found and never sought,

Ever paid both curse and court.

Grey Care, am I unknown to you?"

Death Spirit from

Goethe's Faust, Part II, Act 5.

Back to horse bones hopefully tomorrow. One to many mental projects for the meager brain have distracted.

Good day, see below, to discuss rider safety, a subject near and dear to my heart. Riding horses is an extreme sport. What's the attraction in mounting a powerful, athletic, totally unpredictable animal that can maim you, kill you, turn you into a paraplegic?

Jocks, of course, partially for the money. Yet, obviously there need be something else for those of us who merely exercise our steeds. This post is about safety instead of what the attraction is in race riding. Suffice here that riding a horse at speed is fun with a capital F. It's a blast. If the rider is also the trainer there's the added benefit of gaging the horse's progress and riding and maneuvering the steed correctly for injury avoidance.

For every rider fear of injury and death is the "ever timorous companion". This you understand every day when the leg goes up. In such a sport fear has to be dealt with. For riders fear recedes to the back of the brain where it is harnessed to brain cells that dictate extreme care, caution and reaction time when trouble inevitably occurs. Unknown other rider's thought processes, but mine-- every stride, every hoof strike out there is preceded by a mental strategy of exit.

How does the rider cope? My favorite example is the "No Fear" slogan stamped on the back of Mike Smith's exercise helmet in those Mandela "On the Muscle" "Dvds. My second favorite memory was old old jock Terry McGee statement to me that when something happens you have about 2 seconds to get off. From experience, that is 2 seconds the rider fully appreciates.

All this has come to the fore at the farm lately as our latest good horse has taken to bolting at anything from blades of grass to the imagined lions in the bush. Big Rod now days has his ears up at the post. He's looking for trouble.

This is of course other than good for yours truly who is particularly tall for a rider and possessed of hips stiffer than they once were. When the center of gravity is up higher on the horse reaction to what happens below is geometrically slower. And, with this horse, we sit forward of the barrel almost on the shoulders due to his construction. This creates the problem of reducing Terry McGee's 2 second reaction time as with Rod compared to most, you sit right over the very front end of the horse near the point of first movement. When the horse panics and bolts so do I and it's instantaneous instead of the 2 second delay.

Rod bolts because he panics. Its as if he's hit by a jolt of electric and you feel the vibration. The good part is Rod quickly regains his composure instead of running off in fear.

This comes to mind for me due to my particular horse and the link below. Riders are nearly defenseless against a horse propping and sharply veering at the bolt. The fear involved is much less the fall, for every rider mentally practices falling and we believe we can survive a mere fall. The real fear is getting caught in the stirrups, getting kicked in process, or, as happens to the unfortunate in the link, the horse fell on him. And hence the q of rider safety and that the sport with regard to this is still in the dark ages. Continue tomorrow.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/58537/rider-injured-in-saratoga-training-accident

Training:

Sat. 8/21. Off. Rain.

Sun. 8/22: trotted about a mile over new course. horse "looking" all the way, + 5 x 3f riderless spurts fairly fast.

Mon. 8/23 1 mile trot with a little gallop. Horse more comfortable today. 2 miles riderless slow gallop.

Mon. Misc.

Congrats to the old fellow at left for his weekend triumph. The sport owes a lot to Duchossois, Duchossois Industries and Arlington Park. Mr. D kept Illinois racing alive through perilous times, and how encouraging his example was compared to that fool at Monmouth conducting his meet with other people's money and mouthing that thus everybody should shrink the sport like he did. All I say is please get lost idiot. Let's see how many more such meets you put together. The Long Acres Mile was painful to watch. 90% chance Noosa Beach never races again. Watch the leads including on the gallop back with the pony. Totally oblivious humans.

Back at the farm we continue to work with our 4 year old Rollin' Rodney in hopes that some good weather and solid training can get us to the race track sometime this year. September rains would wash that out. We'll see.

Training:

Fri. 8/20: Off. Rain.

Sat. 8/21: 1 mile walk under tack on wet ground.

Sun. 8/22: 1 mile trot over new territory. The horse was uncertain and we're declining taking chances with this 16'1" wide body spook bunny. Plan is to break into gallops when he's comfortable. He was looking for trouble this night + several 3f riderless play spurts including one where our boy was rather impressive in flashing some speed.

Sun. Misc.

What a nice ride in the Arlington Million. Looked like a pretty good horse and training job also.

Training:

Sat. 8/21: Ground very wet. Walk under tack for a mile.

Fri. 8/20: Off. Monsoons. 2 inches.

Thurs. 8/19: Chas conducts riderless gallop for 2.25 miles reportedly snappier than night before.

Wed. 8/18: Chas Brantley conducts training with yours truly immersed in project at the office. 2 miles riderless slow.

Wed. Misc.

In a week requiring all attention elsewhere, post training only till Sat.

Training

Sun. 8/15: 4 times up and down hill trot-gallop + 2 miles riderless slow.

Mon. 8/16: 4 times up and down hill trot-gallop + 1 mile riderless all out. We tried for a full speed mile. The horses seemed to understand more than they have what we were asking for. Nevertheless this was less than full speed. Probably about 90%. speed, slightly faster than :13s.

Tues. 8/17: Off

Mon. Misc.

Back to things equine. Diversions the last two weeks included my watching all 25 episodes of the series featured last post, the implications of which alter the land scape. I was aware of the Inquisition but this was my first close look. Avoid editorial comment though one could and perhaps should. This stuff needs to see the light of day.

This is the week I want to get my mind wrapped around getting to a race track. I tried this before in 1998 with dismal results due in large part to the $25 bales of hay and $20 bags of feed for that 14 horse operation in Lexington, KY. It cost $1500/month to rent one side of a barn at the track. At those rates the 1998 bank account disappeared with frightening speed.

So, this time we seek to avoid past mistakes, plus a repeat of the difficult quandary involved in exiting this beautiful farm near middle of down town KCMO. The planned approach will be a one step at a time tip toe in the water thing. We have but one horse and he's problematic.

Training:

Fri. 8/13: 2 x 1 mile riderless speed work in the rain.

Sat. 8/14: off

Sun. 8/15: 4 x up and down the hill--gallop up, trot down. The horse spooked again. Nob managed to stay on. Big one coming. A horse that may require constant company at the track + 2 miles riderless slow gallop.

Sun. Misc.

Some non horse stuff. Blogger's head spinning since watching the below. Link to superb series below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lDNapxgMys

Click on the u tube drop down menu or in search box (for Part I: The Inquisition E01P01.

Sat. Misc. The Racing Calendar

Looked at the BH racing calendar for the first time in a while with eye to fall-winter race meets, and good grief. Little bit of shock.

In contrast to the old days and fall-winter meets all over the place, there is almost nothing. Remington hangs in there. Turfway here and there. Hawthorne 10 hours away. Very little else.

Good that our one horse is far enough along that we're considering were to go, and discouraging with so few choices. Maybe the sport is in a little worse trouble than I had thought if this is in process of spiraling downward. Owners necessitate tracks and meets.

One step at a time for us. Got to intro the horse to a track first, and will start process of seriously considering this next week. And, around here of late, weather is boss. Will see how it goes.

Training:

Thurs. 8/12 1 mile slow gallop-trot tack work + two miles riderless slow.

Fri. 8/13 2 x 1 mile riderless in rain as fast as they could go. Decent!

Sat. Off.

Fri. Misc.

In case you missed it, the spectacular Z video from Cangamble's website. How effective would this be as a horse racing video add?
x
Training:
Wed. 8/11: Off.
Thurs. 8/12: 4 x gallop slow up the hill trot down for about 1 mile + 2 miles riderless slow.
Fri. 8/13: Lucky Fri. 13th. Had to direct beginning of riderless trot warm up when I was still 5 min from the farm as skies threatened. Pouring rain driving in. Still managed to get i 2 x 1 mile riderless as fast as we could make 'em go. They looked like they were going very decently fast although I needed some windshield wipers for my specs.

Training

Chorus of angels:

Follow ye envoy, heaven born convoy.

On leisure wing coast.

Sinful ones shriving, dust to enliven.

Bounteous giving to all things living.

Waft in its striving, the hovering host.

--Goethe

Catching up on our training log following a week of diversions and distractions. We have been at it, and, three weeks of dry weather since 7/24, which last happened, oh, well, about 1 year ago. We're thankful for what we get that's other than constant mud. Here's what we've done since last Fri.

Tues. 8/10: Nob rides twice up and down the hill, and, oops, senior moment, forgot to buckle or tighten the girth and almost slips off. Call the tack work. Then, riderless 2 x 1 mile as fast as we could make 'em go. The horses never quite figure it during this work that we wanted them to go full speed, all out. In equine, it goes something like this--we've been lolly gagging along in our speed work the last three times, why go faster today? So, 90% speed. Mostly :13s with some a little faster. It was a nice work, steady and fairly tough. This ends the phase of extended riderless speed work provided the weather holds. Try transferring--once again--to all tack work from here.

Mon. 8/9: up and down the hill 3 times at the slow gallop + 2 miles riderless, slow, continuous.

Sun. 8/8: Off

Sat. 8/7: trot-gallop up and down hill 3 times + 2 x 1 mile riderless in about :13s. Decent!

Blame's Half Brother

Sat. Misc.

In the misc. imao category, on that workout schedule no way Blame wins the Whitney. So, $2.00 to show on Quality Road, and, depending on pre-race video might put $2.00 win as the Twin Spires acct. has made slight recovery from that KY Derby debacle were I'd place about 8 large win bets on Conveyance thinking they failed to take due to the tote malfunction. They did take nearly wiping out the account. Slight comeback of late. Helps to limit bets to sure things. Sort of violating that "sure thing" premise putting win on QR. Considering!

Training

Fri. 8/6 Has injury healed? Here's how it went. Horse was put in riderless paddock. In the warm up trot he was showing significantly more limping than 2 days ago though less severe than we would stop. Wanted to see if possibly he'd warm out of it to any extent. He did not. Just for kicks and to eliminate, I checked shoes. OMG it's a sprung shoe. That's all it was. Explains possibly the slow times 3 days ago, and nearly imperceptible limp 2 days ago. Indeed sole is sore right at crux of the spring. Re shod. Riderless near dark--2 miles--mile 1 slow--mile 2 snappy and steady in :17-16. Nice job by the horses today.

Thurs. 8/5 Off to let "injury" heal.

Training

Thurs. 8/5 Off. Based on Rod's enthusiastic walk to his early morning feed--probably whatever slight inj. there was has healed.

Wed. 8/4: The perils of exercising day after fast work and also increasing distance or speed too quickly rear their head this day. Note to myself--never work after a fast day! Interesting sequence: Here's how it went: 1. Tack work: horse tacked, then trotted twice up and down the hill and noticed horse looking skyward even more than usual. Without considering a possible reason I instinctively abandoned further trot and just walked the horse. Had visitors and talking to them doing this. 15 min on horse total.

Moved horse into the paddock for riderless slow gallop notably after yesterday's fast work. Noticed during warm up trot--horse is full striding but I see an occasional almost imperceptible hitch in the stride. 2 or 3 of these over the course of 1/2 mile trot put me on guard, and suddenly the excessive sky watching under tack clicks in my brain--abnormal trot under tack, occasional hitch in stride--he has either bruised front hoof or pulled shoulder muscle. Called work at that point and decided on 24 hrs. rest.

Tues. 8/3 Scheduled fast day that failed went poorly, and then bad to worse, see 8/4

Sat.'s 2 x 1 mile riderless at speed was to be followed up by the same work but faster. Even before starting I was worrying how quickly I'd moved these horses to mile heats. We'd lost a lot of work in July due to rain, and all prior speed work had been limited to 1/2 mile before this latest series. Should we scale this back a little, was the thought. This proved to be a correct thought, see 8/4. Here is what we did--

Planned: 2 x 1 mile riderless in :13s

Result: 2 x 1 mile riderless oscillating between :14s and 15s. Various factors, lack of enthusiasm etc., caused them to go slower than planned, turned out to be a good thing, see 8/4.

Mon. 8/2: riderless slow gallop for 2 miles. Had company/ scotched tack work.

Sun. 8/1: Off

8/3 Vids

#1 warm up

#2 Heat 1

#3 Heat 2

#4 bath.

Vid #2 photographer can be heard "Wind is slacking". Indeed, our usually self starting 15 year old is anything but into running this night. + Mr. Nob, the chaser, looking close to 93 years old, and trying to impress for the camera, decides to chase 'em and lob clods, and discover's he's too out of shape to sprint end to end. Nob keeps losing contact with the slackers. Should have done the usual and stayed in the middle lobbing grenades. That maintains contact and they eventually pick it up. What shows lol--failed work out in 97 degree humid heat at dusk. Planned 2 x 1 mile in :13s. Result: 2 x 1 mile in :15s. Try again in two days. Tack work cancelled.

Obituary

By last evening the little cat, one of the faces of the franchise for 20 years, was about done. She made the final decision between today or any of the next two days as she was neither eating, drinking or able to rise without difficulty. I took little joy in ending the suffering. I'd marked part of my life with her spirit and toughness. She was the last survivor of numerous cats that arrived at the farm one way or other over past 18 years--Mop, Polo, this one's little black mother, Lazy Rodney, Lazy Larry, and so on. Barn cats all. I always thought she'd be the last to go, and today was the day. As a little tribute I'll include below one of the notable literary efforts describing one's final day. Two views, same event:

Faust, age 100, last speech

"Faust: To this I hold with devout insistence, wisdom's last verdict goes to say.

He only earns both freedom and existence who must reconquer them each day.

And so, ringed all about by perils here, youth, manhood age, would spend its strenuous year.

Such teeming would I see upon this land, on acres free among free people stand.

I might entreat the fleeting minute, Oh tarry yet, though art so fair.

My path on earth, the trace I leave within it, eons alone cannot impair.

And so fortasting such high happiness to come

I savor now my striving's crown and sum.

(Faust falls back, the Lemurs catch him and lay him on the ground.)

Mephistopheles: No joy could sate him, no delight but cloyed.

For changing shapes he lusted to the end.

He who fought me off so well. Time triumps;

Stranded lies a whitened shell. The clock is muted.

Chorus: Mute, like midnight it is stilled.

...the hand is fallen.

Mephistopeles: Fell, it is fulfilled.

Chorus: It is all over.

Mephistopheles: Over, stupid name.

Why over? All over and pure nothing just the same.

What has this constant doing ever brought, and

what is done is raked away to nought.

So it is all over, how to read this clause?

All over is as good as never was.

And yet it whirls about as if it were.

The eternal empty is what a prefer."

--Walter Arndt translation of Part II of Goethe's Faust

Mon. Misc.

"When I mark him and assail him..."

That's the gray death spirit named "Care" beginning her death chant to the 100 year old Faust, soon to be deceased. Thought of this this morning--there being nothing in literature more prescient on the dying process than Gray Care's chant from the Walter Arndt Translation, Part 2 of Goethe's Faust--the little cat, I fear, has been marked and assailed-- developed cancer in a front toe. We removed the toe but cancer reapeared. She's been hopping around gamely on 3 legs at age 20+. This morning it was obvious the cancer has spread to the good front leg. This likely means the clock is quickly ticking now. Has yet to fully sink in except it's doubtful she'll be around next week. Still considering. Goethe's work below. Worth the read if interested.

"Gray Care(Death Spirit):

When I mark him and assail him, nothing earthly will avail him.

Never ending gloom descending, sun his rise and fall suspending.

Unimpeded all outward senses, dark on dark the soul enfences...

Weal and woe in like redundance he must famish in abundance.

Be it gladness, be it sorrow, he defers it to the morrow.

Of the future ever heedful.

Ever mindful of the needful.

Faust: Desist. This will not work on me. Such caterwauling I despise. Be gone your wretched litany; might well unnerve a man, however wise.

(Care ignores him and continues chanting)

Gray Care:

Be it coming, be it going, all resolve is taken from him.

Down the highway's level coping, staggering he trips and groping.

Deeply mired and farther erring, senses mocking, vision blurring

Burden to himself and others, breath sustains no more than smothers.

Hung between despair and striving.

Thus, a languorous pursuing, hard retrieving, nauseous doing.

Now reprieving, now molesting,

Hollow sleep and shallow resting,

Keeps him shackled to his station,

and prepares him for damnation.

Faust: Unholy wraiths. For eons you have cast your spell on human kind just so.

The most indifferent days you have perverted to loathsome coils of involuted woe.

Not lightly is the spirit net uncast

Strict spirit bond is hard to sever.

And, yet, your power, O Care, insidiously vast, I shall not recognize it ever.

Care: Taste of it forthwith then, as rife with curse I turn away offended.

Man commonly is blind throughout his life,

My Faust, be blind then as you end it.

(She breathes on him and blinds him.)"

An Epiphany--Receptors!!!

Lost his post. Found it again. Edit this later.
Eventually we do stumble into what seems correct.

Since, per last post, exercise or speed work fails to causecalcification to change the internal character of the new born fibril or their patterns within the bone lattice, does calcification do anything for the exercising horse? If we are talking about optimizing calcification by speed work, what are we talking about?

It suddenly occurred to me that in the racing animal calcificationwill over time fill in spaces and weak spots in bone that would be left vacant in the pasture horse. Even more importantly,calcification would keep those spaces filled!

How does this happen? Some hopefully solid guess work--

Exercise produces calcium receptors in areas where without the stimulation of pressure caused by movement those receptors would never form. Possibly this is a step by step process--one fibril gains a receptor and then the adjoining fibril does, and so on. Osteoblasts would then move in to the receptor areas and start forming new fibrils. We may think--if this is the process--how this might be particularly effective in the more porous trabecular bone (at ends of cannons and in interior--two types of bone--trabecular which is soft and cortical or hard bone)

In this conception the idea of optimizing calcification seems to depend on creation of "receptors" that form on the surface of the fibrils. I think I am on to something here! There are numerous receptors. Here is a list:

http://www.iuphar-db.org/DATABASE/FamilyMenuForward?familyId=12

I will avoid any study of "receptors" and note that I have zero idea whether the receptors I refer to a "calcium" receptors since the receptors referred to may have another name.

Nevertheless, I am thinking that something will cause calcification to move into weak areas of bone and keep these areas filled--as long as the animal is exercising.

Additionally, all this would explain the process of detraining in bone, which I'll get into. After your horse has been laid off for 6 months, what happens in its cannon bones? Another thing I've bumped into in this regard is parathyroid hormone that stimulates calcification. Get into this later also.

Training:

Thurs. 7/29: slow 3 miles riderless. Horse recovering from sore front hoofs.

Fri. 7/30: snappy 3 miles riderless 15-17 sec/f speed.

Sat. 7/31: riderless 2 x 1 mile 13.5-14 sec/f + warm up and warm down. High energy w/o. Was surprise that Rod sustained strength and enthusiasm through both miles. Might have a miler here. Very hard w/o causes us to cancel the tack work.