More Subjects

Trying to think and name them today:

1. Exercise physiology component of performance,

2. Human element of performance.

2a. (edit) Talent.

3. Nutritional aspect of performance.

4. Husbandry impact of performance.

5. Shoeing.

6. Horse training--i.e. getting the animal to do what you want done. Motivation is part of that, but, much more.

7. Horse conformation aspect/stride style/identification of distance for the horse.

8. Understanding competitive cycles and ebb and flow of competition in general terms of momentum but also that certain identifiable components of this affect confidence and response.

All I come up with on the fly. More consideration.

Training: Thurs. 4/28. Morning--horse gallops at a limp to feed bowl. By evening am unable to see a limp. 10 min walk under tack without a limp. Fri morn. slight limp at walk. Bandage due to be removed.

Uncle Mo

Uncle Mo pictured. Click to enlarge and view bandages. I have never been able to figure out this bandaging stuff, but then there's a lot I have been unable to figure at the race track. What works, I guess. Must make horse terribly uncomfortable in terms of heat build up.

At our farm performance currently involves walking without a without a limp. And so, who am I to criticize any body's training since around here at conclusion of 4th month of the year we are nowhere. This aside I thought it interesting in view of his latest breeze to take a brief look at Uncle Mo and his Derby prospects. A more scientific view of this sort of thing a little later. For today just some wild speculation that anybody familiar with athletic performance ought to be able to make.

The connections as always going googlyeyed over the latest 1:02 5f that essentially by the fractions slow :13s with a dash down the stretch. My reaction was, well, at least they decided on 5f since the horse has been doing 4fs all year. More importantly though, can Mo possibly put on a performance in the Derby being limited for the last 30 days pre to maybe 2 to 7 (depending on next breeze) twelve second furlongs in 30 days. There are multiple Qs.

First, doing that little real work in 30 days before a major event would in my world put the horse behind the 8 ball. Regardless of talent, how can the muscular structure and chemistry of this horse possibly be suited to going all out in a 1.25 mile race with this kind of absurdity? Without a doubt Mo's natural talent will cruise along at a high rate for a while. Unknown how the horse can possibly do anything but fade in the stretch based on what shows.

Then second there is the distance and lack of speed training for the distance. What these connections seem to think--and knowing their mental approach would be interesting--the horse is so talented he simply fails to need any serious training. It's the Kiaran McGlaughlin nonsense again of why do more when less will do, most likely.

The above is very simplified and too little time today to get into this deeply. Present the Q for anyone interested for further thought.
Training
the abscess was at the farm followed by 2-3 inches of rain in several showers. And, we being without a stall, predictably the abscess worsened. Rain has stopped and so I became agressive with it last night digging out enough sole basically exposing significant laminae. My experience--that will keratinize quickly in two days in the dry. Bandaged and the horse went from a severe abscess limp last night to running 2f to the feed tub this morn. Was a run at a limp--but the limp looked more like pressure on exposed laminae than abscess limp. Maybe I got it. Will get back on tonight.

Performance Subjects Continued

Interesting race 4/24 at Gulfstream called Capital Request Thoroughbred Charities Stakes. Out of the gate in :52. How often do you see that? What followed later in the race was revealing: the entire field at Gulfstream--and how many times does this happen with soft east coast training--running hard to the wire.

Scroll down here to the race listings and watch it for the possible lesson. I'll be up only a short time.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/

A bunch of inferior conditioned fillies each and everyone running to the wire I believe is something I've never seen. Maybe in the Breeder's Cup. Does most of the field usually tie up somewhere around the 3/16th?

Q. To what extent did the mere fact that this field used the first 4f to essentially warm up into the speed affect this performance? Ooops. Warm 'em up-- they all run instead of most of them dying 3/4 of the race in. I have dubbed this the "Z" strategy (see Zenyatta).

Such is" intuitiveness", an important exercise concept, gained by race analysis with a view to winning and losing. The causes and effects that result in performance. This Gulfstream race may be merely coincidence. More likely however, the results reflect the slow early pace that allowed the fillies to slowly wind into their speed. Pressey's interesting comments provide another possible explanation--see last couple of posts!

So, having been away from a race track 4 years now, as I slowly wind into this, what is it we're talking about? Exercise physiology/science is of course in the background of athletic discussion. More to it than that though. The human element. The perceptive abilities of the trainer, information processing, that execution of elevated common sense as it applies to athletic performance, basic intuitiveness as to performance and where that comes from, and also and in contrast, highly refined intuition, and last, but hardly least, the unique challenges of our equines.

Guinea pit idiot grazing in the back yard while I type. He'll be cooperating, hopefully.

Training: raining yesterday when I got to the office, raining when I left, raining when I got up this morning. Off.

Subjects

A fellow troglodyte in front of the old Independence, Mo. Jackson Co. Courthouse(year 1836), and typical KCMO weather to boot.

Bill Pressey comment last post--helpful! Read closely first two paragraphs! From my class room exercise physiology days, they think--in terms of measurables!

My exercise physiology class at MU Columbia was in 1973, and so I'll be a bit rusty with correct terminology, and, hopefully as accurate as possible given passage of time and more recent developments. In terms of exercise science I am thinking I may as well have studied it in the 1920s as 1970s. Although, I must say, reading the equine exercise physiology text book, in the textbook of the 1970s was already into most of that.

With that, I'm taking it that Pressey states an interesting idea, something I have yet to consider! After transitioning to aerobic metabolism at some point out of the gate--a minute or less depending on fitness--the horse hits an aerobic cruising speed (am thinking its a combo of aerobic and anaerobic most of the way) but then, at the speed up, the horse has to transition back to mostly anaerobic. the longer the horse can stave off this transition, the stronger down the stretch. Unknown if that is exactly Pressey's point, but, thinking so. He then attempts to measure this sort of fitness with the heart rate. Give this a hmmmm... for now for deeper consideration!!! Have yet to think of it this way, but very interesting concept!!!

Subjects:

I'm blogging on the fly. What is this about, this performance? What comes to mind.

Winning--difference between winning and losing. Causation!

Speed as the #1.

How to get speed in the horse?

How to get speed over distance?

Leave it there for today.

Training:
4/23 light riderless pasture romp on a still sore hoof. Got the short full speed burst we needed.
4/24: get there to get on and horse limping more severely than day before. Further digging into the sole reveals larger abscess than supposed--it runs all along outside of hoof toe to quarter. Of course it's raining around here. New vet supplies arrived. Will see. As it's lingering, experience is that I'll have to get very aggressive to get rid of it.

Performance: Subjects

Injury required some study. Posts on performance happily for the blogger should click right along. Athletic performance is a broad subject in itself and our horses provide additional challenges specific to them. The basic idea is that racing performance can be improved, although this may be a minority idea foreign to many of our trainers the same as this has been for many human coaches, managers and trainers. Even today the idea of enhancing performance seems only of late to come to baseball as we see such teams as the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Buccaneers with their individual personal trainers for each player succeed year after year regardless of personnel and for the last few years team performance growing stronger as the season progresses. And there are teams such as the KC Royals who only recently and finally acquired a batting coach attuned to improving performance but are still stuck with a manager, GM and pitching coach in general clueless. You see these sorts of teams on a fairly consistent basis fade as a season progresses.

I have watch with interest as the National Football League righted itself in the last decade as in response to competition the NFL has expulsed almost all of its incompetent coaches, and more and more you see even know nothing fans connecting coaching to team performance.

I'll blog on the fly as I embark on this. Neverthless, with a lifetime spent since first picking up a basketball in the 4th grade watching, playing and coaching countless games with an eye to analyzing what separates winners and losers, this is all fairly easy for me at this late point.

My first thought is to define in general what is to be discussed. Subjects! Next.

Training:
4/23: 2011 quickly passes; getting Rod to the races more and more problematical--still nodding at the trot with as the lingering abscess still drains Minor problem last night. light pasture romp with one short fast heat. Avoid too much that would worsen the abscess.

Sat. Misc.

Serious blogging tomorrow. News around here restricted to Mr. Nob taking another dive. Falling off horse in terms of distance of the fall is somewhat analogous to football at times.

While at trainer Tom Pryor's place in Pleasant Hill in 1987 watching 2 yr. old JB gallop that was to be my first purchase, the rider fell right off. He dusted up, walked over to us, and I noted to him "that seems dangerous. r u getting back on, I quizzed? " The young lad's reply stuck with me through the years: "if you ride horses you will fall."

The other one on that subject that's stayed with me involves ancient jock Terry McGee getting dislodged off of my Groovin' Wind down on the backside of Blue Ribbon in 2000 when the track was closed due to rain. To McGee's credit he took a lot of bucking before he finally decided to jump. I asked him why he had waited so long to get off. McGee replied: "when something happens, you've got about 2 seconds, so I was ok there for a while."

Mr. Nob, with our idiot, unfortunately rarely has 2 seconds, although on Thurs. eve he did. The way Rodney gallops, and even trots, the tall rider sits right over the top of his head. Since horse motion starts on the front end, when Rod tilts so does Nob. The blow by blow of the latest calamity follows with the football connection:

1. In getting ready Nob decides we'd do so little tonight we'll skip putting on the football pants with hip and coccyx pads. Mistake.
2. The trot gallop goes well despite 15 deer running back and forth out of the tree line seeming pissed that we were disturbing them. Rodney is unflapped.
3. After 15 min walk back to the barn. Get to mounting stand. Nob stated the thought going through his head, as he brought the horse to a halt to dismount: not much of a workout, but at least we're back on.
4. Momentary completely unexpected horse panic at the mounting stand. This is what happened in Terry McGee's 2 seconds: Horse wheels to the right. Nob unseated and suspended to the left tries to right himself with his right leg, but the horse turns right a little more and with gravity winning pulling down Nob's carcass that is suspended in the air, Nob decides his choice is to pull himself back up by the reins and--should the horse turn as a result of the pull--risk falling on his head and getting entangled in the reins or to just complete a comfortable fall landing on his backside.

Nob chose the latter, wisely probably. Nice fall, if I do say so. The going on age 65 yr. skeleton can still take a thud. No serious harm done this time. Nob lands on his left hip without the football padding, and apparently also cracking a lower left rib. Only hurts a little.

Horse in this w/o was still nodding slightly at the trot, limping again Fri. morning in deep mud, but Sat. morning ok, and will get back on this eve.

Performance #1: Avoid Dithering

Back in 2007 at Eureka Downs with yours truly having more day to day feeling of training a horse. The one pictured is the easily trainable sort. A little deer like skittish run away itis that we had to work around, but a horse that successfully breezed 50+ times between June and October 2007 at the farm and the race track.

Good weather that summer that ended in rain deluge as soon as the Woodlands opened up and we never made it into a race with the pictured 12 year old. He was a winner at one time by 20 lengths and stayed right in there with the best at Remington at one time. But my experiences with Groovin'Wind as with all my own horses, and certainly with the 5 year old yet to see the track horse Rollin'Rodney possibly give lesson one on performance: avoid dithering with a horse.

Here it is April 20 of the year, and good lord, in terms of track prep we are still on the sidelines. Almost unbelievable.

Obviously, when you're in a competitive event, time flies by. You never get it back. In horse racing there are so many things that divert to include the constant in your face operation of Murphy's law that any success requires a laser focus on the target of getting your horse into a race.

While around here the rainy environment for 3 years is the primary side track, I've had plenty of talented youngsters that, frankly, I waited too long for numerous irrelevant reasons. If we have a youngster, to succeed in this sport serious purpose is required from day one. Start in June of the yearling year. By that time the prospect needs light riderless exercise, and if physically possible Preston Burch indicates he started tack work right then and there, and never let up till he got 'em to the races.

I never understand people breaking their Sept. yearlings and then "laying them off so they can grow up". What's the point? Horses love to exercise, they have a naturally competitive nature, and lay off merely destroys whatever you've created and you have to start again.

If training for performance is an ever crescendoing enterprise, then "lay off" is to be avoided except for badly needed rest or injuries. Too many lay offs and that yearling will be a seldom raced 4 yr old probably far softer than it might otherwise have been.

Of course the big and wealthy outfits are well fitted to start their yearling in any geographical location. Its the small fry as my stable that need avoid the continual distractions and side shows, even when they seem unavoidable.

With certain horses I've been able to proceed. In the old days I'd work 'em somewhere in any weather. I can recall exercising horses on a double lunge line with me running full speed to increase the circumference going full speed with that in the middle of a corn field in deep winter dodging stubble when the training track was frozen. I'd bot at -10 degrees, pouring rain, whatever, and I did get all those first three to the race track quickly.

Since then, I let every little excuse side track me. They're young, no hurry, is a mistake to getting any performance.

Training:
Below the final two abscess videos. The last one is the result. I've yet till this one popped an abscess and had the horse still limping, much less this badly. He was still limping the morn after this, but by last night in the dark he appeared to be walking fine. Will give it 36 hours and get on him tomorrow morning is the hope.

Off To A Rousing Start (Not)

24 hrs. ago. Do we finally get to gallop? Arrive at the farm to the below. Rest of the sequence later.

On to "Performance"

Our (Arch) horse is over his hoof bruising. Weather willing recommence gallop tonight. Out of 3.5 months into the year we've had about 1.5 mo. training, 1.5 mo. off due to weather, and just finished 10 days off due to the hoof bruises.

That's the way it goes. Any given time 50% of the backstretch is disabled with some sort of injury. Slight exaggeration maybe, but I doubt it. What's more discouraging in horse racing than having the laid up horse? As performance goes we'll always have to be mindful of the injury component. But now on this blog the method and manner of getting 'em ready for race day.
Complicated subject as experienced trainers will relate.

Given the length of time the RR stable has been awol from a race track there's a little rust. The plan is to get Rollin' Rodney ready even as his window of opportunity to get to the races grows geometrically smaller now with ever day that passes. We hope to take our own horse through this thing, relate the experience etc.

That's the optimistic forecast. Reality impinges on this differently than in times past. We're 200 miles from the nearest track, there are fewer race meets, weather ever looms around here, we have a problematic, dangerous to ride animal, and trip to the track for us now days will probably cost in the $200 neighborhood compared to $100 in the old days. Also we have severe truck/horse trailer engineering problems that I keep putting off.

But, onward. This is what we do. Thoughts on performance will be extemporized as we here in KC go.
Training:
Last week: Two short fast pasture romps on the bruised hoofs.
Sun 4/17: Rod chased the old horse full speed riderless for short 40-60 yd bursts in deep muddy paddock followed by stallion displays each time he headed the oldster. Fast twitch work that we needed.

Factor No Factor

An Arch (broodmare sire) colt in the backyard a spitting image of the photo at left is ok with us. I recollect that moment during the 2007 Faisig Tipton internet bidding and sworn like the plague to avoid unraced mares (never know about the breathing), and in walks an obvious possible exception to the rule having an unraced mare by Arch with no one bidding. Is that possible, I was reflecting on my sworn rule?

Well...I was thinking (quickly, since Internet bidding is about 15 sec behind real time) concerning my elevated opinion of Arch--as around here we favor major league athlete type stallion photos, impeccable pedigree and virtually unblemished race record to boot. Few had caught on to Arch at that point, but around here, we had. The farm took me to $3500 and ooops, we owned him. Same horse I just got through with a riderless speed work in the mud. Bruise is gone, looks like.

Listening to the handicapping shows I was a little surprised at the complete oversight of ArchArchArch as I sort of figured ex-jock William Fires, inspired by being on the TC trail, probably has an idea of getting a horse physically ready for a major race even absent any scientific training protocol.(Edit: change "complete oversight" to Joel on TC Insider picking AAA. Nice job!)

And, indeed after the win ArchArchArch was quite rubbery legged in the walking ring. We may fail to see him again, and there's zero way that horse gets 1.25 miles with his fat man's stride. Nevertheless, some inspiration if we could ever get going with Rollin'Rodney, his half brother.

I never saw the PPs of the Oaklawn, but did have the fleeting thought--how can they so completely ignore Asmussen. Another self pat on the back for that one. Terry Wallace, race caller sounded as if maybe he'd had one too many before the race or is going blind, unknown which. The Factor looked out of it from the get go. You can sort of see when a horse is galloping weakly. Possibly cooked by a suicide pace/gave appearance of filing to handle track on this day. If he stopped breathing as they reported, this is common when a horse runs out of air due to lack of conditioning for the pace. Same deal with Baffert's horse Conveyance in the Derby, was that last year?

As to the Blue Grass, is there a more perfect strategy than that of the winner when you have inferior warm ups. The horse gets his warm up at the start of the race and then puts in his Zenyatta stride down the lane against horses exhausted by early effort without appropriate warm up. That is a nice huge horse. Trained by Albertini personally I'd avoid holding my breath on him in the Derby. He'll be done in by the training. Even with the perfect intelligent ride, the horse looked weak due to his training protocol against weaker--and note that without my looking at the PPs.

Our training has recommenced. 3 riderless speed in the last week. If the weather turns we'll be back at it.

Thurs. Misc.

Race horse performance starting here Saturday. First dry wonderful for training April in 3 years and we're sidelined. Rodney was galloped riderless in the pasture again this morning. Early week severe limp on bruised right front now a barely noticeable tick, and the horse has zero hesitation to take off on the leg at full speed. 2f burst this morning and some other work. Never get two energetic pasture romps in a row because the horses get wise to you. Off and running with tack work tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will hold for us, for once.

Wed. Misc.

First test today of the bruised hoofs. Am fairly sure Rodney had bruised both fronts one week ago today, right much worse than left. The horses were driven in the soft still short pasture grass. Should have had the camera out in perfect morning angled sunlight as they put on a bit of a show having been off for a week. Rod showing some very slight gimpyness but took off after the older one a couple of times. A test. Will check the soundness tomorrow. Busy week. Want to look at Oaklawn Handicap. Have to wait to Sat. morn though.

Mon. Misc.

Baffert's Jaycito's got a bruised right foot. Why not mine? Things seem better at RR ranch Monday morning. No head nodding. Though one slight wince on the right front if you watch closely. We get a week of dry finally, and, of course this would happen, no horse. 48 more hours I am thinking. We'll try him riderless first before risking the Mr. Nob. Had a horse with a bruised sole I was riding fall once.

Interesting weekend for TC races. Comma At The Top at top of his game and they take him out of training. Fail to get it. That horse needs a little speed and he's a dangerous horse in the Derby. I have yet to look at the PPs except for the SA Derby. But, Baffert is so outtraining this group, hard to see how he gets beat. Will take a close look at the Derby here when the PPs come out. The blog is into performance now. Hope the video coverage is better this year than last. It was great in 2008 and 2009!

Sun. Misc.

Was expecting to see greater improvement this morning than this. You could cut off three of those legs and Rodney would still make it to the feed tub. Plan is to begin aggressive diagnosis and treatment this aft. This has been held up due to muddy ground and our lack of a stall. Will try an epsom salt boot first and hope it stays on for 24 hrs. since we have incoming rain and more mud. Where did all these War Chants come from all of the sudden? What a race by Comma At The Top!

The Effect Of This "Good Lesson"

Laertes concludes lecturing his sister, Ophelia.
Ophelia:
"I shall the effect of this good lesson keep, as watchman to my heart.
But, good my brother, do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
show me the steep and thorny path to heaven,
Whiles like a puffed and reckless libertine
Himself the primrose path to dalliance takes,
And recks not his own rede".

Horse last night severely limping. Both front legs. Could hardly walk at all. I thought he might fall down. Thinking double abscess or worse, road founder, grass founder, chipped coffin bone. Something... looked really bad.

And so, the author of two years of injury prevention posts and his own horse barely able to stand. Brought to mind Mr. S above "And recks not his own rede." (recks = reckon).

Is the most ridiculous lesson violating your own rules (see last post.) How does it happen? There's Bill Mott injuring my Derby favorite Honor and Serve, and the CA slant eye inevitably injuring his. You have it on this blog a few posts ago in a comment a first hand look at Mott's methods.

I can excuse Mott for basic ignorance. Myself. Different story. Due to my own fairly unusual awareness, I tend to get careless. You get away with this, you get away with that, nothing ever happens. You lose your edge and little stuff starts to pass you by.

However, as the rule stated in the last post--you just never get away with it. Bites you in the ass almost 100% of the time.

My own error in this case was #1 freshly shoeing the horse, and #2 sending him out to do riderless speed work on rough hard ground. I'd pared away the cushion of his sole and pronto sent him out for riderless speed work and max concussion. What was I expecting?

Of course, the older horse survived the very same workout, and I'd gotten away with this same thing numerous times. But, no excuse. Instead of being able now to go on with what was looking good, we have a lame horse.

And then, in the light of the 7:00 a.m. sun this morning, there the idiot is mostly striding out ok with only a slight limp that now obviously is only a bruise that will heal in 2-4 more days. We dodge a bullet that could easily have gone the other way.

Injury Prevention Finale

My final thoughts on this subject, and would wish I were at a race track and currently dealing with these problems day to day which dramatically shifts your focus and concentration. Worrying about the survival of your horse through the next speed work, breeze, race, even at times the slow gallops where you have rider uncertainty is a continuing dicey proposition. I've been there many a time, but right now, it's been a while. Last time at the track was 2007, and my horse survived 40 or 50 straight breezes over a course of 4 months as I recollect, no problem. Without racing though. It's a different ball game when you're entering every other week. The tension is a little more prevalent.

And, I have spent 2 years considering fracture prevention. There has been some good about that, which I mainly believe, in the future when I look at those horse cannons post race, believe I'll have a pretty good idea what's going on in there, and what's up next whereas before I was flying blind through total guess work.

If I personally have contributed anything to horse racing I'd have to pick out my own injury prevention formula. I think it's immutable, it will hardly necessarily keep your horse healthy in a positive sense, but will guarantee that non-observance of this will injure your horse probably sooner instead of later. Here it is again:

Never ever do anything with a horse unless you are 100% certain you can do it without injury!

The emphasis is on "never ever" and 100%. When I'm at the track and there's doubt, an interesting little word in this context, you always back off 100% of the time. If there's a difference of opinion between you and your trainer, this creates confirmed doubt, and you back off. If you and you trainer agree on something, or agree on a risk that needs to be taken, you're more likely to be ok.

It helps to put these sorts of things in specific context possibly from the obvious to the extremely subtle. If e.g. you have a trainer who's mucking stalls while the horse is on the track, you may want to consider making a change. If you yourself lack enough info to understand that this needs to be verified by you--i.e. you show up when he's not there and watch him--then you're not for long in the game, and that's probably pretty well guaranteed. A trainer who fails to watch the horse train is going to injure the horse. Period.

Or the more subtle--you talk to your trainer every day who tells you what the rider did every day. Then, one day, the trainer notes--the horse went great, terrific work. regular rider never showed. Every flag there is ought to be going off in your head at such a conversation. If it is unknown to you why, again, you're probably a short timer in the game.

As I go now presumably into the question of "performance" and illustrate this hopefully with my own horse, I will of course every day be considering the injury ramifications of proposed work. Injuries are a continuing subject, always. RR Rule #1 is stated above.

Training:
If there is a god in heaven it has crossed my mind that he wants to keep me off the race track. Sequence of events:
1. Wed. night gallop aborted by Mr. Nob after 3 heats. Wisdom, as it turns out. Nob said the horse was showing signs of enough. We soon found out why.
2. Unsaddle, I see horse walking out of corner of my eye, seem ever so slightly stiff walk. Really have to pay attention to see. I injury check later. Nothing.
3. Next morning horse walking to feed tub and I see the stiffness again. Injury check again. Nothing. If I am seeing correctly, it has to be in sole of feet.
4. Evening I trot the horse before saddling and he's limping. Less than a head nodding limp, but visible. Thinking bruised foot doing speed work over the rough ground we have. That night he's chasing the older one in the pasture and thus thinking 2 days off instead of 10 or more from a severe bruise.
5. Last night in the dark the horse is visibly limping severely at the walk.
Could be an abscesses. More likely bruised himself doing speed work over hard caked diveted clodded mud. There's a path through it, but he veered off the path a couple of times. We knew this might happen--took the risk. Will see how it goes.

Injury Prevention Finales: Controling the Variables

Ophelia: "But, good my brother, do not, as some ungracious pastors do, show me the steep and thorny path to heaven."
Hamlet

Dwelling on injuries probably seems like horse racing's steep and thorny path. And yet, I think there's way too little interest in what ought to be an obvious subject: if you're unable to keep you horse running, you're out of the game.

There are three approaches to this that I can discern:
1. The ostrich--bury your head in the sand--it just happens--approach. You ignore the issue and takes your chances. Success rate: problematical.
2. The numbers game approach to horse racing played these days by most of our trainers. Success rate: give me enough horses and eventually one of them will win.
3. The RR approach on this blog: i'd term it obsessively and scientifically "controling the variables". RR success rate--so far very little.

I was in horse racing for some time--probably 5 years--before I'd figured this out completely. Stuff kept happening to my 3 horses despite close study of Tom Ivers, despite every bit of the great precautions taken. One day it hit me that horse racing is totally Murphy's Law and that if anything bad could happen it would. It came as a sudden epiphany to me that anyone wanting to keep a horse healthy would have to control literally everything that happens to the horse.

Control with horses has it's limits, of course, but when you break it all down step by step, most of the things that cause injuries can be controlled.

#1 of course is awareness. It is necessary to discern what in fact causes injuries. The below list is hardly exhaustive and is merely what comes to mind at the moment. Each of these things will do in your horse in a NY minute. Avoid thinking these are equivalent or have the same weight. Some of them have far more significance than others:
lack of appropriate warm up
lack of condition in the horse for what it is being asked to do
any sort of surprise to the horse--change of rider weight, change of rider manner
any unusual change up in the exercise etc. etc. any surprise.
failure to religiously get lead changes
rider errors of all sorts and kinds
speed work over cuppy surfaces

That's an incomplete list. How dicey it gets, how delicate--how about this one--the horse finishing a 6f breeze in 1:12 and the idiot rider immediately puts the horse into a walk. The horse's heart in this process is still going at 180 beats a minute and because the horse was prevented from trotting out to dissipate its heart rate, the pressure in the capillaries of the lungs caused by transition from fast gallop to immediate walk causes capillaries to burst. And, on and on. More next post.

Training:
Meanwhile back at the ranch here is Rollin'Rodney during his shoeing last night. He sports now a permanent harmless bump on that left knee. Will post the last nights minor disaster tomorrow. Long story.

Accuracy Wrapup

Blog formula for race appropriate fracture resistance(FR):

4f in :12.5 sec./f every 7 days

(Caveat: expressed in bare minimums. e.g. the horse travels 3f in :13s and gets the :50 down the stretch--fails to qualify. Each furlong need be in :12.5. The formula presumes also control of all injury causing variables including an appropriately fit horse going in, appropriate warm up etc. The formula is posed for bone soundness only. Conjecture more is necessary for soft tissue injury prevention. Additionally note the questionable aspect of keeping the horse at bare minimums or below (see Uncle Mo, last post.))

Is the formula accurate?

A few comments ago Bill Pressey posted the only exercise physiology text of which I'm aware for equines

http://www.scribd.com/doc/35147403/Equine-Exercise-Physiology

and though I am still reading, there are some interesting statements in this that tend to support the way the above formula was put together on this blog over the last two years.

This general statement on page 89:

"There is a dynamic interaction between the loads imposed on the skeleton and the morphology of the bones at any point in time and throughout life. It is therefore important to appreciate these interactions in order to condition the skeleton for the demands of the athlete's performance and to understand the modes and mechanisms of failure."

The above a general statement that should be obvious but in the equine world, otherwise. Those paying too close attention to the analysis may recall that I had decided that the most important process, among about 6 or 7 processes, resulting from appropriate speed work was this:

realignment of fibrils/osteons and rearrangement of materials in optimum directions.

This conjecture of mine is indeed supported in the text book on page 89:

"The architectural arrangement of the materials is predominantly related to the general functional requirements of the particular skeletal elements."

"Architectural arrangement is their word for "realignment". Note the word "predominantly" that supports my supposition that "arrangement" of bone cells (fibrils) is the most important factor relating to resistance of force, although there are several others.

I'll be reading on to see if I can find support for the other FR processes, but am encouraged in an Equine textbook to see that possibly the blog was on the right track on this. So, for this post some actual science in support.

Training:
Sat: 4/2: 4 x trot gallop up and down the hill.
Sun. 4/3: Off
Mon. 4/4 10 min of getting gas for the tractor and the storm blows right in 3 hrs. early. Got in nice full speed short riderless bursts in the paddock tacked and when horse gets to bottom of hill almost jumps out of skin at first light thunderclap. Nob recalls admonition of Dennis Collins, sometimes leading jock in Nebraska when Dennis was on vacation riding in our pasture a few years back "I never ride a horse when its thundering or lightening." Nob recalls and aborts. Lose another day. Fortunately though as the minute we unsaddle all heck breaks lose with thunder and lightening.
Tues. 4/5: short burst paddock riderless speed work followed by 3 x trot-gallop up the hill. First day Nob stepped on the gas a little, and the horse performed well. Stopped after 3. We're trying to keep the horse excited about doing his work (he's lazy), and Nob thought the attitude was starting to tail off.

Sunday Misc.

LORD POLONIUS to his son:
"...there; my blessing with thee!
And these few precepts in thy memory.
See though character. Give thy thoughts no tongue.
Nor any unproportioned thought his act.
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar.
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to they soul with hoops of steel;
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd, unfledged comrade.
Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel, but being in,
Bear't that the opposed may beware of thee.
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's censure, but reserve they judgment.
Costly they habit as thy purse can buy,
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy;
For the apparel oft proclaims the man,
And they in France of the best rank and station
Are of a most select and generous chief in that.
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend.
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
This above all: to thine ownself be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee!"
LAERTES:
"Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord."

Uncle Mo And Accuracy, Continued

"Laertes:
...be wary then, best safety lies in fear."

Hamlet

And so for our horses, and, riders, although there's the "No Fear" stamped on the back of Mike Smith's exercise helmet. Possibly our fear for our horse's safety and health should translate into an elevated sense of concern that applies in every workout and every step the horse takes on a race track.

The blog has posited a minimum training schematic for fracture resistance

4f x 12.5sec/f every 7 days

but this has been based on conjecture heaped on conjecture. Is the formula accurate, and is there even need for concern over accuracy?

Bill Pressey posted an Equine Exercise Physiology textbook here in a comment a few posts ago. First one I have seen. I'll present one quote from it next day or so that does support the above formula.

For this post, a couple of points:
1. We have any interesting guinea pig for the formula this year in Uncle Mo., and
2. The formula is more a bench mark then a specific prescription or recommendation.

My Twin Spires account, for reasons unknown, was shut down with $17 remaining balance. Until that's straightened out I am without PPs for exactness, but it seems Uncle Mo's workouts fall slightly under the minimums which, as minimums are minimums, bodes other than well. Uncle Mo being additionally a large horse whose situation reminds me somewhat of The Pamplemoose in February of 2009--receiving insufficient injury prevention training, by all public account, we will see if Uncle Mo can make it through. From what I have seen--and again I'll have to reconsider when I get the PPs--the prognosis, as for most of Plecher's horses, is questionable. Uncle Mo seemingly provides a high profile test for the accuracy of the formula.

The concern over exact accuracy is also mitigated because the formula is a mere minimum benchmark. Only a fool would create an exercise prescription at the bare minimums, and though we have a few too many of those in the sport, in terms of exact accuracy probably the main point is to have those minimums in our brain when we're planning for our horses. Given the many injury causing variables, my point for any horse would be to conjure a minimum injury prevention bench mark wheresoever that lies for you.

Training:
Thurs. 3/31: Off
Fri. 4/1: 4 times trot-gallop up and down the hill. Best tack workout of the year. "Legging up" in traditional training parlance. The horse did well, and thus also the rider.