Re: 6 Minutes prior to post in the Preakness... (816 Views)
Posted by:
TGJB (IP Logged)
Date: May 23, 2006 02:15PM
Miff-- you are making 2 basic assumptions:
1-- that if there was a pre-existing injury to that leg he would be able to see it. One of the posts mentioned microfractures-- he presumably wouldn't be able to see those without a microscope.
2-- That the pre-existing injury was to the same spot.
My belief for a long time has been that what happens is similar to when a pitcher gets an injury, and compensates by changing his delivery-- that much power and torque used wrong can destroy an arm. When horses get something that causes them to be knocked out, uncomfortable, sore, or anything up to and including an actual injury, they can't tell you about it. But they can try to get off it-- and stress or break something else in so doing. A thousand pounds moving fast and coming down on something 3 inches wide creates tremendous pressure, and the slightest deviation of mechanics can be devastating.
Many excellent posts the last couple of days, very high level. The study showing the dramatic increase in chance of injury by increased racing and works was great, as was the one that mentioned the "nuclear scan" (don't remember the technical name of the device). That thing is a godsend-- if you suspect a horse has a problem (in my case by looking at the sheet) but can't find it, you have him scanned, and "hot spots" light up. We recently did it with Santana Strings, and his whole back lit up-- he had been running with a pulled back muscle, which wouldn't show up on any x-ray. You keep running a horse with a problem like that, who knows what happens.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/23/2006 02:16PM by TGJB.