Ageless Tahoe Warrior Runs Again: In Shoes, This Time, for Keeneland's New Dirt Track

At some point today, someone in the stands at Keeneland Racecourse is sure to read the fine print in the program and notice that in the second race, there's a 12-year-old horse running in his 96th lifetime start. And if he or she is a savvy horseplayer, they'll put a few dollars on Tahoe Warrior, and cheer him home.

Today is opening day at Lexington, Kentucky's magnificent Keeneland Racecourse. It's raining, and 61 degrees. The track is listed as sloppy and at least some of the turf races are moved to the dirt track.

Yes, to the dirt track.

Coolmore's Daddy Long Legs to Run Without Shoes in Dubai Stakes Race; Interference Given as Reason for Rule Exception

Halfway around the world, a South African racehorse trainer is taking a chance with a well-known stakes-winning Thoroughbred. And he had to get official clearance to do it.

Shoeless and Ageless, Tahoe Warrior Wins at Keeneland

Keeneeland Racecourse in Kentucky has a Polytrack all-weather surface that has been used by trainers as a test for a few horses each week to run without shoes. 

It was the last race of the day. Maybe no one will remember it, except it’s not every day that a horse pays $40 on a $2 bet. It’s not every day that a ten-year-old gelding with no less than 84 starts under his girth wins one. It’s not every day that trainer Wayne Rice stands in the Keeneland winners circle, a place usually reserved for the likes of Todd Pletcher and D. Wayne Lukas.

And it’s not every day that a horse with no shoes wins a race.

NTRA's New-Look Thoroughbred Horseshoes: Fantasy Footwear Video

This video makes you wonder who created that prototype for the NTRA! No additional information is available...so far although it looks sort of like a plastic-coated Easy. It looks like these commercials may be destined to air on national television. 


They come in Zenyatta's silks colors!

Call 978 281 3222 to place your order; ships immediately and you'll use it often!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The Unshod Racehorse: Racing Commissioners Table Model Rule on Barefoot Racehorses

When the Association of Racing Commissioners International (RCI) met at the Holiday Inn in Saratoga Springs, New York on Tuesday, the state regulators had Lasix on their minds. But after lunch, the meeting turned to the model rules that had been proposed for 2011. 

Model Rule 5 proposed allowing horses to race without shoes. It has a proviso attached to it, however: a horse that runs in a race unshod would not be able to race in shoes for 60 days. This requirement seemed to be based on the way that Lasix is handled rather than on the way that equipment changes like bar shoes or blinkers are handled, although their requirements may vary between states as well.

After some discussion, the decision was made to table the rule proposed at Saratoga.

The state of California has gone through an extensive period of evaluating the decision whether or not to allow horses to race without shoes. The question of allowing the practice came up in November 2007, when the state was installing artificial surfaces on the major racetracks. In February 2008, Dr. Diane Isbell, one of the CHRB’s official veterinarians, spoke on behalf of trainers who were training horses without shoes and wished to race without shoes. She also listed some of the improvements seen in the horses training without shoes.

California initiated a temporary open-rule period, with records of unshod horses compiled for reporting to the California Horse Racing Board. During the trial period, data was collected on 211 horses racing in the state, of which 172 were unshod in all four feet, 27 wore shoes in front and not behind, 4 ran with only hind shoes, and 8 horses were running with shoes after having previously raced unshod.

In terms of success of these horses, 77 of the 211 finished in first, second or third place in their races, while 24 finished last and 10 horses were scratched. The great majority (191) of the horses ran at Golden Gate Fields.

At the time that California was considering this rule change, the CHRB found that 13 states and/or tracks allowed horses to race barefoot, with restrictions and stipulations varying between the states. Twelve states or tracks required that horses be shod.

A model rule is not the same as a rule. A model rule gives each racing jurisdiction a framework, or suggested text for a rule, based on the research and expertise of committees within or attached to a larger group like the RCI. So that each state does not have to go out and research a subject, it is provided a model rule that has gone under scrutiny of the RCI system.

Documents from the California Horse Racing Board were referenced in preparing this article. Thanks to Teresa Genaro, who was present at the RCI meeting in Saratoga, for her assistance with this article. Photo credits: "No Shoes" sign by Joshua Barrett, racing on the beach at Laytown Races in Ireland by Paul Walsh.

In stock and ready to ship! Call or email to place your order.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  

Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

Read this blog's headlines on the Facebook Page

 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Poetry in Motion: The Japan Racing Association Captures the Simple Beauty of a Galloping Racehorse...in a Commercial

I think if I could just keep this YouTube video on a continuous loop and keep watching it, I'd have no problems keeping stress at bay. There is something very relaxing about watching these Thoroughbreds stretch across the black-and-white frame of this film, as the lovely music plays.

It's not real, of course.  This is a sort of "greatest hits" reel of slow-motion galloping horses from a series of Japan Racing Association (JRA) commercials; someone has kindly edited the slo-mo galloping sequences together for us.

I'm quite often asked for slo-mo galloping clips that do not have distracting backgrounds so for all of you who have asked, here you go. I see footage like this and can only hope that Disney did as well when shooting Secretariat (which will be out a month from now, as a matter of fact).

The original JRA commercial was quite nice and it dovetails with the melancholy I feel each September when Saratoga is over and the Breeders Cup isn't really here yet. Thank goodness for the World Equestrian Games this year.

And, for those of you like me who want to know such things, here's how they filmed the horses galloping (and the rest of the original commercial):

I've always been a fan of the rousing instrumental musical equestrian commercial genre made famous and perfected by Rolex, but I think the JRA has done something very special here. It's a commercial that conveys a reverence for horse racing and horses.

Imagine that.

Indulge yourself by watching the gallopers as many times as you please. I know some of you will be able to use these horses in your teaching. Be sure to thank the JRA the next time you see a representative at a conference. They do wonderful things.

PS As a post script, I am really happy to see that this article has been near the top of the most popular posts on this blog for the past month or so. I'm not the only one who likes it! Or, someone is watching it over and over and over again! Thanks again to the JRA.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

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Trot on! Hambletonian Winner Muscle Massive is a Jersey Boy But Might He Be the Last?

"Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated," is a line attributed to Mark Twain. The same could be said of The Meadowlands racetrack in urban New Jersey. Rumors from Trenton this summer suggest that the governor and state legislature might like to bypass support for casino-type gambling there in favor of other venues in the state. New Jersey's horse industry--much of it based in small Standardbred racing and breeding operations--is up in arms.

So when the $1.5 Million Hambletonian, the world's most famous trotting race, went off at The Meadowlands on Saturday afternoon, a crowd of 26,712--the highest attendance in five years--was on hand to watch, and a plane flew overhead with a banner asking them to "Save the Meadowlands".

The winner of the Hambletonian, a sparkling and regally-bred three-year-old bay colt named Muscle Massive, is a Jersey Boy and could be the poster child for Save the Meadowlands. He was bred right in New Jersey, at Perretti Farms. He's the son of Muscle Yankee, winner of the Hambletonian in 1998 and sire of 2008 Hambletonian winner Deweycheatumnhowe and 2009 winner Muscle Hill.

Muscle Massive clocked the second fastest final in Hambletonian history. The record was set by his sire.

If the horse is sound and that fast, credit must go his farrier and this horse has a good one. Congratulations to Conny Svensson (left) on shoeing his third Hambletonian winner. He also shod Malabar Man in 1997 and Scarlet Knight in 2001. Conny's most famous charge was the great and legendary globe-trotting mare Moni Maker.

Conny didn't comment about how the horse was shod--he had shod three horses in the race--but the trainer had this to say to Hoof Beats: "We raced him in steel shoes last week and I did that just for safety because he pulled a muscle, just to make sure he wouldn’t go off stride. I put aluminum shoes on him for today."
  
Harness racing is much more popular in attendance in Canada and in Europe than it is in the United States and yet The Hambletonian is still the one that every owner in the world would like to win. International wagering was nearly $2.4 million, up from $1.97 million wagered on the 2009 simulcast. Total wagering worldwide was $8,391,600, on the full card of yesterday's races at The Meadowlands.

Ah, but then in other parts of the world horse racing is often the only form of gambling, and the sport is a little more secure.

Muscle Massive is owned by a consortium of Swedish and Canadian interests and trained by Swedish native Jimmy Takter, who said in an interview that if The Meadowlands closed he would probably look for a different job.

A plane pulled a banner over the Meadowlands Racetrack on Saturday during the Hambletonian. The USA's richest Standardbred racetrack is endangered.

It seems like wherever I go, there is a crisis in the horse industry, and it usually has something to do with expanded gambling and state legislatures. I'd like to know how much better off the states with gambling really are; I think it is too soon to tell. What I can tell is that the pressure is on. New Jersey is caught between Delaware and Pennsylvania, where gambling is in at the racetracks; it is promised to come to New York at Aqueduct, a long stone's throw across the expansive marshland that gives The Meadowlands its name. The squeeze is on.  Kentucky feels the same kind of pressure. Maryland has struggled. Texas feels threatened. And here in Massachusetts,  our governor flatly refuses to save racing and insists of backing resort casinos identical to the ones in the state next door. Politics and horses have never mixed, but this is the future of all the horse industry that is at stake here. When the racing goes, other services go with it. Sport horses and pleasure horses will suffer, vets and farriers will suffer, hay and grain supplies and prices will suffer. And those are just the big ticket items at the top of the list. It's one big chain of dominoes. Just ask the owners of Perretti Farms, the largest Standardbred farm in New Jersey, where Muscle Massive's sire stands.

To learn more:

New Jersey Star Ledger's analysis of the effects of racing changes on vets, farriers, and sport horse industry in the state by Nancy Jaffer

Article about winning trainer Jimmy Takter and his comments on a future without The Meadowlands

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Follow the Hoof Blog on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal

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Reuniting Racing Legend Phar Lap, Piece by Piece, Is Melbourne Cup's Goal

5 April 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

April 5th is a black day in the history of horse racing. It's the day always remembered, and certainly not celebrated, as the day that the Australian racing legend Phar Lap died mysteriously while resting between races at a horse farm near San Francisco in 1932.

You've probably seen the movie (a few favorite scenes are in the clip below); many people feel that it is the best horse-racing film ever made, and I'd agree. If you haven't seen it, you're really missing something!



The circumstances surrounding Phar Lap's death will always be shrouded in mystery, no matter how many forensic tests are made and new theories are put forth. This horse's life and death were the stuff of fiction...and yet they really happened.

Likewise, Phar Lap's world-famous quarter crack and his equally-famous bar shoes are the stuff of hoofcare legend.

What many Americans don't know is what happened to Phar Lap after he died. He was sent to a taxidermist in New York, where his skeleton was assembled, his heart removed, and his hide preserved.

The famous Jonas Brothers taxidermists of the American Museum of Natural History in New York worked on Phar Lap's model for four and a half months.

The finished model of Phar Lap--that's his actual hide--is on display at the National Museum of Victoria. Click here to read more about the model.

Phar Lap's heart is on display at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra. His enormous heart weighed 6.2 kg, or about 13.5 pounds! It is displayed in comparison to a normal-sized equine heart, which weighs about nine pounds. Read about Phar Lap's heart at the Museum's web site.

Phar Lap's actual skeleton went home to New Zealand, where he'd been born.

Phar Lap has been dead for 78 years, but he's still making news, according to Radio New Zealand. This year will be the 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Cup, and the Victorian Racing Minister has asked New Zealand to consider loaning the skeleton to Australia, in the hopes of reuniting all the known pieces of the magnificent horse.

Click here to watch a television news report showing all the pieces of Phar Lap following today's request.

This story still doesn't end. Phar Lap will always be in the news, in one way or another. My colleague, journalist Robin Marshall of New Zealand, has made a serious study of Phar Lap's skeleton and has been seriously campaigning for support that the skeleton was incorrectly assembled and does not do him justice. Phar Lap was 17.1 hands and Robin's analysis charges that the skeleton on display is not worthy of such a large horse. She says, "It might as well be a 15hh brumby!"

Click here to read more about Robin's heartfelt campaign to restore Phar Lap's skeleton to his proper stature.  And stay tuned for more news about Phar Lap...the horse whose legend is very much alive. Everyone still wants a piece of him: now, that's a hero!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Video: Thoro'Bred Racing Plates Are Born and Bred in California. See How They're Made!

by Fran Jurga | 6 August 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



On Tuesday night, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York celebrated the addition of a new case of shoes to its "Ride On!" exhibit on advances in racehorse health and safety. As part of the Hoofcare@Saratoga series for 2009, Hoofcare & Lameness hosted a little reception, sponsored by Life Data Labs, and I pointed out some of the innovative shoes and boots and hoofcare products that the museum had selected to display.

My point was that horseshoes are much like mousetraps: people keep trying to invent a better one, a more ideal one. Of better materials: stronger, lighter, more supportive, longer laster, more colorful, more healing, or sometimes just more complicated.

There were two companies I didn't mention but you will certaily see their shoes in that museum and all over the backside at Saratoga. They are the Victory Race Plate Company of Baltimore, Maryland and the Thoro'Bred Racing Plate Company of Anaheim, California.

Their shoes may not be in the exhibit of therapeutic shoes and braces and boots, but you will find them all over the museum in the cases of the trophy shoes of the champion racehorses like Secretariat.

The Orange County Register in California made a trip to Anaheim recently to see how raceplates are made and say hello to Thoro'Bred's Ed Kinney on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the founding of his company. I hope you will enjoy this video.

Ed and Thoro'Bred were supporters of Hoofcare@Saratoga last year and we appreciate their support. We have it from an inside source that Thoro'Bred shoes are the equivalent of the Jimmie Chooz faves of the top three-year-old filly in the USA; she wore them when she modeled for her fashion portrait, shot by Steven Klein, in this month's issue of Vogue Magazine. Check it out the next time you're near a newsstand!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Churchill Downs Announces Enhanced Horse Safety and Welfare Policies

by Fran Jurga | 2 March 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Kentucky's Churchill Downs Incorporated ("CDI") announced new safety and welfare rules today. These measures will be in place at the Louisville racetrack in advance of the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands on Saturday, May 2, and will include unprecedented standardized third-party testing of track surfaces and comprehensive tests on all winning horses for more than 100 prohibited drugs.

The safety initiatives will be implemented at Churchill Downs when its 2009 Spring Meet opens on April 25, and will be phased in at all other racetracks owned by the Churchill Downs group (Arlington Park in Illinois; Calder Race Course in Florida; and Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in Louisiana) by the start of their respective 2010 race meets.

In development for nearly a year, the “Safety from Start to Finish” initiative is designed to incorporate new health and wellness measures, as well as long-standing safety policies and standards, under a single formalized initiative to serve as a blueprint for all CDI facilities.

The key safety initiatives that will be in place at Churchill Downs prior to Kentucky Derby 135 are as follows; the wording is as presented by Churchill Downs' official announcement:

1. Independent, standardized third-party testing and monitoring of track surfaces;
2. “Supertesting” of all winning horses for more than 100 performance-enhancing drugs;
3. Age restrictions requiring Thoroughbreds to be at least 24 calendar months of age before becoming eligible to race;
4. The freezing and storage of equine blood and urine samples to allow for retrospective testing;
5. The banning of steroids;
6. Limits on the number of horses allowed to compete in certain races;
7. The prohibition of “milkshaking”, which results in excessive levels of total carbon dioxide in Thoroughbred racehorses;
8. Prohibiting the transport of horses from CDI facilities for slaughter;
9. The banning of unsafe horseshoes, including front shoe toe grabs longer than two millimeters;
10. The use of low-impact riding whips with limited usage rules;
11. The presence of on-site medical personnel, equipment, and state-of-the-art equine ambulances;
12. Immediate online access to jockey medical histories for emergency medical personnel;
13. $1 million in catastrophic injury insurance coverage for jockeys;
14. Mandatory and uniform reporting of equine injuries to the Equine Injury Database System, thereby assisting in the compilation of statistics and trends to improve safety conditions around the country;
15. A professionally designed and installed safety rail on the inside of the dirt course;
16. Mandatory usage by all jockeys, exercise riders and other on-track personnel of safety vests and safety helmets that meet internationally acknowledged quality standards;
17. 3/8-inch foam padding on all parts of the starting gates;
18. Significant financial support for equine retirement programs;
19. Inspection of all horses by regulatory veterinarians prior to and following all races;
20. Review of security procedures around barns and other racetrack backstretch areas;
21. Continued maintenance of protocols for the treatment of horses that have been injured during racing or training, to ensure the most humane treatment possible; and
22. Mandatory, independent, and complete necropsies of any horse that dies as a result of an injury sustained while racing or training at Churchill Downs.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page).

To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found.

Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

AAEP: New Racehorse Safety and Welfare Veterinary Recommendations

by Fran Jurga | 16 February 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog
(received via press release)

The American Association of Equine Practitioners today issued guidelines for protecting the health of the Thoroughbred racehorse. The white paper, Putting the Horse First: Veterinary Recommendations for the Safety and Welfare of the Thoroughbred Racehorse, provides veterinary guidance on many issues challenging the racing industry and the care of the racehorse.

Recommendations within the white paper are focused in four key areas: the racing business model, the veterinarian-owner-trainer relationship, medication, and the public perception of racing. Additionally, changes to the structure of claiming races and medication usage in horses intended for sale at public auction are addressed.

“As an organization with the primary mission of protecting the health and welfare of the horse, the safety of the racehorse is one of our highest priorities,” said AAEP President Dr. Harry Werner. “This is a critical time for the racing industry, and we join the efforts of other groups who are determined to make improvements for the health of our equine athletes.”

Key points in the white paper include:
· Continued identification and implementation of procedures and strategies that will significantly reduce the injury rate of horses.
· Standardization and enhancement of pre-race and post-race veterinary examinations with mandatory cross-jurisdictional sharing of information.
· Universal adoption in all racing jurisdictions of the Association of Racing Commissioners International model medication rules which state that no medication should be administered on race day except for furosemide (Salix®).
· Increased racetrack security to ensure compliance by all racing participants with medication rules.
· Provide complete transparency for the veterinarian-trainer-owner relationship in all aspects of health care decisions.
· Development in all racing jurisdictions of a program for the rehabilitation, retraining and adoption of horses whose racing careers have ended.

The white paper was developed by the AAEP’s Racing Task Force, a group comprised of private racetrack practitioners, regulatory veterinarians and veterinary specialists. Dr. Scott Palmer of Clarksburg, New Jersey, and Dr. Foster Northrop of Louisville, Kentucky, served as chair and vice chair, respectively. This group is now a standing committee of the AAEP.

“Our premise is very simple: What is good for the horse is good for racing,” explained Dr. Palmer. “In a unique climate of widespread industry commitment to fix what is wrong with racing, veterinarians have made every effort to put the horse first in that process. It is fair to say that particular recommendations will resonate with some individuals and alienate others within the industry. Nonetheless, we’d like to think that if our horses could read this document, they would be pleased.”

The AAEP intends its white paper to provide guidance and support to those who are working to bring meaningful change.

The white paper is available at http://www.aaep.org/images/files/Racing%20Industry%20White%20Paper%20Final.pdf. For more information, contact Sally Baker, AAEP director of marketing and public relations, at (859) 233-0147 or sbaker@aaep.org.


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Triple Crown "Crack"down: Update from Ian McKinlay on Big Brown's Latest Hoof Malady

This device from Holland was marketed in Europe for stabilizing quarter cracks on Standardbreds. This photo shows clearly what a typical quarter crack would look like after being cleaned up. Notice where the start of the crack is at the hairline vs where the bottom of the crack is at the shoe. A quarter crack is a fissure in the hoof wall and is a reaction to stress so it will generally follow the angle of the horn tubules if the intertubular horn is weak, or the path of least resistance. Big Brown's crack is only 3/4" long, according to Ian, and is up at the top of the wall.

As promised yesterday, Hoofcare and Lameness caught up with hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay today. Ian has promised a photo of Big Brown's new quarter crack on Wednesday of this week.

Ian was called to Belmont Park the other day when trainer Rick Dutrow noticed something wrong with the medial (inside) hoof wall on Big Brown's left front foot.

As avid Big Browners will recall, the left front foot is the site of the original wall separation that started the chain of hoof repair and layups for the champion colt over the winter months. Ian had removed the heel tissue on the inside heel of the left front, as detailed in previous posts and videos on this blog. The horse then shipped to Florida, where his right front inside heel was removed and repaired by Tom Curl.

Since then, Big Brown has been training and racing on a designer adaptation of a Thoro'Bred racaing plate that is glued on his foot without nails. The Yasha shoe system is like an orthotic insert between the shoe and the foot. One density of plastic, similar to the gasket that holds your truck's windshield in place, circuits the shoe and holds adhesive in place. Another density is a thick block pillow on which the remains of the heel sits as it grows out. Big Brown raced successfully in these shoes, winning the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Note: in the "combi" Yasha paradigm, the plastic coats the foot surface of the shoe and acts like a dual-density rim pad. Some Yasha shoes have dual densities for different parts of the foot. Big Brown's shoes do not look like this.

"He doesn't even need the shoes anymore," McKinlay said today. "He could be in a regular shoe now."

My first thought was that a crack had developed at the hair line above the patch because of the stress from the material as the colt pounded down on the heel but Ian assured me that was not the case. "It's back around a little ways toward the heel," he said, "but not near that area. Besides that heel is all grown down now."

Many reports state that the crack has been "patched" but that is not the case. The crack has been cleaned up and treated with drying agents to dry it out and allow drainage of any infected area inside the crack. Then it was laced with the sutures as illustrated in the video posted on this blog last night (scroll down to May 25 video post to see that technique illustrated).

"As soon as I tightened it down, the foot started to cool out," Ian said. "Call me Wednesday to find out how it went."

Ian will check Big Brown again on Wednesday and decide what the next step will be in, in terms of replacing or relocating sutures, covering the crack with hoof wall adhesive, etc. The horse would then have nine days to train up to the mile-and-a-half Belmont.

In an email just received this evening, Ian gave an update: "By the way, his foot went cold within five hours of lacing him up, couldn't ask for more than that."