This Could be Really Good News Or....

Here I am, originally uploaded by Cpt<HUN>.

Oh, baby! Have we got plans for you! Dressage shows with "breed" or "in-hand" classes are finding new popularity in the young horse divisions, thanks to some national year-end awards, and classes for foals means that babies' feet and legs and gaits will be under scrutiny this summer.

And just last week, Dressage at Devon, the penultimate competition for warmblood and dressage-aspiring breeds and individual competitors, announced the addition of an in-hand (obviously) championship for foals.

The division championship, sponsored by Hassler Dressage, will be a part of the event’s extensive breed division, which takes place September 23-25 in Devon, Pennsylvania.

Dressage at Devon markets itself as "the highest rated international dressage competition and most complete breed show outside of Europe". Olympic medalist Robert Dover calls Dressage at Devon “the standard by which all American horse shows should be judged.” There is no question that a ribbon won at the show is a gold star on a horse's resume, to say nothing of potentially adding to a price tag.

Weanlings have been shown previously at the event, but there was no specific championship for foals. In 2007, the prize list had 20 fillies and 35 colts listed as entries; there are classes for yearlings too, of course. There was a winning colt and a winning filly, but the champion young horse award meant that the babies had to compete against older horses.

The organizers and sponsor say they want to be more like the Germans.

Showing a foal in Germany is serious business, all part of the overall marketing emphasis of the breeding industry there. The foals are prepped to showcase their gaits, and promote the stallions who fathered them.

We will just have to wait and see if there is a big demand for Equinalysis or OnTrack gait analysis of foals, and if trainers become obsessive about trimming tiny feet. Yes, show-quality foals have trainers, or at least professional handlers on show day, as a rule.

Dressage at Devon will attract the very best dressage-bred foals in the United States. The question is: Will this top show's increased spotlight on foals feed a surge of interest around the country in micromanaging the feet and legs of warmblood foals, and analyzing their gaits, so they look good in the ring as weanlings...or so they move better and stay sounder as adults? Are the two mutually exclusive?

Time for a commercial! Speaking of foals: Hoofcare and Lameness's special "Baby Boom" back issue is one of the very best collections of articles ever published on foal conformation and foot/limb disorders in foals. We can dig one out of the vault and send it to you; cost is $15 each plus $5 post for 1-3 copies to USA addresses; rest of the world, add $10 additional postage. Email books@hoofcare.com with your name, address, phone, email and Visa or Mastercard information or fax to 01 978 283 8775.

Track Vets Irritated by Congressional Hearing Charges; Protest Lack of Reprsentation on Panel

Veterinarian Phil Tripp, left, with assistant Alfonso Quintero, work at the Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Kentucky. Photo by Bill Luster, The Courier-Journal; story link below.

"Ouch!" "Zing!" "Wham-o!"

Racetrack veterinarians were under the gun last week at the Congressional sub-committeee hearing on racetrack drug abuse and breakdowns. Reading the transcript makes it clear that owners and trainers were seeking to place some of the blame for the problems in horse racing on the shoulders of racetrack vets.

To paraphrase one recent comment by a racetrack old-timer: "Years ago we had twice the horses and half the vets. Now we have half the horses and twice the vets."

Racetrack veterinarians have always had a separate reality. Unlike most veterinarians, they are bound by laws and rules and have to be pharmacologists to know how long a medication will remain in a horse's system, what the allowed levels are, and what the implications may be of a horse shipping to a different state where laws may not be the same. Ever wonder how it's possible to stable fillies and colts next to each other on the shedrow? Ask the vet.

There are two types of veterinarians at the track: practicing vets and regulatory vets, who are employed by the racing jurisdiction, usually the state. In addition to tasks related to testing horses for illegal or excessive medication, veterinarians inspect horses before races, interact with stewards, and work double-duty when an outbreak of herpes virus or strangles shuts down a track.

Consider this quote from the Washington hearing: owner Jess Jackson told the subcommittee that in Seabiscuit's day there were three veterinarians at Santa Anita and all drove Chevrolets, compared with perhaps 26 today who "all drive BMWs and Cadillacs now". (I didn't realize Mr. Jackson was old enough to remember Seabiscuit.)

Veterinarians at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky found a willing ear in reporter Jenny Rees of the Louisville Courier-Journal. Her compilation of their comments and more hits against track vets formed a feature story in today's paper. Read it here.

It seems like blame for everything in the horse world is like a big game of Tag. This month, track vets are It. Tomorrow it could be you, or me. Big Blame keeps getting passed around and around; where it stops, nobody knows.

Favorite Photos: Which Way'd He Go?

horse hoofs, originally uploaded by Miss-D80.

(I don't know that the horse had five legs; the one of the left is probably from a teammate. And a family member, by the looks of it.)

Which side of the right front shoe do you think he wears down most? I bet most Hoofcare and Lameness readers could draw a picture of what the bottom of this horse's right front looks like.

Draft horses are amazing. I think this is a draft horse, or possibly a Friesian. They often endure bad shoeing, no shoeing, lousy confirmation, cracked feet, ringbone, sidebone...and just keep going.

Thanks to Miss D80 for the loan of her photo!

Favorite Photo: The Magnificent Shire of Shoes

Now here's something I haven't seen before. This Shire is crafted from hundreds of horseshoes by retired Yorkshire, England businessman Donald Punton. Click here to learn more about him and the horses he builds. I think the blaze and feathers paint is really clever, although I am not sure if the body and legs are painted or just rusted!

Bring on the Bulldozers: Santa Anita Will Install Brand New Artificial Surface for Breeders Cup in October

The continuing education of racetrack management continues this summer, as a full card of bulldozers will break through the gate of lovely Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, California. The learn-as-you-go plan is to completely replace the year-old Cushion Track artificial surface with a brand new Pro-Ride surface from Australia.

The Cushion Track surface was installed over questionable drainage systems and malfunctioned this winter, cancelling racing on several days when the winter rains hit the track east of Los Angeles.

Santa Anita Park announced today that its main track will undergo a complete overhaul beginning July 14, and will be reconstituted with a mixture of Pro-Ride synthetic. The project will include completely removing the existing asphalt base, adding a new grid base material, and treating the entire track with binder and fiber. It is anticipated the complete project will take six weeks to complete. During this period of construction, there will be no training at Santa Anita.

Santa Anita’s new Pro-Ride synthetic surface will debut with the beginning of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Sept. 24. The 25th Breeders Cup will be run at Santa Anita October 24-25; it will be the first time that the Breeders Cup has been run on an artificial surface.

Racing officials and hierarchy are putting lots of faith eggs in the artificial surface basket, with permanent installations completed this year at all major California tracks, joining Keeneland and Turf Paradise in Kentucky and other tracks around the country in the experimental switch from dirt to fiber. The hope is that the surface will be safer for horses and more consistent.

Several Breeders Cup races are run on the turf and will not be affected by the surface switch.

Hoof-La Update from Dutrow: "It Still Wasn't the Loose Shoe"

Smoking Gun? The article in this week's Blood-Horse about Big Brown's loose shoe in the Belmont, shown in this closeup from a Russ Melton photo, has now been posted on the web; you can read the entire article by clicking here.

Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow is sticking to his guns: the "loose shoe" is not the smoking gun in his horse's failure to capture the 2008 Triple Crown on June 7th. He was interviewed by the Blood-Horse when they decided to publish the photo you see with this post. (See following posts for more on loose shoes.)

Dutrow added that the shoe appeared to have spread and that it was pulled, along with his other shoes, the next day. His horseshoer still had to use his pulloffs to get the shoe off, so "loose" is a relative term. He also said that there was no pain reaction when the foot has worked on.

Dutrow also verified farier Tom Curl's report that Big Brown is now shoeless and jogging at Aqueduct, presumably enjoying a rest from all the hoof-la that attended his Triple Crown lameness issues.

Also, the toe grab in this photo is completely legal in New York. No states that I know of have banned toe grabs on hind feet. The Jockey Club's model rule change suggests toe grabs other than wear plates be eliminated on front shoes but there are no rule changes suggested for hind shoes, where toe grabs are standard equipment.