Page 100 - Speedhorse July 2018
P. 100
What really makes a racehorse are the things we can’t see.
by Heather Smith Thomas
Many young horses are bred and raised to be sold at yearling sales as race prospects. Preparing these horses to come to these
sales sound and healthy, while giving an indica- tion of their future athletic potential, is the goal of the breeder. Sale prospects should be thor- oughly checked by a veterinarian to assess health and soundness.
“In February of their yearling year, these horses are usually thoroughly checked to see if there are any issues that need to be addressed. A young horse might have a bone chip or an OCD lesion that needs to be cleaned up before he is sold. In March or April, a person would usu- ally do any of those necessary surgeries and then the veterinarians do the repository x-rays for the sale. They will do a full shot of all the joints,” said longtime horseman Bill Casner, who started his career on the track as a young man in 1963. He has owned and trained racehorses all his life, was previously co-owner of WinStar Farms in Kentucky, and today raises and trains racehorses on his ranch in Flower Mound, Texas.
“They also scope the sale prospects and rate the throat,” he continued. “People who are thinking
Duncan Peters DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVSMR, co-owner and founder of East-West Equine Sports Medicine.
about buying that horse may just refer to those repository x-rays and scoping, but sometimes they want to have their own done, especially scoping. Most horses generally get scoped mul- tiple times. The popular ones that a lot of people are looking at may get scoped 15 to 20 times. Thus, the consigners
frequently put a limit on that, since it’s hard on those youngsters.
PRE-PURCHASE EXAMS
AND SALES READINESS
“Sometimes people x-ray their yearlings again in May after they’ve
done any necessary surgeries and then hope they don’t have any more problems before the veteri- narians do the repository x-rays. There’s a gap
in time there. These babies are always at risk for dinging themselves up and often they do it out in the pasture and you don’t know exactly what happened. We leave ours out most of the day but,
Heather Smith Thomas
The pre-purchase physical exam looks for flaws that may hinder a horses athletic ability.
98 SPEEDHORSE, July 2018
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