Page 14 - May 2008 The Game

14 The Game, May 2008
Richard Chretien
I don’t know how he did it. He was always so positive.”
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Continued from Page 13
It was standing room only at the funeral service which was held in February, which was an indication of the many people whose lives Ricky had touched.
For Mares Who’ve LSost Their Marbles
this year, but the llies and mares in our barns and elds knew that it was on its way long before the snowdrifts started to melt. Their systems were going into overdrive as the days got longer, their hormones surging as their ovaries prepared to come out of winter hibernation for the breeding season.
“We were together at my house this past new year’s eve and he was so proud that he got his 12 year coin. He was so proud. It was a pleasure to know Ricky. I had known him for 15 years and the real pleasure was him calling me a friend.” - Brian Morgan
pring seemed a long time coming
altering effect). For a racing mare, that’s an unacceptable risk.
Richard celebrated his 50th birthday last July at the home where he lived with his sister Dianne and two of her four children.
“I was always proud to be his sister and after seeing all the people that came to his funeral, it made me all the more proud to be his sister.”
In Australia, P zer has introduced an estrus-control vaccine called Equity. While effective, early indications are that it may affect a mare’s fertility for years after it’s administered ... and of course it’s not currently available in Canada.
Richard had lived with his sister since starting the AA Program which was shortly after Dianne had split with her husband, “My son said that he not only lost an uncle, but a friend and father gure.” said Dianne, “He always put us rst, he was always positive. For all the things that he went through,
“You know what they say, ‘only the good die young’ and he’s up there with my Mom and my Dad.”
That’s ne if you’re actually planning to breed this spring. But when a lly or mare is in race training, it can sometimes be problematic.
So what’s the answer? You might want to try giving your mare her marbles back. Yes, I’m talking about an actual glass marble, sterilized and then carefully inserted in the uterus. It’s a technique which has been used in Europe for some time and has recently been embraced by the North American veterinary community, because it’s relatively simple to do, completely drug-free, is well-tolerated by the mare, and has no long-term effect on fertility. It’s successful somewhere between 40 and 70% of the time in completely suppressing the symptoms of estrus. And compared
to Regu-Mate, it’s a relatively inexpensive procedure (on the order of a couple of hundred dollars rather than $3-4 a day inde nitely).
The idea is that a 30-35 mm
diameter marble fakes the mare’s uterus into believing it’s already pregnant. It’s inserted through the cervix about 24 hours after the mare ovulates (naturally or by induction), and nestled at the uterine body/horn junction, using ultrasound as a guide. An infusion of antibiotics at the time of placement helps prevent infection. In studies, mares with marbles went about 90 days without coming into season, sometimes longer – up to about ve months. Some mares manage to spit the marbles out on their own after a time, while others need to have them removed manually by a veterinar-
ian experienced in transrectal uterine palpation. Ultrasound examination post-removal shows no irritation or damage to the uterus, and mares bred after removal often caught on the rst cycle.
Uterine marbles are even being marketed commercially by a glass- blowing studio in the United States (and yes, they’ll ship to Canada). Dubbed “Marebles”, the website at www.glassmarble.com/mare-inter- order.html describes the autoclavable, kiln-tempered, ultrasonically-viewable glass orbs as functioning like an equine IUD. They’re available in three different sizes, for $40-60 (US) for three.
“We have a lot of good, fond memo- ries. We miss him dearly.
A special ceremony for Richard was held April 30 at Woodbine with his ashes being scattered at the racetrack.
A mare in season is not one who’s concentrating on her job. There
are degrees, of course – with some mares, you’d barely know they were cycling, while with others, well,
Now he will be with the horses forever.
Equine Health
By Karen Briggs
Dave Landry Photo
Cold Salt Hydrotherapy at Woodbine
Photo Left:
Darden Equine Hydrotherapy owner Darin Kennedy at Woodbine Photo bottom right: Darin (left) and Woodbine trainer Steve Roberts oversee the hydrotherapy session for 3-year-old in training, Shankly. Photo Below:
Horses enter from the rear and exit from the front
Darden Equine Hydrotherapy owner, Darin Kennedy, says “the most expensive part of racing is
therapy treatment using sea salts and epson salts. Each 10 minute session results in the horse’s legs remaining cold for up to two hours and has been touted for the prevention or treatment of shin splints, sore shins, tendonitis, arthritis, and more.
not racing” which is probably why his new hydrotherapy service at Woodbine is gaining in popularity.
Darden Equine Hydrotherapy uses the ECB Equine Spa which is most often utilized to treat and prevent equine injuries.
“It is also a great tool for after
racing to determine if anything happened during the race.” said Darin who went on to explain that when the legs are cool after treatment, the heat generated from an injury is much more pronounced and detectable.
Cold spa hydrotherapy as a treatment of lower leg conditions in perfor- mance horses has expanded rapidly in England and Ireland in the last four years with exceptional results for many forms of in ammation and especially tendonitis.
The cost for each Hydrotherapy session is $50 or a book of 10 sessions can be purchased at a special rate.
Preventative spa use in racing stables has reduced the development of concussive injury thus extending the race preparation of many horses.
For more information on Darden Equine Hydrotherapy drop by their location between the Receiving Barn and the Ice Room on the backstretch at Woodbine or call 416-213-0001. For information on Hydrotherapy visit www.equinespa.com
The Darden Hydrotherapy ECB Equine Spa was manufactured and imported from England and offers cold
it’s impossible to miss.
And the symptoms are often at their most exaggerated during spring estrus. What’s a trainer to do with a mare who’s on the extreme side of mare-ishness, short of breeding or spaying her?
Regu-Mate (a.k.a. altrenogest) is
the ‘traditional’ answer. The drug simulates the action of natural progesterone, which overrides estrogen and can be very effective in suppress- ing the symptoms of estrus, with no major side-effects and no long-term effect on fertility. But on the down side, Regu-Mate is expensive, must be given daily, and is tricky to handle (the hormones can be absorbed through
the skin, so both women and men administering the drug should always wear latex gloves and be extra cautious – and pregnant women should not handle it at all).
There are also progesterone implants, which can be surgically inserted under a mare’s skin (usually on the neck)
to suppress estrus – but because they were originally designed for cattle, they’ve proven less than ideally effective in horses and have largely fallen out of favour.
Likewise, the long-acting injectable progesterone, Depo-Provera, used
in humans, has been shown to be ineffective in horses because it doesn’t bind to equine progesterone receptors.
However it’s delivered, progesterone use should be avoided in mares who might be harbouring intra-uterine infections, since bacte- ria can proliferate in the uterus when under the in uence of the hormone.
Then there are the herbal supplements which are marketed as mood modi ers for mares (chaste berry is one common ingredient). But they remain unproven and unregulated, which means there
is always the chance they’ll contain something that will test positive (it’s important to realize that some mixtures rely on sedative herbs for that mood-
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