Horse Racing Tips

Seriousness of Hoof Cracks

The racing community and thousands of fans were waiting in anticipation for the prognosis of the hoof crack that was found on Big Brown’s left front hoof. The quarter crack was treated by Ian MacKinlay, a hoof specialist, and Big Brown should be back on track to take on the Belmont Stakes on 7 June 2008. The fact that the hoof crack could be repaired was a great relief to all those who are pinning their hopes on Big Brown being the next Triple Crown winner, and even though some hoof cracks are repairable, there are some that can cause serious injury and pain to horses.

Fractures – Types, Causes and Prevention

Racing and even training puts a vast amount of strain on the bones in the legs of horses. To understand the pressure that a leg is under during a full gallop, it is vital to point out that even though horses are much larger than human athletes, their bone structures are approximately the same size. When a thoroughbred is at full gallop, only one leg is in contact with the ground at a time. This causes the force of an estimated seven tons to be exerted on each leg as the horse moves through the stride. It is this force that can cause serious damage if a horse steps wrongly or is running on uneven ground.

Do Heart Murmurs Affect Performance?

To understand the workings of a heart murmur, it is important to know how the heart operates in horses. The average sized horse has a heart that is the size of a basketball and it is the centre of the cardiovascular system. There is approximately forty-five liters of blood in the body of a horse that needs to be pumped by the heart. The heart pumps at an estimated rate of forty beats a minute and the valves that allow the blood to flood in and out of the heart causes the “lub-dub” sound that is heard through a stethoscope.