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Investment
When evaluating a
retired racehorse for
a second career, what
former injuries can
you live with?
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By Alexandra Beckstett
t’s no wonder we gravitate toward
Thoroughbreds. The breed has
long been a symbol of speed,
grace and stamina. And these
traits also make it a desirable riding
and performance horse.
Yet the very thing these horses were bred
to do — simply put, run — can take a toll on
their delicate bodies. It’s one of the reasons
many retire from the track so young: Their
limbs, lungs or minds can no longer stand up
to racing’s rigors. That doesn’t mean, however,
that they can’t excel at nearly any other sport.
You just need to know what to look for.
A PREPURCHASE’S PERKS
Do you cringe at the thought of spending
as much or more than your off-track
Thoroughbred’s purchase price on his vetting?
The reality is that this exam is critical to
maintaining his future soundness. It’s a
window into his past, present and potential
injuries.
“Unquestionably, any of these horses
coming off the track need to be vetted
before they go into a program or anyone
else’s ownership,” says Janik Gasiorowski,
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VMD, Dipl. ACVS, a practitioner at MidAtlantic Equine Medical Center, in Ringoes,
New Jersey, with an interest in transitioning
Thoroughbred racehorses to second careers.
“And that vetting should include at least a
basic set of radiographs,” particularly of the
fetlocks and knees.
Also key to the prepurchase exam is
working with a veterinarian well-versed in
racehorses. To someone who doesn’t see these
horses day in and day out, it can be difficult to
determine whether a common racehorse issue,
such as fetlock damage, is mild or severe,
Gasiorowski says. And that can mean the
difference between a sound sport horse and a
chronically painful pasture pet.
Depending on the physical and
radiographic findings, a veterinarian might
then recommend ultrasound to further
examine a problem, particularly if it’s soft
tissue-related.
WHAT YOU MIGHT FIND
Let’s face it, few if any Thoroughbreds are
going to come off the track with flawless
radiograph films and arthritis-free joints. So
when evaluating one for a second career, it’s
important to communicate your goals to the
OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015
SHANNON BRINKMAN
Although a disappointment on the
track, Neville Bardos retired sound
and went on to exceed eventer
Boyd Martin’s expectations.
FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED
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veterinarian, says Kathleen Anderson, DVM, who treats race and sport horses at
Equine Veterinary Care at Fair Hill Training Center, in Elkton, Maryland.
“If the horse needs to be able to go to at least prelim (preliminary, the eventing
level at which jumps reach 3’7” and speeds, distances and difficulty increase
significantly over prior levels), I’m going to be more critical than with the walktrot-canter Pony Club prospect,” she says.
Some common injuries your veterinarian might come across while evaluating an
OTTB prospect include:
Fetlock Damage A horse’s fetlock joints are under extreme tension and
compression while he races. “I’d say of the most common things you’re going to
deal with on a racehorse coming for rehab, fetlock disease is going to be first and
foremost,” Gasiorowski says, “from stress-induced bone injury to fractured sesamoid
bones and just general cartilage wear and tear on the fetlock joints.”
How these injuries affect a horse’s
soundness, however, varies greatly. A
horse with ugly-looking bone chips
in his fetlock, for instance, can still
go on to have a successful secondary
career, even in rigorous sports such
as eventing, says Gasiorowski. On the
other hand, horses with far less obvious
subchondral (just beneath the joint
cartilage) bone disease at the back of
the fetlock can end up becoming so
unsound and painful they can’t move
comfortably.
COURTESY DR. KATHLEEN ANDERSON
The prepurchase exam is a window into a
horse’s past, present and potential injuries.
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OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015
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Investment
FRANK SORGE/ARND.NL
“For the untrained eye it can be such an easy area to overlook (on X ray), even
when lesions are significant,” Gasiorowski says. “Those fetlock issues end up
becoming nonstop chronic pain issues for the horse.”
Tendon and Ligament Injuries Many racehorses retire with some degree of
chronic soft tissue injury, but determining how that will impact future soundness
can be tricky.
“First of all, you’ve got to know the degree of damage, how widespread the
damage is, and how much the damage has healed,” says Gasiorowski.
Take a superficial flexor tendon bow — your classic bowed tendon — for instance:
“If that bowed tendon is thick, cold, firm, and the horse is not lame on that leg, he
might have the ugliest profile in the world, but that leg might not be a problem,” says
Gasiorowski. “If a racehorse has trained on a healed bow without re-injury, there is a
very good chance that historical damage will not impact his second career.”
More recent or acute injuries — particularly lesions in the suspensory ligament,
which lies beneath the flexor tendons — with signs of heat, sensitivity and lameness
on palpation fall into more of a gray area in regard to prognosis.
“If you know the reason an off-the-track Thoroughbred is being retired is due to
a tendon or ligament injury, then you just need to know that that horse is going to
need some time,” Anderson says. “There are a lot of modalities out there to hurry
the process and improve the appearance of the healed leg, but at the end of the day
it still needs some time. Somebody who is looking for a turnaround horse in six
months should not be looking at a (horse with a) soft tissue injury.”
At the very least, have your veterinarian take current radiographs of your prospective horse’s
fetlocks and knees.
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Chip Fractures Many racehorses
retire from the track with chip
fractures in their knee or fetlock
joints. Depending on the location and
damage, you might need to have them
surgically removed, but these cases
often have excellent prognoses.
“If you get a fresh chip fracture in a
small, forgiving spot, you’ve got a great
horse on your hands,” says Gasiorowski.
“You have to do surgery (to the tune of
around $2,800) to get that chip out, but
you’ve got a great horse.”
Of course, not everyone is looking
to buy a horse, then turn around and
send him to surgery. “That’s going to
be a buyer’s decision,” says Anderson.
A chip she says the average riding
horse can probably live with is “a
small, smooth, round chip in a front
fetlock, probably embedded in the joint
capsule, that has been there for years.”
Coffin Bone and Other Fractures
Foot radiographs might reveal that a
horse has a recent or old coffin bone
fracture — usually from excessive hoof
impact. The coffin bone is essentially
the forelimb’s toe within the hoof, and
fractures typically occur along the
“wings,” where the bone’s edges flare
outward.
“If it’s a relatively new wing fracture
and it’s nonarticular (does not involve
the joint), most times we can manage
those with shoeing,” says Anderson.
Articular coffin bone fractures
and those that have healed by fibrous
union (meaning they’re not bone to
bone), however, don’t have as good a
prognosis. “They may be fine for years,
or with concussion like jump landing
they might start to become sore,”
Anderson says. “Recognize that there
may be an ongoing need for remedial
shoeing with these horses and certainly
a much higher risk for resale.”
Other breaks, such as long bone and
condylar (the bottom end of the cannon
OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015
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bone) fractures, might not be worrisome if they’ve already been treated and healed.
“It’s not unusual during a prepurchase exam to find a screw here and a screw
there,” Anderson says. “I am very comfortable with a repaired long bone fracture if
the joint surface looks good, because they’re pretty much as good as new. If they’ve
got a lot of arthritic changes and they’re unsound, then obviously that’s a deterrent
for any kind of athletic activity.
“The tarsus (hock) and the carpus (knee) fractures with screws are a little
trickier because they are more difficult to align and they tend to have more
arthritis, so I’m a little more cautious
with those,” she adds.
Lastly, stress fractures — although
difficult to detect radiographically
— typically heal well with time and
shouldn’t be of concern if the horse
has had adequate healing time and is
sound, says Anderson.
SHANNON BRINKMAN
A slow but sound racehorse can make
a successful athlete. Lynn Symansky’s
event horse Donner, for instance, has
reached the pinnacle of the sport.
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OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED ❙ FALL 2015
“If that bowed tendon is thick, cold, f irm,
and the horse is not lame on that leg, he
might have the ugliest profile in the world,
but that leg might not be a problem.”
Dr. Janik Gasiorowski
Osteoarthritis The repetitive athletic trauma inherent to racing can degrade
the articular cartilage that lines horses’ joints and lead to signs of arthritis such as
pain, heat and swelling in affected joints. Most retired racehorses (or any high-level
athlete, for that matter) will have some degree of arthritis from their track career;
the more severe the damage, the more difficult it will be to keep the horse sound.
For Gasiorowski, one of the main reasons he’ll pass on a retired racehorse as an
athlete is marked arthritis (characterized by significant remodeling of the joint),
particularly in fetlocks and knees. “Almost all soft tissue injuries with enough
time and if not accompanied by arthritis will heal,” he says. “Arthritis is a oneway progression. Whether it’s due to conformation or injury, if they suffer from
osteoarthritis at the time they retire from the track, you’re going to have a hard time
keeping those horses sound long-term.”
Aside from radiographic evidence, Anderson says the horse’s range of motion
and soreness on flexions can help indicate the severity of joint disease.
Hoof Issues Many foot issues common to racehorses, such as bruises and
underrun heels, will improve with time once the horse starts being trimmed and
shod without the constraints and demands of race training, says Gasiorowski.
What’s more significant to a horse’s long-term soundness is a club foot, which
can be either congenital (present from birth) or from injury. “I’m always concerned
about unsoundness that’s proximal to the clubby foot (above it),” says Anderson.
“Often these horses are more upright, which is going to increase their propensity
for fetlock injuries, fetlock pain and related tendon injuries.”
With any retired racehorse’s feet, work with your farrier to correct or maintain
hoof balance and quality and determine whether the horse needs to go barefoot for
a while or should wear shoes for support.
Remember: The most minor injury is going to matter a lot more to a horse
that’s racing than if he’s in another discipline. A horse that retires because he’s a
“bleeder” or due to a minor injury probably isn’t going to suffer from those issues in
his next career.
THE HORSE THAT RETIRES SOUND
In a perfect world, we’d all find talented Thoroughbreds who retired from the
track sound and are looking for new homes. These are the athletes that typically
have the best chance of staying sound in their second career.
“The horse with ability that ran well and is still sound is a great candidate for a
future athlete,” Anderson says. “Then you’ll have the horse that ran badly and is still
sound. If they’re just plain slow, they can still be good training level eventers or 3’
to 3’6” jumpers, with the Cinderella success stories of horses, like Lynn Symansky’s
(2014 World Equestrian Games event horse) Donner, that exceed their owners’
wildest dreams.”
“By and large it’s a good rule of thumb that if the horse comes off the track sound,
he’ll have a far better chance of staying sound than if he came off the track lame,”
Gasiorowski adds.
FALL 2015 ❙ OFF-TRACK THOROUGHBRED
He points out, however, that
some horses can come off the
track technically sound but exhibit
problems later as they let down and
change careers. This is because a horse
that’s recently had his joints injected
or received anti-inflammatories on
the track might jog sound the day
he retires. As these maintenance
therapies wear off or as the horse
tightens up upon entering a less
active lifestyle, lameness issues might
emerge. This is yet another reason to
work with a veterinarian familiar with
racehorses.
BE INFORMED AND PATIENT
One of the keys to finding a sound
retired racehorse and keeping him
that way is knowing what issues he
might have ahead of time and getting
a professional opinion on his future
soundness.
“People getting horses through
some of the well-funded and well-run
retirement groups will often end up
with a more thoroughly considered
prospect than if they just got a horse
directly off the track,” Gasiorowski
says. “The formal retirement groups
(such as Turning For Home, Second
Call, etc.) have very educated,
industry-involved people looking
at those horses before they’re even
available to the general public.”
Also make sure your expectations for
a horse are realistic, and don’t rush the
career change process.
“I’m a big believer in common sense
and the tincture of time,” Anderson
says. “Allow for transition time, and let
the horse tell you when they’re ready to
start doing something.”
Alexandra Beckstett is the managing
editor of The Horse: Your Guide
To Equine Health Care. She and
her chestnut mare live in Lexington,
Kentucky, and compete in the hunters.
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