Trainer Questioned

....our local vets have enough on their plates with AHS....why try to re=invent the wheel and try make our own EHV vaccines .....that is ludicrous....I know for a fact that this profession is not unlike our own medical profession in that palms have to be greased....well the pharma company should engage directly with .....dare I say it.....NHRA to make the vaccine compulsory....they are in need of a bit of grease.....then the pharma must chuck a bit of change their way....and then the vets do their job and see that they inject horses and sign registers just like they do with AHS....

Warren, I would like to add that if i ran Trip Tease or Zen Arcade at 2, they would have run stone last. They were just immature mentally at 2 and the penny just had not dropped. They both had starting stall certificates in January of their 2 year old careers....
So, the mental readiness of a youngster plays a big role and there is a huge risk of setting a horse back for life, by skipping vital rungs in the ladder of their development. And then there is, of course the rate of growth and bone density. Take Winter Blues- he was mentally ready and ran a good first race only to feel his shins badly second time out and run poorly. We gave him the time to harden up. Mbali on the other hand had no idea what she was doing first time out as a juvenile. And she would definitely be just as bad next time as a juvenile. She is a very hot sort. She just needed to learn at a slower rate than others. If i ran her then, she would have been declared useless at that time....and maybe moved on....

But, like yourself, I cannot say that i agree with spelling as bone density only increases with the weight of a rider on the horse's back and it goes backwards or stops developing when the young horse is standing in a paddock.

I Always advocated no spelling farms and horses came straight to me and started slow long work with sprints which helped bone density. Also yearlings are like teenagers, they need dicipline.
I tried to give all babies a run before they turned three and had very few unsound horses.Vets records will verify this.

louisg wrote: Warren, I cannot say that i agree with spelling as bone density only increases with the weight of a rider on the horse's back and it goes backwards or stops developing when the young horse is standing in a paddock.

....I don't believe that it is the early introduction of a rider on a horses back that would attribute to the bone density alone....it is the pure science of nutrition that plays a major role....in years gone by the old timers would select horses from certain studs because they foraged openly on grasses that were in mineral rich soils and horses had stronger bones.....well even if we could find these unpolluted and washed out soils today.... it would be necessary to start supplementing minerals into the young horses and even their mothers while they are still suckling....spelling horses or buying horses from farms through the various auctions does not insure that horses have been nourished properly as horses thrown out into paddocks and fields do not get enough mineral supplements until sales prep....then they may begin to get some supplements or better feed to ensure a little muscle mass and a nice shiny coat....but not enough to ensure decent bone density....get them early and nourish them properly....or have a spelling farm that ensures better nutrition.... :whistle:

Very true Muthi

Tahnk You everyone , I tend to lead with James they are like teenagers and need routine and discipline . At the spelling farms I do not feel that they firstly get all the attention they should and they tend to get hurt alot contracting colic and other problems . Colic can happen at any time but seen to many on the farm compared to when they are in the stable.

Warren Laird wrote: At the spelling farms I do not feel that they firstly get all the attention they should and they tend to get hurt alot contracting colic and other problems . Colic can happen at any time but seen to many on the farm compared to when they are in the stable.

......I have assisted in only 2 cases of severe colic....where once I walked a bloated distressed filly for four hours at night in the pouring rain....got her gut untwisted and waited for a another hour for her to sh!t out a plastic shopping bag.....gotta watch what they eat.....simple....but out in a paddock or those wind blown fields....you can never be sure.... :oops:

I think that Muhti has hit the nail on the head with nutrition. Lets be honest, we live in an instant society in which most things are disposable. For example, gone are the days when the family car was expected to last at least 10 years before being passed on to the teenager who just got his licence, who would proudly drive same for the next 5 years.... and the same goes at sales - we tend to forget the old rules which dictate that we should be able to visualize what the yearling will look like or become in 2 years time. The yearlings are pumped up, pampered and polished for Sales and already look race ready. This is the norm nowadays. Any Breeder who does not do this can expect much lower prices. Well, it takes a very different diet to achieve that !

Back to bone development and density. It is simple - a horse at full gallop with no weight on its back will put down about 2000 Pounds per square inch on each foot. Add a 60kg rider and it now becones 2600 PSI. That alone is food for thought.

The cannon bone of a yearling is round. When a racehorse is 4 or 5, the cannon is oval in shape. The inside is still round but the outside has basically doubled in thickness. Yet a 5 year old Mustang which has grown up wild and never been ridden, still has a round cannon bone. The ridden horse must adapt its bone to the increased psi. That is a process. Bone will grow on the outside of the cannon bone to strengthen it. Standing in a paddock will not start the process. The process only begins when the horse is ridden. What Goodie is saying is absolutely spot on. Thats the voice of many years of experience.

Lastly, it would be very risky to subject a 5 year old to a rider for the first time, as by then the bone growth is basically over. How much can the bone adapt ?

Thank You Louis very interesting

for the trainer of Orinoco Flow. Was running the horse over 2400 in the horses best interests.

i think not

It's not nice seeing a horse running that far back. The horse's Cape Town form wasn't too bad, 2 places from 4 starts.

Thanks for the reply Louis, and Craig has also called me to explain the same before.

My issue is not what trainers charge. For me it costs X to feed and stable a horse and anything on top of that is what you pay for the quality of the trainer. Exactly as you have described with Ronaldo being paid more than a bafana player. My issue is that when a horse wins, sometimes even if it just earns a place cheque, after the jockey get his cut, the grooms get their cut, the trainer gets his cut (which I stand to be corrected is around 21% administered by the authorities) then a trainer will take an additional 3,5,8 up to 10% as his bonus on top leaving the owners only 70% of the winnings.

louisg wrote:
Richie - the Competitions Commission would probably frown on any form of "price fixing". It is free enterprise, so Trainers can very well charge what they like. Example being that Ronaldo and Messi earn a lot more than any Bafana Bafana player...