Hoof Cracks - a very common problem in racehorses
A keen-eyed racegoer spotted a horse running in the USA last summer with six quarter cracks spread between three of its feet. While this number would be highly unusual in the UK, the problem of the hoof crack is not, and is one, which plagues the trainer, vet and farrier. For the trainer, the words “The apple of your eye has popped a quarter crack, guv’nor,” are not welcome. Some great names have won Group One and other big races carrying hoof cracks, but the onset of a crack will result at minimum in serious problems in the horse’s preparation. Nevertheless, it is quite common for several horses to have cracks of one kind or another in a larger yard at the height of summer.
Tony Lindsell (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
Digestion Development - how modern feeding practices affect the natural digestive system
Previous articles in Trainer have looked at how the horse, regardless of what he has been developed to do, remains the nomadic, trickle feeding animal that nature designed him to be. We have also examined how modern diet and management, combined with the physical and mental stress imposed on the competition and racing animal are contributory factors in a variety of problems, including ‘stereotypy’ behaviour such as cribbing and windsucking, and the perennial problem of ulcers and colic.
Sue McMullen (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2007)
The Lone Star phenomenon - built for big things
Maybe it’s because of the long, flat stretches of landscape that, when shimmering in the summer heat, have potential for mirage. Or maybe it’s just the capacious grandeur of a land vast as imagination. But whatever the reason, Texas always has inspired dreams and ideas so big and robust they couldn’t sit comfortably anywhere else.
Gary West (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
Weighing Racehorses - how regular monitoring can provide vital information
From stud to stable, weighing machines have augmented, and even supplanted, the empirical judgment of the eye. Applications range from gauging the development of the weanling to assimilating the optimal fighting-weight of the performance horse to monitoring the effects of transportation.
James Willoughby (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
Do horses suffer from jet-lag?
The consequences of jet lag for the equine athlete have become more relevant in recent times due to increased travel of performance horses across multiple time zones for international competition.
Barbara Murphy (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
Hoppegarten Racecourse - a history of the German racecourse
May 17th 1868 was an important day in the history of German horseracing. Prussian King Wilhelm I (the founding of the German Empire and the title Emperor was still eight years away) himself attended the successful opening ceremony of “Hoppegarten” together with his ministers including Chancellor Otto von Bismarck. Driving force behind the scenes was the Union-Klub, a Jockey Club founded in 1867 by leading racing enthusiast. The club purchased the over 600 hectares big area outside Berlin for the amount of 296,000 Prussian Taler. The name “Hoppegarten” comes from the fields, “garten” meaning garden, of hops that were replaced by the racecourse.
Jens Sorge (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
International incentives - how racecourses attract owners and trainers
Every racing authority and every racecourse must offer incentives if they have any particular ambitions. Appearance money, owners' premiums, breeders' premiums, travel allowances and all manner of special offers are either tried out or made a basic part of policy. The question always is whether they have the intended result. If so, then the offerers must ask if the money was well spent and whether the chosen policy will produce a satisfactory result in the longer term. As for the owners and trainers who are the beneficiaries, their job is to keep themselves informed and pick up whatever they can.
Robert Carter (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)
The growing pattern - how and why new races have been added
Very few ideas for radical change in horseracing are either universally popular or accepted at the first time of asking. And that’s if a single authority is involved. When a group of nations, some of which have a history of antipathy, bordering on hostility, towards each other’s proposals, come together to examine a programme of alterations, the chances of a speedy and amicable resolution are even slimmer.
Howard Wright (European Trainer - issue 7 - Spring 2004)