Pilates for horses - enhancing performance and reducing injuries
Pilates is increasingly used amongst professional athletes as a method to enhance athletic performance and to reduce injuries. It is also used frequently as part of a post-injury rehabilitation program, as the exercises are performed in a slow and controlled manner, targeting specific muscle groups - the core stability muscles.
Nicole Rossa (26 June 2008 - Issue Number: 8)
From Synthetic prep race to the Kentucky Derby dirt
Street Sense's dramatic, decisive victory in last year's Kentucky Derby restructured a lot of perceptions about winning the Run for the Roses. Not only could a Breeders'Cup Juvenile winner return the following spring to capture the first leg of the Triple Crown, but he could make his final prep for Churchill Downs' dirt track on a synthetic one.
Bill Heller (26 June 2008 - Issue Number: 8)
Nuclear scanning - the next stage in diagnosing lameness
Nuclear scintigraphy or 'bone scanning' attempts to take lameness
diagnosis one stage further by predicting rather than just diagnosing
fractures. It is an imaging technique that searches for an increase in
bone production and thus can often pinpoint the cuase of minor lameness
problems before they become catastrophic injuries.
James Tate (26 June 2008 - Issue 6)
TRM Trainer of the Quarter - Judi Hicklin
The TRM trainer of the quarter award has been won by Judi Hicklin. Judi
and her team will receive a TRM product portfolio worth in excess of
$1,500. The portfolio will consist of TRM tack bags and saddle pads as
well as a large selection of the world famous TRM product range.
Bill Heller (10 July 2008 - Issue Number: 9)
Alec Head & Criquette Head Maarek - we talk to the extraordinarily successful father and daughter
The Head family has a history steeped in horseracing, just as horseracing has a history steeped in Heads. Their dominance began in France in the late 1800’s with Alec’s jockey-turned-trainer grandfather Willie, a British expat. Alec’s father, also Willie, was a highly successful jumps jockey and dual purpose trainer in France.
Frances Karon (European Trainer - issue 21 - Spring 2008)
TRM Trainer of Quarter - Steve Hobby
Steve Hobby's breakout meet at Oaklawn Park this spring may not include a
training title, but Hobby was conceding nothing in late March when he
trailed defending Oaklawn champion Steve Asmussen, the runaway national
leader in both victories and earnings, by just two wins, 21-19.
Bill Heller- (26 June 2008 - Issue Number 6)
Eco-trainers - turning a profit from manure
Chantilly trainers have gone green and are soon to be the envy of their contemporaries around the world with a ground-breaking manure-disposal project. The 10-million euro project is at the cutting edge of technology and consists of using a process of methanisation to convert the waste into electricity which will then be sold to the EDF (French Electricity Board), and into heat which will be used locally.
Katherine Ford (European Trainer - issue 21 - Spring 2008)
Stabling and health specifically for racehorses
It is important to see the needs of the racehorse as being different from horses kept for any other sporting purpose. Its management, feeding, training and stabling are all critical and unique.
Peter Gray (European Trainer - issue 21 - Spring 2008)
Pre-race deterrents - how its surroundings can affect a horse's race
It is an ordinary raceday at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile Racecourse. I am taking my notes by the pre-parade ring. This pre-parade ring is much better than the one over at the July Course, I say to myself. It is a relaxing place for the horses, not least for the young horses.
Geir Stabell (European Trainer - issue 21 - Spring 2008)
Eoin Harty - profile of the former assistant to Bob Baffert
There was always an air of levity at Bob Baffert's barn when Eoin Harty
worked there. Not that the game they played wasn't serious. It was.
Preparing 1,000-pound equine athletes with spindly legs to perform at
their peak on the world's stage is not a job for anyone in short
pants.During the seven years Harty was Baffert's assistant, they won the
Kentucky Derby twice - with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in
1998-and missed by a heart-breaking nose with Cavonnier in 1996. But in
between the regimented tedium, there was always time for a good hoot.
Fact is, it was and still is part of Baffert's DNA.
26 June 2008 - Issue Number: 6
Ed Halpern's observations on being a horse trainer
Training thoroughbred horses is a wonderful occupation. Many who quit
training miss it for the remainder of their life. Why then is it that
the community of thoroughbred horse trainers seems so unhappy? Even the
most successful of trainers walks around in the morning head down.
During training hours, if you engage in conversation with a trainer, it
will most likely be a serious conversation. In trackside conversations,
trainers can be smiling and engaging, but there is usually a sense that
their minds are on other things. I also observe in many an anger that
lies just below the surface waiting to reveal itself at the slightest
provocation. Sure there is humorous repartee, but it is covered by the
shadow of failure. This is a subject I have wanted to look at for a long
time, but I have hesitated because it always sounds like whining.
Ed Halpern (26 June 2008 - Issue Number: 6)
Pelvic asymmetry in racehorses - increased risk of injury?
Steeplechase racing in particular is a high risk sport for the horse. There is currently some fairly extensive research into racehorse injuries and fatalities on the racecourse, with previously published scientific reports on the subject being widely available. The racing industry is aware of the need for such reports, as the industry itself is very much in the public eye with regard to injury rates on the racecourse.
Nicole Rossa (14 February 2008 - Issue Number: 7)
Oiling the Wheels - using oil as a supplement in the diet of racehorses
Historically, oil has not featured highly in the diets of horses in training, or indeed those of other horses. The natural oil content of pasture and other forages is quite low at between 2-3% on a dry matter basis, yet despite this, horses digest oil extremely well. Oil added to the racehorses’ diet is tolerated well, with no major palatability problems having been reported.
Dr Catherine Dunnett (14 February 2008 - Issue Number: 7)
Derby Starters - where do they go from there?
Led by Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, the three-year-old crop of 2007 rearranged a lot of people's thinking on what it takes to succeed on the first Saturday of May and beyond.Street Sense not only became the first colt to win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile and the Run for the Roses the following spring, but along with the Derby's second and third place finishers, Hard Spun and Curlin, thrived later in the year. So did Tiago and Any Given Saturday, who finished seventh and eighth in the Derby and joined the top three in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Classic.
Bill Heller (14 February 2008 - Issue Number: 7)
Resistance Training - can it be applied to racehorses?
The term alone, "resistance training," invites at the very least skepticism, and in some cases, even a trace of joviality. As Hall of Fame conditioner Dick Mandella remarked when asked about it, "I'm very familiar with resistance training. For many years, I've had owners who resisted my training. I've had a few horses who resisted, too."
Caton Bredar (14 February 2008 - Issue Number: 7)