Bramlage: Rest Needed to Keep Horses Sound

“If horses start showing they need a rest, you need to give it to them or they will force you to,” he said.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

The skeleton a Thoroughbred is born with isn’t the finished product it needs to be a successful competitor. The animal must develop and strengthen it through training and then maintain it. Understanding the process involved is important in preventing injuries that can cause equine athletes to miss races or end their careers, according to Larry Bramlage, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS.

"Bone is very dynamic," he said Oct. 17 during the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit IV that began a day earlier at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky. "Bone is laid down when strength is needed and removed when strength is unnecessary. Horses carry this to an extreme. They overload and they over-repair, and they overload and they over-repair. You want them to make these little steps all the way up the ladder so that eventually you get a racehorse skeleton. You have to give the horse the load at a rate he can withstand it in order to strengthen his bone to get him to the place where he can race."

Variations in exercise are needed to prevent the bone from wearing out. Short bursts of speed are beneficial to young horses "as long as you don’t overdo it," because "they show the bone where it is going," said Bramalage, a surgeon at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.

Lameness or soreness is the horse’s way of telling a trainer that something needs to be changed in its training or that it needs more time between races or works

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Deirdre Biles is the Bloodstock Sales Editor for The Blood-Horse magazine.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
280 votes · 280 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!