I think we have seen over and over again that it is beneficial to stress the bones of a horse when they are most adaptive. This optimal adaptive period would seem to be when the horse is still in an active growth stage. We have all seen many cases where a certain type of injury (e.g., apical sesamoid fractures in foals, coffin bone fractures in foals, etc.) can be tolerated at an early age and not so well as a horse gets older.

Do we prevent shin problems by waiting for a horse to turn three years old before strenuous training? I have seen many horsemen become perplexed when their horses started into training at a more mature age and came up with sore shins. None of us expect these horses to buck shins, yet they are still required to build up the thick cortex of bone in the dorsal cannon bone. Therefore, if these horses aren’t handled as any horse in early training would be, the potential for bucked shins exists.

The problem with bucked shins is they almost always come at a time when expectations are highest. You commonly see them after the last work before a horse is ready for his first race, after the horse was purchased in a 2-year-old sale, or right after the horse’s maiden victory. This is extremely frustrating to trainers and owners, as proper therapy always requires a period of time, no matter the approach to treatment. This frustration leads to a willingness to try new and innovative training methods to prevent this problem.

During the 15 years that I have been practicing in South Florida (on racing Thoroughbreds), I have seen a significant decrease in the number of horses treated for bucked shins. I’m not exactly sure whether this can be attributed to better training methods for prevention of shin problems or improvement in the track surfaces. I do, however, see some trainers implementing a version of a program developed by David Nunamaker, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, of the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, within their training regimens (see “Competing Juveniles” on page 32). I believe the programs would look more like the one developed by John Fisher, DVM, a veterinarian and racehorse trainer, that was outlined on page 36, as it would be accepted as a more practical approach. Trainers I deal with will accept a program that consists of speed work every four to five days, as is explained by Dr. Fisher, before they will use speed work up to three times per week