Surgeries and Steroids

A survey of buyers of Thoroughbred weanlings, yearlings, and 2-year-olds discovered that surgeries to correct conformation defects have a significant influence on whether or not someone will buy a horse at public auction.

In fact, 28.4%

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A survey of buyers of Thoroughbred weanlings, yearlings, and 2-year-olds discovered that surgeries to correct conformation defects have a significant influence on whether or not someone will buy a horse at public auction.


In fact, 28.4% of the 726 respondents to the survey sponsored by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association’s (TOBA) Sales Integrity Program said periosteal elevation and transphyseal bridge procedures “greatly influence” their buying decisions. Those procedures were to be disclosed this year under the Sales Integrity Program, but implementation was put on hold in 2005 after objections were raised by consignors.


The survey didn’t ask whether or not disclosure of such surgeries should be required by sale companies. It didn’t have to. In both the question of how much importance buyers place on the procedures and in written comments made by those surveyed, the message was loud and clear: buyers want full disclosure.


Those words–full disclosure–were repeated over and over in the comments of survey respondents, many of whom also applauded the early work of the Sales Integrity Program. “Transparency is a must, or the industry will suffer,” one buyer wrote. Said another, “Buying is mostly done on trust, and the higher the level of trust, the more likely I am to buy from the seller or agent

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Written by:

Ray Paulick is a former editor of The Blood-Horse magazine.

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