Respiratory Tract Abnormalities and Racehorse Performance

Abnormalities in the throats of yearling racehorses will negatively impact the horses’ athletic potential, making careful evaluation of these structures an important part of the prepurchase examination.

“Veterinarians routin

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Abnormalities in the throats of yearling racehorses will negatively impact the horses’ athletic potential, making careful evaluation of these structures an important part of the prepurchase examination.

"Veterinarians routinely evaluate the throats of potential racehorses via external visual assessment and an internal endoscopic evaluation. The larynx and pharynx are highly scrutinized as abnormalities are known to adversely affect airflow and therefore athletic performance," explained Katherine S. Garrett, DVM, from Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Ky.

To better determine the association between the endoscopy results and racing performance, Garrett and colleagues retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 2,954 yearling Thoroughbreds examined between 1998 and 2001. Arytenoid function (AF) was assessed using a modified Havemeyer scale (grade I, II.1, II.2, III, or IV) and the epiglottic structure (ES) was assessed using a scale from 0 to IV. The also subjectively analyzed the length of the epiglottis. The yearlings’ racing performance was obtained using an online database.

For both AF and ES, the higher the scores, the more abnormal the function or structure were

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Written by:

Stacey Oke, MSc, DVM, is a practicing veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. She is interested in both large and small animals, as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Since 2005, she’s worked as a research consultant for nutritional supplement companies, assisted physicians and veterinarians in publishing research articles and textbooks, and written for a number of educational magazines and websites.

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