Following the euthanasia of the filly Eight Belles, who suffered catastrophic injuries to both front legs a quarter-mile after finishing second in the Kentucky Derby, members of every sector of the Thoroughbred industry have banded together to proactively address safety and welfare issues.
The Horse: Your Guide To Equine Health Care, a sister publication to The Blood-Horse, is proud to present a free downloadable special report on catastrophic injury research in its July issue. This downloadable special report is sponsored by Pfizer Animal Health.
In this report, representative members of the equine industry provide an in-depth exploration of catastrophic injuries in the Thoroughbred racehorse, focusing on what veterinarians know about catastrophic injuries based on the available scientific data,and highlighting what work is still to be done.
Some of the areas covered include:
-What are catastrophic injuries?
-How often do Thoroughbred racehorses suffer catastrophic injuries?
-Why do catastrophic equine athletic injuries happen?
-Gender, age, and drug issues.
-Bone pathology, conditioning, and microfractures
-Breeding dilemmas: speed vs. soundness.
-The role of track surfaces.
-What is the industry doing?
-Who is responsible for racehorse safety?
Stacey Oke, DVM, MSc, authored the report. She is a Canadian freelance medical writer, scientific researcher, and licensed veterinarian. Oke’s primary fields of interest are nutrition and dietary health supplements, osteoarthritis, and inflammation. Oke writes for magazines and peer-reviewed veterinary and medical journals, and she is involved in continuing education for human doctors and veterinarians.
Download the report.
