Below is a picture showing the average time it takes for horses' growth plates to properly fuse together. Until they are properly fused, the more racing a young horse has to endure the more susceptible they are to long term damage. Yes they can run but just imagine running frequently on extreme goings. Also many/most horses grow unevenly and cannot be expected to run to their potential when different parts are growing at different times. It's not surprising that some horses are retired at 3. I suspect many of them would be exposed by horses brought on gradually and allowed to mature fully before racing in earnest.
so it's horse abuse if they are run too much when immature -the early horses that seem to fit this often fade and struggle in the next season or two before disappearing off the radar --is the idea of winning with a young horse and then selling the logic ? certain stables seem to aim for this type of horse - hannon springs to mind - old jack berry was similar -certainly the nh scene is totally different where horses are given time to grow and mature to hopefully have a long and successful career !
Just a thought RB, maybe racing them when too young is abuse, but then again, isn't racing itself an abuse of the horse?
This is one of the main things that anti-racing bitches bring up, the fact that a horse is sat on and started training at a yearling when in normal non racing horses aren't even broken in let alone worked until they are the about 4/5. My argument to that is that different horses to courses(excuse the pun) a flat horse broken in as a yearlong will have what a majority of 2/3 years max of racing then be retired to stud (if still lucky enough to have thier manhood) where they don't come close to a human getting on thier back its thier turn to do the riding so he/she will have 2years of hard racing then have a Pretty good life at stud for and for the ones that don't go to stud yes they carry on racing but how much harm does it do look at the likes of Kingsgate Native - won the nunthorpe as a 2yo and still winning in to double figures! As for NH yes the majority are bought on a lot later because their career is longer and more work is put on thier bodies so it needs to stronger personally i do prefer this but that is racing and as we go on I'm sure horses (thoroughbreds) are evolving with the expectations of them being broken in etc.. ready for when they are 2yo
I'm sure all the science is correct though some of the conclusions may not be. If you produced the same diagram for a human what would it say? We shouldn't subject 7 year-old children to PT lessons? That as you are not fully grown until you are 16 you should not participate in sport? I don't know. What I do know is that 50 years ago it wasn't unusual for excellent horses (eventually) to start their careers early in their 2yo season and to go on racing until they were 5yos winning and running in far more races than they do today. He that increaseth knowledge increases sorrow.
the attrition rate for over raced two year olds is high , you notice some trainers don't run them if at all at that age -but store horses enjoy a much longer career -young gymnasts do suffer in later life -the ones who have trainers that seem oblivious to phisiology
A few points: The Thoroughbred has been bred over centuries to mature faster than other breeds. If you stood a 3 year old Thoroughbred up to a 3 year old of another breed you would assume the TB was much older. In addition, research has been done over the years that demonstrates that racing at a younger age actually helps to prevent unsoundness in later life. I'll have to dig the research papers out but there was one study in Australia that showed that horses that race at 2 are less likely to breakdown than horses that don't start racing until 3/4. It's one of the reasons that they brought in the Bumpers for 3yos in this country a few years ago and also another reason why French Jumpers do so well in this country against British/Irish bred horses - they have no qualms about sending a 3yo over fences! It might take me a while to dig out the research papers but I will be back with links....
The article I'm trying to find is titled: "The association of age at first start with career length in the Australian Thoroughbred racehorse population" It was published in the Equine Veterinary Journal in 2013 but all access to the article online seems to be subscription only. I have a copy of the article saved on my computer at home, along with some other similar articles so will try to post copies of them up this evening. There is a similar piece of research called "The association of 2-year-old training milestones with career length and racing success in a sample of Thoroughbred horses in New Zealand" which also came to similar conclusions and which is available to read online HERE. If you don't want to read the full article, the Conclusion is pretty, er, conclusive! "Two-year-old training milestones had a strong association with positive racing career outcomes. Horses in training or racing as 2-year-olds may have better musculoskeletal health throughout life than horses that are first in training or racing at a later age." This is the Abstract from the Australian Study: Summary Reasons for performing study Studies of Thoroughbred racing populations have provided evidence of a positive effect on racing careers for horses that commence racing as 2-year-olds. Currently, research investigating the presence of this effect in the Australian Thoroughbred racing population is limited. Objectives To investigate the association between age at first start and career length in the Australian Thoroughbred population and estimate the risk of racing retirement for horses racing in Australia based on age at first start, career earnings, number of starts as a 2-year-old and distance raced. Methods Data were collected for Thoroughbreds, born on or after 1 January 1998, that had raced between 1 August 2000 and 22 February 2011 in Australia. A Kaplan–Meier survival curve, stratified by age group, was produced for career length. A Cox proportional hazard model was fitted to assess factors influencing the risk of retirement from racing. The model included sex, age at first start, career earnings, number of starts as a 2-year-old, distance raced and appropriate interaction terms. Results The study population included 117,088 horses. Geldings had significantly (P<0.001) longer careers than females and intact males, and females had significantly (P<0.001) longer careers than intact males. Risk of retirement from racing decreased with a younger age at first start, a higher number of starts as a 2-year-old, and a longer average distance raced. For intact males, the risk of retirement from racing increased as earnings increased, while for females and geldings the risk of retirement from racing decreased as earnings increased. Conclusions and potential relevance The introduction of young Thoroughbreds to racing appears to have no apparent adverse effects on these horses racing in Australia. The impact of some risk factors associated with retirement from racing varied between sexes and should be considered when evaluating career outcomes.
Good points pN. I watched a discussion once with a leading thoroughbred veterinarian who said much the same. He effectively said getting a young horse galloping as early as they are able increases their soundness. I suppose the important bit is judging when they are able.
From memory, the thought process is that putting young growing limbs under (reasonable) pressure actually encourages increased bone density. The body presumes that the limbs are under greater strain so lay down more osteoblasts (cells that create bone) which in turn strengthen the limbs. This can only be done whilst the bones are still growing.
Right, I have the articles I was referring to earlier! I'm sorry if this bores anyone, it's a subject I find really interesting and did some research into a few years ago as I had to write an essay on a similar subject for a degree I was studying. First up, here is the Australian article I mentioned up thread.
When you are close to horses which, as breeders, we are, you see all the stages that horses go through. Some grow evenly whilst others go through some stages where you could be excused for wondering what you've got please log in to view this image . There is a difference between allowing a horse to gallop naturally, as in fact they do as foals, and hard training and racing a young horse at the wrong stages in their development. I'm sure there are some trainers who can tell the difference and some that can't
so would this be one of the reasons that we never see Godolphin horses after three years ( unless Ferguson tried them at NH?). I always wondered what happened to so many of their horses, they can't all have gone to stud.
Godolphin sell off a lot of horses at the end of season Horses in Training sales in Newmarket, Ascot, Doncaster, etc. They also have their own retraining and rehoming centre just outside Newmarket so a lot that don't make the grade end up there ready to be rehomed.
Thanks for the reply Do they end up as pets? I'm fascinated about the amount of money spent that's just written off at the end of the season
Yes the ones that are retrained are rehomed with people to use as general riding horses. Some go on to compete in different disciplines but all new owners have to sign a Non-Racing Agreement before they can take them away which means they go onto a list of horses held by Weatherbys that are not allowed to race. This is their retraining website.
