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Genetically speaking, yes, because their foundation is Arabian.  Unfortunately, they have been compromised, as our Arabian show horses have been, by man's desire to have the biggest, best, and most expensive horse on the block, to feed their egos!   Not necessarily their pocket books.  Hence the reason most back side personnel live in squaller.  While the "owner" lives in his mansions!  And yes, that is a generalization.  Because most breeders that run their own horses are far from living in mansions!

 

D'Arcy

On Mon, May 5, 2008 at 5:20 PM, Sisu West Ranch <ranch@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

"...This needs to be addressed just as much as the age of racing - the breeding of fast horses at the expense of appropriate physical attributes..."

 

Someone with more knoweledge than me please correct me if I am wrong.  I suspect that genetically TB's have extremely strong bones.  My reasoning goes like this:

 

1. They are raced many years before their bones have a chance to mature, therefore; their bones are weaker than they will be at 5 or  7.

2. They are fed very concentrated diets so that they get big faster and can race at 2 yrs. old.  Many are probably on the verge of joint problems caused by excessively rapid growth, but don't because tolerance of overnutrition is bred into them.

3. I suspect that the use of LSD build strong bones and joints would get you blank stares from the TB trainers.  On top of that it would take years, and they only have a few months to get the horse ready to race.

 

This all points to the "break down" problem mostly going away if they were not raced until they were mature.  Now the industry is built on racing at 2 instead of 4 or 5, so they and those they pay, directly or indirectly (track vets, journalists etc.) keep silent about this solution to a lot of the problem.

 

Personally I am not holding my breath that this solution will ever be looked at seriously by anyone who is in a position to really make changes. 

 

Ed

 

Ed & Wendy Hauser
2994 Mittower Road
Victor, MT 59875

 

(406) 642-9640

 

ranch(at)sisuwest(dot)us

-- 
D'Arcy L. Demianoff-Thompson
cest.mon.virage@xxxxxxxxx