They did not plan her breakdown, and they all feel her loss very deeply.
Shrill judgment of the bittersweet and tragic story of Eight Belles does not help.
Outrageous statements are irresponsible and counter-productive.
Progress cannot be made with negativity.
Eight Belles was an innocent life, and all of the people around her had a responsibility to protect her.
They did so to the best of their ability, but still she went down.
How do we deal with all of the sadness, injustice, and intense emotion when a horse is fatally injured? For those of us who followed Barbaro's stoic struggle, it is another heavy burden to bear; watching a filly breakdown so gruesomely and horribly after her supreme performance.
It is possible that subtle weaknesses are not being detected, which may prove fatal with just one more mile of extreme force.
Speed has the greatest effect upon the horse.
Their weight stays the same over a distance, but as the speed of a horse increases, the force also increases.
For a one thousand pound horse,at least three thousand pounds of force is placed on a single front leg when it lands on a surface at a full gallop.
These horses are young, physically immature, too refined, and there may be growth issues that are not fully understood.
Although they seem capable of doing what is asked, the consequences of continuing to experiment with extreme forces during such a crucial stage of growth are obviously destructive, and many times irreversible.
The bones of horses are not completely mineralized at three years old.
There remains a relatively large percentage of cartilage which nature designed to be a template for the bone, not a replacement.
Cartilage is not strong enough to withstand the forces that a healthy, mature bone can.
Eight Belles was 17 hands tall, and only three years old.
The industry must take this into consideration.
Research into the development of horses is very important.
A team of engineers would be able to figure out exactly how big the circumference of the cannon bone should be in order to sustain the kind of forces that are exerted on it.
They would also be able to determine these measurements for every single leg bone.
The length and circumference of the bones, the angles, and the weight of the horse would naturally be included.
There should be a test to ascertain the percent of mineralization that is present in a bone, in order to help determine its functionality during exercise.
In addition to banning certain drugs from racing, horses that would not be able to sustain the physical forces based on their measurements, can be delayed from racing until they have the minimum physical attributes for the activity.
In other words, they may not compete if they do not have the basic physical foundation for it.
This would allow the younger horses a chance to mature enough to have a successful career.
Perhaps the horses that really should not race, would not race.
Value as a breeding animal would have to be carefully evaluated as well, before more foals are put on the ground.
It is time to put financial priorities in second place.
In addition to the bone mineralization rate, a deeper understanding of the combination of growth rates may be required.
In America, significant resources have been spent on developing sprinters.
They grow quickly.
Some breeders are now going back to the basics and bringing in the stamina lines.
They grow more slowly.
There may be significant periods of instability when combining these different growth and maturation rates.
An extreme example is represented by crossing a slow maturing [European] Warmblood sport horse stallion, with an American Thoroughbred mare.
The bones in such a foal sometimes grow twice as fast as the tendons and the result is a leg that cannot straighten.
Surgery has to be performed to cut the tendon.
This problem may plague Thoroughbreds, yet the effects are not noticed because of the high level of subtlety.
It may cause weaknesses that are currently not measurable, or detectable.
Microscopic injuries may be cumulative in young horses, or they may not heal properly due to continued use.
Other parts of bone and tendon may compensate, which may serve to weaken the entire structure.
New science is needed to determine the best practice.
It has been implied recently in an article titled, "Racing's Royal Bloodline" [Wall Street Journal May 2nd, 2008] that Native Dancer is the main source of weakness in Thoroughbreds today.
This is an over simplified argument.
By focusing on bone size and reducing the wear and tear on immature animals, many issues would be sorted out naturally.
It costs a lot to breed and raise a foal to the weaning stage.
Then it costs a lot to raise them, and keep them healthy.
There are veterinarian expenses, farrier expenses, the shavings, the feed, the labor, the maintenance for all the buildings and land, mortgage, taxes, repairs, equipment for the farm, equipment for the horse, transportation cost, insurance.
and still there is no return.
When the foal is a little older, the cost of training begins, along with entry fees, and many other seen and unforeseen expenses.
It is a precarious system, promoting decisions that would benefit finances before individual animal welfare.
- Clearly, I am personally notsupportive of racing two year olds.
- Perhapsthree year olds should be kept to six furlong races on turf only, if theyhave to race at all.
- Perhapsthe American Triple Crown should feature four year olds with doubled ortripled purse money.
It seems to me that there are many ways to allow theproper growth of the horses, income for investors, and brighter futures forall involved. - What if colts/stallions wererequired to race until they were five years old and tested for moredistance and more weight.
The best horses would have a chance of actuallybeing the soundest and the strongest, instead of the best three yearolds or most genetically fashionable.
It is complicated, and it is challenging.
Eight Belles might have annihilated Big Brown if they had raced as five year olds.