A Tribute to Gameness. A Tribute to "EIGHT BELLES" - Page 3

RIP.......

All the emotion aside a horse is a running animal and age should not be that much of a factor under ordinary circumstance's, its the fact that these horse's are bred in a vary narrow range for one specific goal and defects occur because of it.  We never even rode our horse's till two. They may have been worked and what we called green broke but no real weight was placed on the horse because they need time to mature and grow.   They did not go through the intense training and work as these Thurough breds have to go through.  And I spent time working as a kid at a race track in Indiana and knew many owners and several stable hands and there was always talk of the drugs to enhance the performance.

Its the intense competition and extreme moneys involved that drive the sport.  Broken bones has been common place a lot in the last ten years or so and I believe it goes back to the breeding.   I am not really a race fan so I couldn't quote bloodlines but it makes sense to me.    We raised Quarter horse's and Tennessee Walkers, and a couple of mixed breed pleasure horse's, my mare was of mixed breed, small but full of heart.  I was always amazed, proud of what she would do for me.  A horse is not smart, they will let a man ride them into the ground and thats where they touch my heart.  They have personalities, and show love, and have an innocence that we should respect.   I think some horse's have a certain nobility that words cant describe and can take your breath away when not being ridden.

I'll stop now, I didn't realize how much I miss my horse's.  

I'll scan some pictures sometime.

Me.

Horses are very fragile creatures.  Yes, the stress on the still-closing joints of racehorses at this level is a big risk, many don't stay sound enough to see their 4th year even without catestophic injuries such as this one.  Just  "wear and tear" on the young bones and joints causes lameness and problems that will retire the horses from racing very quickly.  But injuries such as what happened with this filly are not common - at the same time they are not "surprising" - all it takes is one slight hole in the ground, one uneven piece of dirt or one wrong step made, and a bone or joint can be shattered.  I had an off-the-track TB racehorse who retired from racing at 7 years old, raced in the Belmont Stakes, was a pretty good money-earner before he became a claimer (every race he won he was claimed by a different owner) - never injured, always sound, went on to be a jumper, dressage/eventing, hunter-pace, fox hunter (well we tried), and all-around good horse.  Terrible hooves, that I can say is genetic and common in TB racehorses - but his bones and body were sound.  Another horse I knew shattered his leg while standing in his stall and kicking at a fly, glancing kick off the stall wall and that was it - leg broken in many places.  Stuff like that can happen with horses, they are very fragile but the major injuries seem to be "oopses", wrong-step or kick or step in a hole kind of thing, not  usually "the leg just broke".   Barbaro too, probably took a bad step, when at a full run this can cause catastrophic injury if the step is "just right".

molly

Eichenluft, so often the problem is not just that one bad step, but the ones following it, in which the horse is too game to quit, thus compounding the injury.

Ruffian resisted her jockey's efforts to stop her, resulting in her broken ankle becoming completely dislocated. She ran for quite some distance on the exposed end of her cannon bone. They nearly lost her in surgery, due to the massive blood loss caused by the injury.

I read an article and the jockey said he stood up right after the wire and she started to gallop funny. I was really rooting for he filly and was watching her the whole race.

 I don't know a hell of a lot about horses, but as I was watching the race, I too saw her head pull up. I saw something in her gait about halfway down the stretch run. Not a mis-step, it just looked to me like she was not extending fully in her stride.

I believe whatever happened started mid-way down the stretch and that horse finished the race. It was one of the most courageous things I have ever seen an animal do. I almost cried after that race.

The next time I ever think about quitting, I am going to try and remember this horse. 

Don't ever quit.

I bet this horse had both fronts "tapped" 7 days out. Notice where the wrap was.

What does that mean, BabyEagle?

Eichenluft, so often the problem is not just that one bad step, but the ones following it, in which the horse is too game to quit, thus compounding the injury.

Yes, but remember they are also traveling at 50+ mph, so they can't "just stop", they must keep going at least until they can be pulled up.  Yes, these horses are born to run, they are racing and often have "gameness" as someone suggested - they do want to win.  Pain normally doesn't stop them.  However they would not be running in front, nor running sound, with any broken bones.  This injury happened after the race, or as she finished, or as she pulled up (after the race) - that doesn't mean she was not predisposed to the injury, they do a lot to these racehorses before racing them - especially in a big race such as this, it was not her first time out nor her first time running to win.  And she was only 3 years old - the age most "non race" horses are just being started in work.   There are not many ex-race horses who raced well,  that are sound and without evidence of injuries, working sound into their later years, that is for sure.  The ones that are, are the ones that should be bred - unfortunately the ones who are bred are the ones who win,even if they are not sound after their 3 year old year.

molly

Yes, I agree the injury happened later. What I saw in the stretch was the jockey turning her to the right a bit to get her away from some other horses, so she wouldn't be disqualified by bumping them. At the finish line, she was still galloping smoothly, but just seemed to have run out of gas.  My post above is referring to an entirely different race, one I will never forget:

Ruffian stuck her nose in front, the opening quarter was run in 22 1/5. At this time Ruffian started pulling away from Foolish Pleasure, first a head, then a neck, then by half a length. Suddenly, the jockeys heard a snapping sound. Then Foolish Pleasure was in front by a length, two, three.... the announcer called out with disbelief, "Ruffian has broken down!" but the great filly kept running. She ground her leg into the track but there was no stopping her. By the time she was pulled up, her hoof dangled uselessly and it was all anyone could do to get her off the track.

http://www.tbgreats.com/ruffian/bio.html

"Tapped" is slang for certain injections due to injury. Calcification deposit on demand so to speak by injection after "Hot"  fluid is removed. In this case I would say bilateral ankle fractures resulting in compound fractures during the Race. Too common. ROT IN HADES to the Trainer and Owner !!

Anyone Watching the Rolex ?