For Interest Sake
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Jenny
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For Interest Sake
Does anyone have statistics on various categories of foals making it to the races. ie. TB's born who make it. %. TB's who make it to yearling age. Two year olds that make it to training. Two year olds who make it through training to race. Two year olds who have raced and make it back at three. How many three year olds start at three and make good racehorses. Four year old starters etc. Just something I am wondering about. Having a small breeding program, I would like to have a vague idea of the % . So I can see if there is something really wrong with our training program or if it is just the norm. How much of it is breeding and how much is training?
That is a great question. I've also got a very small breeding program, and haven't been in it all that long. I know the general stats for a stallion, his percentage of "starters from foals" but to have each category broken down and percentages for each category industry-wide would be helpful and informative. Those kinds of stats don't seem to be studied or available, however, I tried to find out what percentage of young horses are diagnosed with wobblers syndrome, and was told by 3 prominent industry types (2 vets and a elder-statesman-type researcher) that they don't keep those kinds of stats because it would be "too hard." But in an industry run by so many percentages, statistics, and formulas, I hope someone has taken some of this information, compiled it, and broken it down into the kind of info package that would answer your questions.
Regarding the wobbler syndrome. When I first came to know about it was about 27 years ago. We had 3 wobblers, 2 from the same family. We were devestated because it was one of the better families that the farm had. However, they were the only 2. Fast forward a couple of decades and I'm working as an assistant on the track. Lo and behold everytime we have a horse checked by the vet using the acupuncture points, we're told it's a wobbler and we have to give it some concoction the vet has come up with that helps horses with wobbles. Of course you have to take them off of it 3 days before a race............... so if it is out of their system, how is it helping them during the race? Not one trainer questions him, and I keep quiet. But I did ask him why is there such a high insidence of the wobbling syndrome? He said it's because the natural habitats of possums and racoons has dwindled. He says it's from their um, poop.
Since their area has gotten smaller they have to share what natural areas with the horses, so now there are more wobblers. I don't know if that is truely the case, as we never had our horses checked scientifically for wobbles. It takes going into their spine and extracting spinal fluid for testing. It's expensive and not to nice for the horse. So, we just went on his diagnosis using the acupoints. Most of our owners were breeders with nice sized farms, but they weren't to far from nice sized cities, so maybe he had a point. The farm I worked on 2 decades before was a nice sized farm, not to far from a big city.
As far as statistics, there would have to be some sort of national data base that vets could tap into to report their findings. It would have to be broken down into catagories though, such as clinical findings and acupoint findings.
The other statistics, there are so many variables. The sire's family, the dam's family, the training and everything that goes on inbetween. I'm not sure if it can be done.
winds
Since their area has gotten smaller they have to share what natural areas with the horses, so now there are more wobblers. I don't know if that is truely the case, as we never had our horses checked scientifically for wobbles. It takes going into their spine and extracting spinal fluid for testing. It's expensive and not to nice for the horse. So, we just went on his diagnosis using the acupoints. Most of our owners were breeders with nice sized farms, but they weren't to far from nice sized cities, so maybe he had a point. The farm I worked on 2 decades before was a nice sized farm, not to far from a big city.
As far as statistics, there would have to be some sort of national data base that vets could tap into to report their findings. It would have to be broken down into catagories though, such as clinical findings and acupoint findings.
The other statistics, there are so many variables. The sire's family, the dam's family, the training and everything that goes on inbetween. I'm not sure if it can be done.
winds
I spent hours and hours researching wobblers. There are basically 2 types of diagnosis, the neck-compressed type which is discovered by x-ray, and the germ type which is diagnosed by blood sample in the lab. And there are varying degrees of each. Our 2yo had the worst type, a 3 vertebrae neck compression, and we had to put him down. There are a number of causes, but difficult to diagnose a specific cause for a specific horse.
The other statistics, there are so many variables. The sire's family, the dam's family, the training and everything that goes on inbetween. I'm not sure if it can be done.
It could be done if a database could be set up starting with a stallion's foal crop. We have that stat already, how many foals from the crop make it to the track, for at least one start. For a stallion that has, say, 70% starters from foals, it would be interesting to know what happened to the other 30%. Did they die, too slow, struck by lightning, sold as show horse, wouldn't go in the gate, whatever, and at what time in their training were they given up on. A little form in a database saying "check here" could be done, through the Jockey Club. It seems doable, but probably troublesome, and many wouldn't take the time.
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Jenny
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As far as the stallion stats go. What are they? Generally of course. We are standing our own stud and he is just going into his second year. GONE FISHIN was quite well recieved last year even for our little out of the way farm in Southern Ontario. So some info would be helpful. By wobblers syndrome do you mean EPM?
As far as the stallion stats go. What are they? Generally of course. We are standing our own stud and he is just going into his second year. GONE FISHIN was quite well recieved last year even for our little out of the way farm in Southern Ontario. So some info would be helpful.
Go to Bloodhorse.com. On the left side of the page click on "Breeding/Sire Lists." Scroll down the page to "Search Stallion Register" and put in a stallion's name, let's say Storm Cat. Click "Search"
Storm Cat's page will pop up. Click on "Statistical Summary" for a detailed listing of his stats. You will see he has 73% starters from foals. Some of the stallions don't have sponsored Equineline stats on their pages
although most do. Hope that helps. It is easier to show you than try to explain it.
As far as Wobblers, EPM can cause it, which is treatable using drugs, but the neck compression wobblers is only treatable by an operation, and only if the compression is not severe.