Natalie Voss

One theory that many people have offered over the years is that the practice of allowing horses to race at two years old is either the direct cause of early breakdowns or predisposes horses to serious injury later. Many such hypotheses equate training and racing a 2-year-old with putting an elementary school-aged child into the Olympics. For more than two decades, the sport has heard calls to put an end to 2-year-old racing. Those calls have been renewed recently, as some fans have seen the racing shutdown as a good time to reevaluate and modify its structure and improve equine welfare.

The problem, according to Dr. Larry Bramlage, top orthopedic surgeon and Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, is the halt of 2-year-old racing and training wouldn't be a net gain for welfare or fatality rates – it might actually be a loss.

“I wish we'd never seen these drugs,” said renowned orthopedic surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage at the conclusion of a recent presentation about bisphosphonates.

Four years after the Food and Drug Administration approved the use of Tildren and Osphos (both trade names for bisphosphonates) for use in adult horses suffering from navicular syndrome, Bramlage said he's seeing unintended side effects from people using the drug off label.

Decades ago, in an era increasingly far from today, when many Thoroughbred breeders were also owners, and many owners also rode, the larger breeding farms had a polo barn on the back of the property. When a foal was born with crooked legs that didn’t straighten themselves with time, that’s where they went, destined for a riding life where money was no object and time was practically free. Many an extremely well-bred trail horse or polo pony started this way – probably a disappointment to their breeders, but still a productive partner whose DNA wouldn’t enter the breed’s gene pool.

From then to now, the ancient maxim about creating Thoroughbreds has been “breed the best to the best and hope for the best.” It’s still true. But in recent years, breeders have had the option to revise nature’s final draft when it isn’t quite perfect the first time.

As summer fades into fall, horse farm managers are either baling and storing some of their last hay harvests, or loading their lofts and storage buildings with hay bought from nearby suppliers in preparation for winter. Even though the outside temperature is about to drop in most of the country, experts say this is the time to think about hay fires.

Just a few weeks ago, a fire ripped through a pole barn adjacent to a horse barn at the University of California-Davis, destroying the building and its hay stores before firefighters got the flames under control. Fortunately, no horses or humans were harmed in the blaze, but the financial loss of the hay in the midst of California's drought will be a heavy hit to the school's bottom line, as it would be to any private operation.