A retrospective cohort study of racing performance in Quarter Horses undergoing prosthetic laryngoplasty for treatment of recurrent laryngeal neuropathy.

This study investigates the impact of a surgical procedure (prosthetic laryngoplasty) on the racing performance of Quarter Horses diagnosed with a throat disorder (recurrent laryngeal neuropathy). The outcomes reveal no significant difference in racing returns or career longevity between treated horses and a control group, regardless of disease grade. However, horses treated showed higher post-surgery performance indices.

Study Details

• This research piece is a retrospective cohort study. This means it is examining a group of individuals who have undergone a certain experience – in this case, the surgical treatment for RLN – and comparing them to a control group who haven’t had the same experience.
• The study involves 162 racing Quarter Horses treated with prosthetic laryngoplasty (the case horses), and 324 racing Quarter Horses without RLN (the control horses). The case and control horses were compared across several variables, including return to racing, race earnings, number of racing starts, performance index and career longevity.
• Data for the study was derived from medical and racing records examined retrospectively at five referral centers from January 2000 to December 2015.

Main Findings

• The odds of returning to racing post-surgery did not show any significant difference between the horses treated with prosthetic laryngoplasty, regardless of their RLN grade, and the control horses. This trend is also unaffected by the horses’ age.
• Other factors like the number of racing starts or the career longevity of the horses were not influenced by the surgical treatment or the RLN grade.
• Nevertheless, the study found an encouraging result that horses who underwent prosthetic laryngoplasty and those with the lowest grade of RLN before surgery showed higher performance indices after the surgical treatment compared to the control horses.
• Quarter Horses seem to handle the RLN condition differently compared to other racehorse breeds because of their quicker speeds and shorter distances raced. This could impact both respiratory variables and their overall performance.

Conclusions

• This study provides insight into the real-world impact of prosthetic laryngoplasty on racing Quarter Horses with RLN, showing that such horses can maintain their racing careers and may even perform better post-surgery compared to control horses.
• However, further research is needed to better understand the effects of RLN and its surgical treatments within the specific context of racing Quarter Horses.