Evaluation of racing performance after colic surgery in Thoroughbreds: 85 cases (1996-2010).
- Journal Article
Summary
This study aimed to analyze the impact of colic surgery on the racing performance of Thoroughbred horses. The results indicated that there was no significant reduction in racing performance measures or career length for horses that underwent colic surgery when compared to a control group.
Research Methods
The paper presented employed a retrospective cohort study design that compared the post surgery performance of 85 Thoroughbred horses with that of 170 race-matched reference horses. The reference horses were chosen as a control group for the comparison of performance measures.
Post-surgery performance was evaluated based on the following parameters:
- Earnings
- Number of race starts
- Earnings per race start
- The proportion of horses that returned to racing
- Career longevity
Results and Findings
Among the 85 horses that underwent colic surgery, 36% had primarily small intestinal lesions, and 64% had large intestinal lesions. Six months after surgery, 69% of the horses that underwent surgery returned to racing, slightly fewer than the 73% of reference horses that continued to race.
Over a 36-month period following surgery, it was found that the reference horses had slightly better earnings, an average of $7,866 more. They also had a mean of 0.26 more race starts and mean earnings per start of $29 more than horses that had undergone surgery.
However, these differences were not statistically significant, and the career lengths of those horses that had surgery were similar to the career lengths of the reference horses.
Conclusions
The study concluded that Thoroughbred horses that undergo colic surgery do not experience a significant reduction in their racing performance or career length, when compared with a control group. This suggests that colic surgery does not significantly impact the ability of a Thoroughbred horse to continue a successful racing career.
Cite This Article
Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Chino Valley Equine Hospital, 2945 English Pl, Chino Hills, CA 91709, USA. joytom@vet.upenn.edu
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Cohort Studies
- Female
- Horse Diseases / surgery
- Horses
- Male
- Odds Ratio
- Retrospective Studies
- Running
- Sports
- Treatment Outcome
Citations
This article has been cited 5 times.- Immonen IA, Karikoski N, Mykkänen A, Niemelä T, Junnila J, Tulamo RM. Long-term follow-up on recovery, return to use and sporting activity: a retrospective study of 236 operated colic horses in Finland (2006-2012). Acta Vet Scand 2017 Jan 5;59(1):5.
- Griessel TS, Muñoz Morán JA, Byaruhanga C, Smit Y. A single-centre retrospective study of surgical site infection following equine colic surgery (2013‒2021). Vet Rec 2025 May 17;196(10):e5227.
- Giusto G, Gandini M. Return of showjumping horses to sporting activity after colic surgery. Equine Vet J 2025 May;57(3):629-635.
- Ryu SH, Sohn Y, Forbes E, Jeon HS, An SJ, Kim BS, Kyung SG, Lee I. A cross-sectional study of colic and rate of return to racing in Thoroughbreds at Seoul Racecourse in Korea between 2010 and 2020. J Vet Sci 2023 Nov;24(6):e81.
- Matthews LB, Sanz M, Sellon DC. Long-term outcome after colic surgery: retrospective study of 106 horses in the USA (2014-2021). Front Vet Sci 2023;10:1235198.
