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Non-fatal injury occurrence in Southern California Thoroughbred racehorses 2009-2010.
Abstract: Private-practice racetrack veterinarians in southern California recorded non-fatal injuries meeting defined criteria in Thoroughbreds for 1 year. Injury incidence was 2.29 injury events per 100 horse-months, which was lower than other studies where trainer reported injury data were collected. Of 477 injuries recorded, 344 (72.1%) were acute and 133 (27.9%) were chronic. Fractures were common (47.6% of injuries), with stress fractures accounting for 14% of injuries. Superficial digital flexor tendonitis and suspensory ligament desmitis accounted for 15.3 and 11.5% of injuries, respectively. Agreement between non-fatal injuries recorded in the current study and those recorded via an existing regulatory system (Equine Injury Database) was poor, with neither system capturing all injuries. Non-fatal injuries occurred 17-29 times more often than fatal injuries. Non-fatal musculoskeletal injury remains an ongoing issue for Thoroughbred racehorses, and an accurate, comprehensive system for recording these injuries is needed.
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Publication Date: 2015-04-09 PubMed ID: 26026349DOI: 10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.04.001Google Scholar: Lookup The Equine Research Bank provides access to a large database of publicly available scientific literature. Inclusion in the Research Bank does not imply endorsement of study methods or findings by Mad Barn.
- Journal Article
- Research Support
- Non-U.S. Gov't
Summary
This research summary has been generated with artificial intelligence and may contain errors and omissions. Refer to the original study to confirm details provided. Submit correction.
This research article focuses on studying the non-fatal injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses in southern California using data collected by private-practice racetrack veterinarians over a year. The study highlights the need for an accurate and comprehensive system for recording non-fatal injuries in horses.
Overview of the Study
The research was carried out in southern California over one year where non-fatal injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses were recorded by private-practice racetrack veterinarians. The study only considered injuries that met a certain defined criteria:
- The injury incident rate was observed to be 2.29 injury events per 100 horse-months, which is lower compared to previous studies where the injury data was provided by the trainers of the horses.
- Out of 477 recorded injuries, 72.1% were acute and 27.9% were chronic.
Common Non-fatal Injuries
The type of injuries were varied but certain injuries were found to be more prevalent than others:
- Fractures accounted for 47.6% of the injuries, with stress fractures accounting for 14% of the total injuries.
- Superficial digital flexor tendonitis accounted for another 15.3% and suspensory ligament desmitis comprised 11.5% of the injuries.
Need for Better Recording Systems
The study found that the agreement between the non-fatal injuries recorded in this study and those recorded by an existing regulatory system, known as the Equine Injury Database was poor. This has highlighted the need for:
- A better and more accurate system to record these injuries.
- The new system must be comprehensive and able to capture all types of injuries.
Non-fatal Injuries vs Fatal Injuries
An interesting observation from this study was the comparison of non-fatal injuries to fatal injuries.
- Non-fatal injuries were found to be occurring 17 to 29 times more often than fatal injuries.
- This highlights the ongoing issue of non-fatal musculoskeletal injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses.
In conclusion, this study makes a strong case for the development of a more efficient system for identifying and recording non-fatal injuries in thoroughbred racehorses, in order to improve their care and management.
Cite This Article
APA
Hill AE, Blea JA, Arthur RM, McIlwraith CW.
(2015).
Non-fatal injury occurrence in Southern California Thoroughbred racehorses 2009-2010.
Vet J, 205(1), 98-100.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tvjl.2015.04.001 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA.
- Southern California Equine Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 1728, Arcadia, CA 91077, USA.
- School of Veterinary Medicine, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA.
- Gail Holmes Equine Orthopedic Research Center, Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University, 300 W Drake Rd., Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA. Electronic address: wayne.mcilwraith@colostate.edu.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- California
- Female
- Horses / injuries
- Incidence
- Male
- Musculoskeletal System / injuries
- Sports
- Wounds and Injuries / epidemiology
- Wounds and Injuries / mortality
- Wounds and Injuries / veterinary
Citations
This article has been cited 1 times.- Guest DJ, Birch HL, Thorpe CT. A review of the equine suspensory ligament: Injury prone yet understudied. Equine Vet J 2025 Sep;57(5):1167-1182.
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