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Given this interest in "what is going on with the horses," I went and 
found the results of a study I was involved in done by the UGA at the 
'96 ROC. They did extensive blood analysis before, at the finish and one 
hour post finish on all horses that completed and after the horses 
returned to camp for the pulled (metabolic pulls) horses.

To quote " An interesting finding was that horses that were pulled had a 
statistically significant higher creatine kinase value prerace, than did 
horses that were successful in completion. Because creatine kinase is a 
muscle leakage enzyme, this would suggest that horses with high prerace 
creatine kinase values were overexerted in some capacity prior to the 
race (i.e., traliered a long distance, ridden)."

The most likely time for an athlete to get injured is toward the end of 
the season. The effects of conditioning and competition are cumulative 
and at some point something gives.

Could it be that to make the cut at a ride like the Pan Am requires hard 
work over a long time, followed by a long trailer ride or a series of 
long trailer rides and by the time the even is at hand the horses are 
near the breaking point?

The conclusions of the '96 study show that several horses went into the 
race in very marginal condition and they that did not completed. While I 
don't know the treatment rate at the ride, I remember my crew telling me 
it was significant.

Food for thought. In the lust for fame and fortune and the search for 
the magic elixir maybe the true magic elixir is overlooked - vitamin R, 
good old rest.

Truman



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