Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Actually Cigar did not come back out of retirement after it was 
discovered he was sterile - he was donated to KY Horse Park where he 
lives today by the insurance company that owns him. He was retired to 
stud because after going 10 wins in 10 starts it 1995 his owners thought 
that he might be slowing down after just winning 5 o 8 the next year. 
Interestingly enough Cigar did not run as a two year old.

John Henry would run fine - you just couldn't handle him. Gelding him 
didn't help that much. I am sure there are statistics on break downs. 
However, not a lot of horses make it past their three year old year. It 
would be difficult to determine if it was the older the or basically 
natural selection at work - those with the strongest bones make it the 
others don't.

Both the liner forces and torque on their legs at 35 to 40 miles per 
hour and 1200 pounds quite is high. One wrong step, one rut in the 
track, on bobble from having to avoid something can could be enough to 
break a bone. Of course they would be a lot better off if they had two 
or three years of training going into the events with some LSD to 
strengthen the bones. TB racing wonders why it is having difficulty 
attracting young fans. I think we saw why right there on national TV 
Saturday.

rides2far@xxxxxxxx wrote:
> > > > The "old guard" horses seemed to be much more durable and 
> > > >         
> seemed to get better with age. There was John Henry, Forego, Kelso. Then 
>   
> > > there is Cigar - he retired after he ran second still sound.
> > >       
>
> John Henry & Forego were incorrigible, and pretty much useless. They had to be gelded before they would run, then there was no incentive to retire them. Cigar was sterile, so he came back to race more. 
>
> I'm curious. Once these horses get past their four year old year are they any more prone to break down than other breeds? The top two horses that did 100 miles of rugged North Carolina Mountains with roots, rocks, gravel, etc. this weekend were both 1/2 TB and they looked it. General Jeb Stuart, Karen Isaac's 5,000+ (I think) mile horse who specializes in OD & other tough 100's is 1/2 TB. Are they really breeding in weak bone or are these the only horses doing that much that young?
>
> My husband's cousin married the owner of one of the top breeding farms in KY. When we visited there was a big bay...looked like a 6 year old standing in a stall eating straight Alfalfa. The guy explained to me that he was young (I don't remember if it was a yearling or coming 2) had a "bone problem from growing too fast". I said, "He's got epephasitis? Then why is he eating straight Alfalfa?" The guy just looked at me like I was *so* naive and said, "These colts *have* to grow in time for the sales".
>
> The trends for fat older looking babies at the sales cause a whole lot of damage too.
>
> Angie
>   
>   


--

"Mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what 
we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true." Bertrand 
Russell


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp

Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=