Sheikh
At the Start
I tto think crazyhorse and you others have hit the nail on the head. Flat bred horses are not just going hurdling now either, they go chasing, and the percussion from firmish ground on more fragile legs is bound to be greater over fences than hurdles since the horse lands more steeply, putting more weight on the forelegs. This has a culmulative effect.
It's why old-school trainers like Henderson won't do summer jumping - I've heard him personally say what it does to horses legs and knees, and he trains mostly NH bred horses. In the old days horses were given time to mature too, before going jumping, and had a regime which built up bone and muscle in the legs with plenty of road-work etc. It's hard to know how this process can be reversed - like the push to breed ever more precocious 2yr olds, it's commercially driven.
And maybe fewer owners now have the knowledge of horses, their breeding confirmation etc than in the past, esp where NH is concerned
Nh trainers are using flat bred horses simply because it takes a lot more speed to win these days than it used to. If the emphasis was to breed a sounder horse in general rather than breeding a slow maturing 'NH type' or an overly precocious 'flat type' than fatalities would obviously decrease. Only the authorities can make this happen. I would suggest some kind of meaningful 4yr old and older only championship for flat horses. It would take the pressure off trainers having to push their charges too hard before time allowing time to mature and give breeders a chance to see colts close to their prime. 2yr old Sales races should be banned.
There should be some kind of guidelines on the ratio of bone density in the leg to what they are carrying on top for both stallions and mares. Sometimes you wonder how these horses with spindle legs manage to stand up at all.
As far as Henderson and his old school attitudes, his Vet wasn't very old school was he......meow
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