Month: June 2023

Boehringer Ingelheim is continuing their commitment to the health of the whole horse through the release of a new video explaining the science behind Relax Trax. The special music track, which launched September 2021, was developed in conjunction with animal sound behaviorist Janet Marlow and is designed to reduce stress in horses. In the educational video, Marlow is joined by Dr. Sarah Reuss, Equine Technical Manager, and Kelly Graber, Equine Marketing Manager, to discuss the science behind the music.

“Boehringer Ingelheim is passionate about offering horse owners solutions to health problems outside of the traditional pharmaceutical world,” says Reuss. “Diving into the science behind Relax Trax further highlights how great of a supplementary tool it is for everyday stress relief.”

The effects of Relax Trax are clear in the video. Horses can be seen exhibiting behaviors consistent with relaxation: chewing, yawning, soft eyes, loose, hanging jaws and relaxed nostrils. But why exactly does it seem to work so well?

“Relax Trax includes specific rhythms to mimic the gaits of a horse and string instruments to elicit calm,” explains Marlow. “Relax Trax is also within the horse's pitch comfort range of 1 kHz to 16 kHz and a volume comfort range of 60 to 80 decibels.”

Marlow's musical arrangement was based on what was learned from a study conducted in Poland on racehorses. This and other studies have shown that playing music can help balance equine behavior because it helps mask outside sounds and vibrations, and provides a positive and relaxing effect.

In addition to the pitch, volume and rhythm, the type of music can also influence the effects that it has on the horse. While Relax Trax falls under the classical genre, horses are also fans of country music due to its tempo and key. Rock and jazz, however, tend to be more disruptive and less relaxing. 

Relax Trax can be a beneficial relaxation tool for any horse, even if they aren't experiencing what a horse owner might consider to be a stressful event. Stress in a horse's life can present itself in many ways, both big and small. A long trailer ride, competing at a horse show, a new stall neighbor or a change in routine are all different stressors that may be impacting your horse.

“The stress that horses experience can be from many things that we don't necessarily think of as being stressful,” says Graber. “It's important to recognize and limit potential stressors in a horse's everyday life to help keep them relaxed and healthy.”

While stress on its own may not seem like a big deal, it can quickly lead to equine gastric ulcer syndrome (EGUS) which can cause larger health problems and poor performance. Consider administering UlcerGard® (omeprazole) or playing Relax Trax for your horse as ways to potentially help reduce the likelihood of ulcers.

The educational video is available to watch here and the audio only version of Relax Trax can be found here.

The post Relax Trax Music May Reduce Equine Stress appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has published the post-mortem review reports for both of the Saffie Joseph-trained horses who experienced sudden deaths at Churchill Downs this spring. The occurrence of two of the statistically unusual deaths within just a few days of each other prompted the commission to scratch Joseph's other horses from races at the track, and Churchill later announced a private property suspension of his entries.

Joseph-trained Parents Pride collapsed after being pulled up near the 3/16ths pole during a race on April 29 and died before emergency veterinarians could evaluate her on-site. Chasing Artie trailed the field in his May 2 race and began to stagger, then collapsed while returning to be unsaddled. He was unresponsive to veterinarians' attempts to revive him, and they decided to euthanize him.

Both horses passed their pre-race veterinary exams, and were described as having “very minimal and routine” veterinary work within the past 60 days prior to their starts, based on medical records. No prohibited or therapeutic substances were found in blood testing for either horse; no urine was collected from either horse for testing, as this becomes logistically difficult after death.

In the case of Parents Pride, pathologists did note some mild to moderate changes in the heart, brain and lungs, including minimal myocarditis but none of those abnormalities were thought to be significant enough to prompt a sudden death.

Dr. Laura Kennedy, the author of the mortality review for Parents Pride, reported that “Myocarditis can be identified in clinically normal racehorses that are euthanized for a variety of reasons, including non-catastrophic musculoskeletal injury.”

“Judgments on the significance of certain findings can vary between laboratories and pathologists,” Kennedy wrote. “The pathologist on this case defines myocarditis to be a significant finding when greater than 30% of the histologic sections exhibit inflammation. In this case, 5% of the sections were affected.”

An examination of organs from Chasing Artie did not reveal any abnormalities in the heart, but did make note of hemorrhage in the lungs, including evidence of previous EIPH. The pathologist did not believe this was significant enough to prompt a sudden death. Hemorrhage or congestion in the lungs and spleen are common findings on horses who have undergone chemical euthanasia soon after exercise, and it's often difficult to tell whether the bleeding was a result of the euthanasia drug, normal exertion, or whether it's something acute that preceded the horse pulling up or stumbling.

Toxicology testing on Chasing Artie did reveal trace amounts of the anticoagulant rat poisons chlorophacinone and diphacinone. The concentrations were detectable but too small to be quantified.

Kennedy wrote that while it's true rodenticides were found in 2016 cases of horses in Southern California suffering from sudden deaths, the levels found in those horses were measured in parts per million. In this horse, the levels were smaller than 50 parts per billion, which led Kennedy to doubt this substance caused the horse's death.

Both horses had stomach ulcers, which is a nearly-universal finding on necropsies of racehorses.

Neither the report for Chasing Artie or Parents Pride establishes a definitive cause of death, which is common in instances of sudden death. One academic study from 2011 showed that only about 43 percent of sudden death incidents ever had a definitive cause of death established.

Read our previous reporting on the challenges of establishing a cause for sudden deaths in this 2022 reporting.

Mortality review reports are published on the commission's website here. Several, though not all, of the other Churchill deaths also have mortality reviews posted. In each case of musculoskeletal injury, report authors compared the injured horse to uninjured cohorts from the same race to see if there were any abnormalities in age at first work, veterinarian's list history, length of recent layoffs, number of high-speed furlongs, and much more. Most horses were found to be similar to their competition for most factors studied.

The post Necropsies Inconclusive For Both Saffie Joseph-Trained Horses Who Died Suddenly At Churchill appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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