As the dust has (somewhat) settled from the high-profile spate of horse fatalities at Santa Anita Park in 2018-19, one California veterinarian said that the culture around injury prevention in the state has completely changed. Dr. Ryan Carpenter led a virtual panel discussion earlier this month as part of the 2020 American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) Convention, gathering veterinarians from different disciplines to speak about how safety efforts have evolved in their sport in recent years.
Carpenter, who is a racetrack practitioner and orthopedic surgeon in Southern California, has spoken before about the shift from skepticism of new medication and veterinary regulation by horsemen and private veterinarians to a comfortable acceptance.
“I think we all agree that from a racetrack perspective, safety begins and ends in the shedrow,” said Carpenter. “The cultural shift that we took here in Southern California was [to become] very risk averse. We can't afford to have fatalities. The media is very critical of us and every horse that is euthanized is a significant impact to our industry.”
Looking back, Carpenter said that one of the first important steps the state's racing industry took towards safety reform was its voided claim rule. The voided claim rule will void a claim if a horse comes out of a race with an injury or epistaxis.
“What that did was it took away this perception of passing off a problem to another trainer,” said Carpenter. “It made trainers take a little more responsibility for their horse at that time, and started the first step of this process of becoming more risk averse.”
Veterinarians from other equine sports echoed Carpenter's observations that participants and the public have demonstrated an increased interest in safety from them, too. The focus on steeplechase racing injuries can be a challenge for organizers, as many steeplechase meets are not parimutuel but are part of a charity fundraising effort. As such, the budget for certain types of improvements to fences and course is tighter than it might be at a conventional track.
“Nobody is feeling good about where we're at, but we know we're going in the right direction,” said Dr. R.R. Cowles, founder and past president of Blue Ridge Equine.
Cowles pointed out that American steeplechase racing began collecting injury data some 15 years ago and that national data shows that fatalities have decreased each year for the past decade, with the only exception being this year.
In eventing, Dr. Erin Contino, assistant professor of equine sports medicine and rehabilitation at Colorado State University, said that information gathering has been a critical first step. On a cross country course, some fences are not visible to anyone besides jump judges, who may have varying levels of experience or recall when it comes to documenting why a rider or horse fell. Now, at least at the international level, cross country runs are being videoed so that if an accident happens, the potential causes can be analyzed later. Data shows that corner jumps, downhill jumps, and water jumps are all associated with higher rates of accidents. That information is being provided to course designers, along with funding and encouragement to utilize frangible pin technology, which allows a fence to collapse if hit hard enough, in an effort to reduce rotational falls.
U.S. Equestrian Federation (USEF) medication restrictions have evolved significantly in recent years, according to Dr. Richard Mitchell, co-owner of Fairfield Equine Associates. He recalled a hunter years ago who was found to have three non-steroidal anti-inflammatories in its system — which were only discovered because the horse also tested positive for cocaine. That was a wake-up call, Mitchell said. Now, hunter/jumpers and equitation horses under USEF rules can no longer stack NSAIDs. There are also thresholds and withdrawal times just as there are at the racetrack.
“We've come a long way there with these horses,” said Mitchell of medication restrictions. “Granted they're not running at speed but yet we do have our jumpers that do have a speed element to their competition and accidents can occur. Ensuring these horses are fit to compete is really important.”
In the world of professional rodeo, Dr. Douglas Corey said changes have been slow.
“I think they've sometimes seemed very slow but I think they've come as a result of continually educating the membership,” said Corey. “I think communication is a very big part of it.”
Rodeos began requiring veterinarians on-site at competitions relatively recently, has allowed the beginnings of data gathering on accidents or injuries. Corey suggested that continuing education for participants, event organizers and fans of rodeo is the biggest hurdle for the sport to continue advancing. Many of the sport's participants come in with generational knowledge — but it's not always accurate.
“I think that's a challenge we've all had to overcome and I've really seen it in rodeo,” said Corey. “It's like my dad did it this way, my granddad did it this way, I'm going to do it this way. That's not always the best case. Changes had to happen.”
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