injured Catienus filly
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Blue feather
- Allowance Winner
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- Joined: Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:17 am
injured Catienus filly
I have a 2yo Catienus filly out of a stakes placed mare. She injured her back ankle as a weanling. She has never been lame and has been broke and the rider never new of the injury. I found out about it because of some swelling. She is very correct and still growing. The vet has a "guarded" and "wait and see" opinion as far as a racing career for her. I don't want to put any more time or money into her. Any suggestions?
Blue Feather - This is the hard - and sometimes heartbreaking/wallet busting part of the thoroughbred racing sport/industry. Your filly has just gone from a filly with some aspects that boded well for her beating the long odds against success to a filly with only marginal hopes for overcoming those odds.
If you bred or purchased this filly with the intent to sell her commercially or race her youself at this point you must give up the first idea and go to a "Plan B" with respect to both goals.
You really have two options, as I see it:
a) see if you can sell her (no doubt at a loss) as a re-hab project to someone else willing and able to put in the R&R time and re-conditioning - if she heals - for the prospect of having a race horse capable filly in the future. You'll still be the breeder for any breeder awards she might win under NY incentive program. The would be purchaser will have her broodmare potential as a bailout for their invested time and expense if she never makes it to the track. Candidates for this might be a) your vet, b) someone your vet knows, or c) a small trainer with farm, etc. Rather than try to 'sell' her you might go partners with a small farm owner who'd like to take on this project and then have a built in partner should she become capable of race training/racing again.
OR
b) you can take on this "risk" yourself, putting not only more time but money into the equation. This is the equine version of "doubling down" but unfortunately in horseracing as opposed to black jack one isn't able to buy the 'insurance' that protects you in the event of having a bad hand. You might possibally end up with a race capable, hopefully winning capable Catienus filly but barring her condition worsening, short of requiring euthanasia, you might also end up -nunder the least optimistic scenario and after investing a lot more money - with a filly that is an unraced dtr of Catienus out of a SP mare. IF you're a breeder then you know that whether you breed to race or to to sell this is a much different proposition than breeding a SP mare to Catiensus. Furthermore as you search for suitable stallions to breed her to in this latter case you will know that she is either a) prone to injury or b) did not each her full potential due to injury.
Sadly your vet's advise that all you can do "is wait and see" with respect to the injury's outcome is in all probability all too correct - and even then, if she heals sufficiently to be race capable - there's the same agonizingly difficult odds against this filly/any filly being successful on the track. Only in her case you'll never know if it was the injury that diminished her potential or her innate lack of ability. (I would consider getting a second opinon even if I happen to think this vet is the best and dead on with his/her diagnosis. But be prepared veterinary science is subject to much gray area diagnosing/prognositcation and you may simply end up with yet a second, similar but somewhat different diagnosis. Instead I'd ask the 2nd vet to give me an opinon as to treatment options/outcomes based on total acceptance of the 1st vet's diagnosis as to what the injury and it's extent is.)
I've personally gone the route of further investing myself and my wallet twice in the homebred foal that ran into bad luck during it's training with euthanasia ultimately chosen for the one and a protracted and expensive re-hab to career as a low level Claimer that broke his maiden (Yeah!) and did little else as the other foal's outcome. I subsequently re-careered him as a polo pony. I don't regret what I did b/c for me this "investment" was the matter of fulfilling a dream and being able to be involved with thoroughbreds was more my measure of success than the bottomline or a particular outcome at the track. However, I also recognise that neither at the going in nor in the outcome point did my decision/investment choice make any kind of business sense.
What you need to do is ask yourself - objectively, i.e. apart from the hopes you had for THIS filly and your feelings for her - what your goals were and how you would measure your success. Step aside from this particular decision about this particular horse - if you can do that - and re-visit the 'why' and the 'wherefore' of your thoroughbred investment that brought you to this point. Be honest if you can't really do that objective thinking thing where this filly is concerned ask some trusted advisors in this business/sport who are not in any way attached to the filly what they would do/have done under similar circumstances. Then LISTEN to them. Finally do what's alligned with the answers you get to those questions. NOTE: This does not mean that you must be anything but kind, caring, concerned, committed and respectful in how you address the filly's future needs. I firmly believe that with the willingness to ask for help and guidance while sticking to your goals a horse owner can do both, though some additional time and money may be invested it need not be an open-ended equation.
(Hmmm - a third possibility sprang into my head as I wrote this. Perhaps a NY based university program in equine handling/management might appreciate this filly as a donation so that their students can practice hands on and learn about the care of a horse undergoing rehab and yet have the upside for their program that in the event of her recovering sound enough to race or only sound enough for breeding they have a horse they can sell or breed to sell that makes sense to do so with. I believe there has been a somewhat regular poster on this board about just such a program at a NY University. )
If you bred or purchased this filly with the intent to sell her commercially or race her youself at this point you must give up the first idea and go to a "Plan B" with respect to both goals.
You really have two options, as I see it:
a) see if you can sell her (no doubt at a loss) as a re-hab project to someone else willing and able to put in the R&R time and re-conditioning - if she heals - for the prospect of having a race horse capable filly in the future. You'll still be the breeder for any breeder awards she might win under NY incentive program. The would be purchaser will have her broodmare potential as a bailout for their invested time and expense if she never makes it to the track. Candidates for this might be a) your vet, b) someone your vet knows, or c) a small trainer with farm, etc. Rather than try to 'sell' her you might go partners with a small farm owner who'd like to take on this project and then have a built in partner should she become capable of race training/racing again.
OR
b) you can take on this "risk" yourself, putting not only more time but money into the equation. This is the equine version of "doubling down" but unfortunately in horseracing as opposed to black jack one isn't able to buy the 'insurance' that protects you in the event of having a bad hand. You might possibally end up with a race capable, hopefully winning capable Catienus filly but barring her condition worsening, short of requiring euthanasia, you might also end up -nunder the least optimistic scenario and after investing a lot more money - with a filly that is an unraced dtr of Catienus out of a SP mare. IF you're a breeder then you know that whether you breed to race or to to sell this is a much different proposition than breeding a SP mare to Catiensus. Furthermore as you search for suitable stallions to breed her to in this latter case you will know that she is either a) prone to injury or b) did not each her full potential due to injury.
Sadly your vet's advise that all you can do "is wait and see" with respect to the injury's outcome is in all probability all too correct - and even then, if she heals sufficiently to be race capable - there's the same agonizingly difficult odds against this filly/any filly being successful on the track. Only in her case you'll never know if it was the injury that diminished her potential or her innate lack of ability. (I would consider getting a second opinon even if I happen to think this vet is the best and dead on with his/her diagnosis. But be prepared veterinary science is subject to much gray area diagnosing/prognositcation and you may simply end up with yet a second, similar but somewhat different diagnosis. Instead I'd ask the 2nd vet to give me an opinon as to treatment options/outcomes based on total acceptance of the 1st vet's diagnosis as to what the injury and it's extent is.)
I've personally gone the route of further investing myself and my wallet twice in the homebred foal that ran into bad luck during it's training with euthanasia ultimately chosen for the one and a protracted and expensive re-hab to career as a low level Claimer that broke his maiden (Yeah!) and did little else as the other foal's outcome. I subsequently re-careered him as a polo pony. I don't regret what I did b/c for me this "investment" was the matter of fulfilling a dream and being able to be involved with thoroughbreds was more my measure of success than the bottomline or a particular outcome at the track. However, I also recognise that neither at the going in nor in the outcome point did my decision/investment choice make any kind of business sense.
What you need to do is ask yourself - objectively, i.e. apart from the hopes you had for THIS filly and your feelings for her - what your goals were and how you would measure your success. Step aside from this particular decision about this particular horse - if you can do that - and re-visit the 'why' and the 'wherefore' of your thoroughbred investment that brought you to this point. Be honest if you can't really do that objective thinking thing where this filly is concerned ask some trusted advisors in this business/sport who are not in any way attached to the filly what they would do/have done under similar circumstances. Then LISTEN to them. Finally do what's alligned with the answers you get to those questions. NOTE: This does not mean that you must be anything but kind, caring, concerned, committed and respectful in how you address the filly's future needs. I firmly believe that with the willingness to ask for help and guidance while sticking to your goals a horse owner can do both, though some additional time and money may be invested it need not be an open-ended equation.
(Hmmm - a third possibility sprang into my head as I wrote this. Perhaps a NY based university program in equine handling/management might appreciate this filly as a donation so that their students can practice hands on and learn about the care of a horse undergoing rehab and yet have the upside for their program that in the event of her recovering sound enough to race or only sound enough for breeding they have a horse they can sell or breed to sell that makes sense to do so with. I believe there has been a somewhat regular poster on this board about just such a program at a NY University. )
Perhaps I am confused. Since you didn't know about the injury as a weanling, you did not own the filly when she was injured? Is it something that has now shown up in an x-ray and was undisclosed at the time of purchase (by pre-purchase examination)?
Regarding training on for racing, it has been my experience that it is hard enough to get to a race with a sound horse. I would stop on this filly and move on.
Regarding training on for racing, it has been my experience that it is hard enough to get to a race with a sound horse. I would stop on this filly and move on.
So Run for the Roses, as fast as you can.....
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Blue feather
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MidwestTrainer
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My gelding chipped the top of his hind sesamoid, a large portion of it. I gave him time off and brought him back and it has never bothered him in the least. My vet said that he has seen a lot of chipped hind sesamoid and they didn't pose a problem. If she is worth it, give her the time and bring her back slowly. Different vets will usually give a different prognosis.