Through a FOIA request to the Kentucky Racing Commission, I have confirmed the following kills at that state’s tracks thus far this year (because of the volume, I will be posting in installments).
open fracture: bone broke through the skin
comminuted fracture: bone shattered into multiple pieces
displaced fracture: bone snapped out of place
Tswalu, Mar 8, Churchill T
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury: complete, comminuted humerus fracture; severe muscle tearing.” Also: “stomach ulcerations.” Also: “The presence of a preexisting callus associated with the acute fracture line in this case is consistent with a repetitive stress injury leading to a catastrophic musculoskeletal failure.” Tswalu was three.
Winter War, Mar 19, HighPointe T
“Horse was breezing and suffered a catastrophic injury: open, markedly comminuted fracture.” And: “Many fragments are very small and displaced or are missing entirely [see below].” Also: “stomach ulceration.” Winter was two and being prepped for his first race.
Valley of Fire, Apr 24, Churchill T
“Horse suffered catastrophic injury to both front [limbs] while galloping out.”
It’s actually worse. In each broken leg, there were multiple open fractures. Again, that’s multiple open fractures in each leg. Also: “severe tearing of the soft tissues and contamination of the joint with track material.” And: “stomach extensively ulcerated.” And: “Palmar osteochondral disease is a recognized predisposing lesion to condylar fractures in racehorses, as evidenced in this case.” They added this: “The horse was euthanized due to poor prognosis.” Two shattered legs – “poor prognosis.” Valley was three.
Will to Prepare, May 15, Churchill T
“Broke down [during] morning workout – [multiple] comminuted fractures.” And: “Soft-tissue damage is marked, with rupture of intersesamoidian ligament and tearing of medial and lateral branches of suspensory, straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments, medial and lateral aspects of annular ligament, and superficial and deep digital flexor tendons.” And: “There is a healed fracture with three cortical screws.” Will was but three.
“Meets guidelines for humane destruction. It is one of the situations for which he was insured.”
Viable, May 22, Churchill R (euth May 24)
“Broke down May 22, surgery May 23, unsuccessful recovery, euthanized.” Also: “multiple ulcers.” Viable was four.
Yamato, May 25, Churchill R
“Horse pulled up with catastrophic injury to fetlock: [multiple] fractures with severe displacement; connective-tissue damage includes rupture of medial aspect of annular ligament and intersesamoidian ligament, and tearing of flexor retinaculum, superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, suspensory ligaments, medial and lateral branches of suspensory, and straight and oblique sesamoidian ligaments.” All that destruction and they still “vanned” poor Yamato off before ultimately euthanizing. Then this, of course: “approximately 50% of the squamous mucosa is ulcerated.” Yamato was eight.
RIP
Many people in the equine industry are pro-slaughter. Breeding farms in the racing industry produce more horses and they want a market for them. Too many people don’t care about how much the horses suffer as long as they are making money off of them. The new chairman of The Jockey Club, Everett Dobson, says some mighty flowery words in the Letter to the Editor of Thoroughbred Daily News. He supports horseracing and gives professional lip service to the passing of the SAFE ACT saying that racing is so much safer now, and all of the rest of that kind of public relations gobbledygook.
There will continue to be unwanted horses of all types in the United States.
I don’t believe The Jockey Club, the American Quarter Horse Association, or the United States Trotting Association will ever honestly be “for” the SAFE ACT no matter how much lip service they pay to making the cruelties of racing look as though the people who participate in this inhumane so-called sport are wonderful, expert caretakers of horses as gambling chips.
The Ocala Breeders in Florida as well as other Thoroughbred breeders will continue to sell live horses to foreign countries where eating horse meat is part of their culture, such as Japan, South Korea, and wherever else.
If the SAFE ACT is ever passed into law, it will most likely be full of holes — loopholes — with no punishment for any violations, or maybe slap on the wrist punishments for rich people violating the law.
How can Dr. Bramlage continue operating as a vet in this business when he is sworn to “do no harm”. Valley of Fire reminds us of an almost exactly the same type of catastrophic injury injury we witnessed at the top of the stretch almost to the day 21 years ago at Portland Meadows! That terrific break down of a mare we had galloped in the mornings started us thinking of our continuing further participation in this ” Crooked, Crummy, Gamboling Game”. Glad that you post all the radio-graphs & exam notes & pictures for all to see. We have read that Dr. Bramlage does not oppose the slaughter of horses which is an terrible thing in itself!
Humane destruction is a contradiction in terms. There was nothing humane about the treacherous abuse of the horse and the consequential injuries the horse had to endure at the hands of these evil people.
Who would think of having insurance on a racehorse unless they knew well in advance that they would eventually collect after paying the premiums for whatever length of time…?!
They insure the horse as a commodity, then they INTENTIONALLY and LITERALLY ABUSE the HORSE to the point that bones are broken and other excruciatingly painful injuries that are associated with broken bones. This is what happens to so many horses used and abused for racing and gambling. These morally depraved people know it and planned for it by having insurance on the horse. This whole premeditated abuse and exploitation of horses is beyond vomit worthy!
Dr. Lawrence (Larry) Bramlage must have been giddy with excitement at the prospect of treating this horse and many others like lab rats and signing off on the destruction of the horse’s life and collecting the big bucks for his services while the owners of the horse collect the insurance money. This is diabolical on several levels.