Working to make racing safer

Can pre-race assessment reduce the risk of catastrophic fractures?

A two-day workshop, hosted in Newmarket by Jockey Club Estates, brought together veterinary experts from around the world.

They discussed methods available to identify subtle damage to the horse’s fetlock, that might go on to produce serious fractures if the horse raced.

On the first day, an expert panel discussed how diagnostic imaging prior to racing can contribute to reducing the risk of serious fractures during the race. Currently, radiography is the most widely available tool used to identify tiny fractures that will heal effectively, providing exercise is reduced.

Recent developments such as standing MRI, standing CT and PET scanning, could potentially identify pathology even earlier. 

The panel reviewed existing knowledge and discussed how to generate the research evidence, which is essential if these novel technologies are to gain a place in effective pre-race risk assessment programmes.

 

PET/CT: PET is the most recent advance in diagnostic imaging. It is being developed in California and, when combined with CT, provides information on bone activity and structure. In these 3 images of the same fetlock from different aspects, the orange spots indicate increased activity in the proximal sesamoid bone, which is a potential precursor to more serious injury. Image courtesy of Dr M. Spriet, University of California, Davis.

The following day a larger group of participants reviewed the expert panel’s conclusions and discussed the need for greater transparency, education and communication amongst the racing industry stakeholders, all of whom share responsibility for ensuring racing continues to collaborate and enhance racehorse safety and welfare.

Prof Celia Marr, Editor of Equine Veterinary Journal, who chaired the meeting said: “Racing has an excellent safety record and the injuries we are talking about are extremely rare. The low prevalence of fetlock injury makes it very difficult to pinpoint the affected individuals. But it is essential that we continue our efforts to do so ever more effectively because if silent injury is not detected it can progress to become much more serious.”

Pete Ramzan, Partner at Rossdales LLP, who co-ordinated the workshop said: “There was a great need to get some of the key experts leading these new technologies together in the same room to correlate their findings and work out how to translate them into tangible reductions in serious injury rates. One of the somewhat unexpected outcomes of the discussions was that despite the fact that we are riding the crest of a wave of technological advances, basic radiography still has much to offer; better education around the application and interpretation of radiographs has real potential to allow vets like myself at the coal face to detect injuries at an early and recoverable stage”.

How khulans get water

Khulan, a species of wild ass living in the Gobi Desert, travel over extremely long distances to find food and water, a recent study has shown.

The asiatic wild ass or khulan (Equus hemionus) used to be found throughout the arid lands of Central Asia and Mongolia, but their range is being limited by encroaching human activity.

As part of a long-term study into these animals, researchers at the Research Institute of Wildlife Ecology (FIWI, Conservation Medicine Unit) at Vetmeduni Vienna have been tracking their activity. Analysis of the data has not only revealed new insights into the behaviour of these animals, but it has also provided a new way of identifying water sources. The work has been published in Scientific Reports.

The world’s largest remaining khulan population, in Mongolia’s South Gobi Region, provided the subjects for the study. Using GPS collars to track the animals in the 100,000 km² study area, the researchers identified 367 waterpoints. Of these, 53 received intensive and repeated uses by many different khulan over multiple years and so seem to be of high importance for the entire khulan population.

However, the researchers point out that the large number of less visited waterpoints are also important as they provide “stepping-stones” to switch between areas and allow for maximal movement flexibility.

According to the researchers, khulan drink nearly every day, with daily requirements of 12-15 litres, rising to 24 litres on hot days. The low water content of their plant resources further increases the animals’ need to drink. 

In the Mongolian Gobi, khulan roam over thousands of square kilometres, a range among the largest reported for terrestrial mammals. These large nomadic movements are a consequence of the availability of pasture and water changing within and between years. 

To survive and thrive in such landscapes, movement flexibility is key but may be threatened by increasing human impact on the khulan’s habitat resulting in habitat fragmentation. The researchers point out that, as in many other of the world’s drylands human exploitation of water for agriculture, industry, and domestic uses increasingly affects the availability of and access to water for wildlife.

Khulan tend to use pastures within 7 km of water and areas beyond 15-20 km of water become functionally inaccessible. “Hence, blocking access to water excludes khulan from the landscape and Identifying important waterpoints in arid landscapes like the Gobi Desert is therefore essential for wildlife-friendly land-use planning,” says John Payne.

According to the researchers, the most important variable for the seasonal variation in choice of water sources is snow cover (or the lack of it). In the deserts of Central Asia and Mongolia, a lack of snow, the low water content of the vegetation, and the freezing of small and stagnant water bodies can result in drought conditions during winter. In extreme cases, these factors can result in winter die-offs of local wildlife populations. 

The khulan´s highly mobile lifestyle is a coping strategy during localized catastrophic weather events, but this requires habitats that allow large-scale movements – which in turn necessitates maintaining landscape connectivity. The researchers emphasise the urgent need for regional conservation strategies so the khulan can continue to find the hidden liquid treasure of the Gobi Desert in the future.

Petra Kaczensky concluded: “Our results provide important data that can help guide a regional khulan conservation strategy, allow predictions for other khulan populations, and illustrate the overall importance of waterpoints for dryland herbivores.”

For more details, see:

Hidden treasure of the Gobi: understanding how water limits range use of khulan in the Mongolian Gobi

John C. Payne, Bayarbaatar Buuveibaatar, Diana E. Bowler, Kirk A. Olson, Chris Walzer & Petra Kaczensky

Scientific Reports (2020) vol 10, Article number: 2989

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-59969-2