Soundness
Soundness can be defined as a condition in which a horse is able to do the work asked of it without undue stress or risk of injury. While seemingly simple, this definition represents a complex interaction between the animal's conformation, its fitness, its mechanics in motion, its mental and temperamental characteristics, its overall state of wellness, and its training and handling on the one hand and the task it is being asked to do on the other.
As defined above, soundness is always a relative term. A horse may be unsound for a particular type of work for any of a number of reasons, and it may be sound for one task (such as light pleasure riding) but not for another, more demanding one (such as racing). Further, a sound horse may become unsound for its work, while unsoundness can sometimes be partly or even completely reversed depending on the cause and the ability of the horse's human handlers to recognize and correct the condition.
People often refer to a horse as being “unsound” when it has a condition predisposing it to frequent failure to withstand the stresses of the work it is being asked to do. Reasons that a horse may be considered unsound in this sense include:
The underlying causes of soundness issues are varied. Some sire lines and mare families throw the same physical/mental types and issues generation after generation, and knowledge of how an animal's ancestors have performed in spite of their known flaws is an important aspect of assessing both the pedigree and the physique of the animal standing in front of you. Other problems are acquired via interaction between the horse and its environment (a process that can begin even in the womb), and still others are the result of an interaction between a hereditary susceptibility and environmental factors.
Very few horses are blessed with textbook conformation; thus, personally observing a horse in motion to see how it uses itself is also vital in assessing whether or not it is likely to be capable of delivering high-end athletic performance over an extended period. The conditions under which an animal will be used also have a bearing on soundness. As an example, the great gelding John Henry was back at the knee but possessed an exceptionally fluid, efficient stride that placed less stress on his foreleg joints than a more pounding action would have. He also raced primarily on the turf, a surface usually more forgiving to animals with knee problems than the dirt.
Management of a horse's soundness generally requires skilled assessment and appropriate preventive measures or treatment applied to problem areas: training, nutrition, hoof care and shoeing, the fit and comfort of an animal's tack, and day-to-day handling all play roles. Detecting and controlling inflammation of a joint, tendon, or respiratory passage while still in an early stage can often prevent a minor problem from becoming a major one, and even significant problems can sometimes be managed successfully for racing or performance purposes with the application of sufficient skill and patience. (Frank Whiteley's masterful management of the great gelding Forego, who required several hours of tubbing and hosing with cold water on a near-daily basis to reduce inflammation in his injury-prone legs, is a study in what can be done with a chronically unsound horse.) Medication can help in treating acute problems but may do more harm than good if used to treat the symptoms of an issue without the underlying causes being addressed.
Essentially, keeping a horse sound boils down to several basics. First, choose an animal that has a general physique and conformation characteristics suited to the task you want it to perform. Second, provide training and care that will develop its body and mind to performance level. Third, remove sources of discomfort and irritation from the animal's environment and handling. (This can take some serious sleuth work since a horse can't tell you what the problem is, but quick resolution of a small problem beats having to deal with a major behavioral or physical issue later.) Fourth, patronize the best farrier, feed supply, tack source, and veterinarian you can find—do not skimp on any of these areas! Fourth, give an animal time for rest and refreshment when you realize it is going off form physically or mentally—“tincture of time” has cured a lot of ills. Finally, learn what your horse looks like when it is happy, healthy, and ready to go, and do your best to keep it there. As one wise old trainer put it, “When a horse looks good he feels good, and when he feels good he runs good.” There is much worse advice to follow.
As defined above, soundness is always a relative term. A horse may be unsound for a particular type of work for any of a number of reasons, and it may be sound for one task (such as light pleasure riding) but not for another, more demanding one (such as racing). Further, a sound horse may become unsound for its work, while unsoundness can sometimes be partly or even completely reversed depending on the cause and the ability of the horse's human handlers to recognize and correct the condition.
People often refer to a horse as being “unsound” when it has a condition predisposing it to frequent failure to withstand the stresses of the work it is being asked to do. Reasons that a horse may be considered unsound in this sense include:
- Poor conformation. The most common conformation issues causing problems in racing Thoroughbreds are:
- Rotational defects (toeing out or in), which contribute to inefficient motion and place extra stress on joints. The greater the angle at which the horse toes out or in, and the higher up the leg the rotation begins, the more serious the defect is and the more likely it is to result in soundness issues; thus, a foot that points outward because the entire leg is rotated out from the knee down is more worrisome than a mild toe-out caused by a small rotation in the ankle. Because North American racehorses virtually never negotiate right-handed turns, rotational defects affecting the right forelimb are generally of less concern than those affecting the left forelimb in that population.
- Shock absorption defects, which reduce a limb's natural ability to absorb the concussion of pounding on a race track without serious injury. Pasterns, shoulders and hocks that are too short or are at too straight an angle do not absorb shock as they should, resulting in rough, choppy gaits and increased wear and tear on the leg's bones and joints; pasterns and hocks with too much angulation predispose the horse to tendon problems and run-down injuries. Knees that are slightly back from a true line as viewed from the side also reduce shock absorption and predispose the horse to knee injury; the opposite fault, with the knee somewhat forward of vertical, is considered less serious but can place extra strain on the front tendons.
- Offset knees (in which the radius bone in the upper leg does not line up squarely over the cannon bone in the lower leg) result in unequal distribution of force across the horse's knee and hoof with each stride. They predispose a horse to knee chips and splints.
- Excessive body weight for the horse's bone frame, especially in the forehand. Given the same conformation issues in the legs, a heavier horse is likelier to develop unsoundness than a lighter one because it exerts greater force on its legs with every stride. Entire males are particularly prone to this issue because of the heavy necks and crests stallions often develop as they mature.
- Thin-walled, thin-soled feet. Such feet are difficult to shoe, are prone to splitting and other injuries, and may cause a horse to be reluctant to extend itself because of pain when the foot strikes the track, especially on hard surfaces.
- Lack of overall balance, which results in an animal with inefficient gaits regardless of other conformation problems.
- Respiratory bleeding. Virtually all Thoroughbreds will show microscopic traces of bleeding at one time or another if scoped after hard exercise, but some bleed sufficiently that their performance is impaired. Treatment with furosemide can permit a horse with a tendency toward significant bleeding to race, but such treatment continues to be a bone of contention between racing authorities in the United States (where race-day furosemide has been widely permitted) and those in most other major racing nations, where race-day furosemide is not allowed. At this time, the trend in the United States appears to be moving away from permitted use of furosemide as a race-day medication.
- Sensory impairments, primarily to sight or hearing.
- “Soft” or fracture-prone bones, a fault noted in the progeny of some sires but also sometimes associated with poor soils on a breeding farm or with nutritional deficiencies.
- Breathing problems. These are often the result of illnesses, especially if a respiratory illness is followed by a too-rapid return to training while tissues in the respiratory tract are still inflamed. Partial paralysis of the epiglottal flap and a tendency to displace the soft palate during hard exercise can also cause a horse to be unable to get sufficient oxygen to perform at its best. Another source of breathing problems (which can also contribute to respiratory bleeding) is dust and other irritants/allergens in the horse's feed or stall.
- Aftereffects from previous injury.
- Lack of physical fitness.
- Mental issues, which can be related to an excessively nervous or aggressive disposition but can also be related to early learning and poor handling.
The underlying causes of soundness issues are varied. Some sire lines and mare families throw the same physical/mental types and issues generation after generation, and knowledge of how an animal's ancestors have performed in spite of their known flaws is an important aspect of assessing both the pedigree and the physique of the animal standing in front of you. Other problems are acquired via interaction between the horse and its environment (a process that can begin even in the womb), and still others are the result of an interaction between a hereditary susceptibility and environmental factors.
Very few horses are blessed with textbook conformation; thus, personally observing a horse in motion to see how it uses itself is also vital in assessing whether or not it is likely to be capable of delivering high-end athletic performance over an extended period. The conditions under which an animal will be used also have a bearing on soundness. As an example, the great gelding John Henry was back at the knee but possessed an exceptionally fluid, efficient stride that placed less stress on his foreleg joints than a more pounding action would have. He also raced primarily on the turf, a surface usually more forgiving to animals with knee problems than the dirt.
Management of a horse's soundness generally requires skilled assessment and appropriate preventive measures or treatment applied to problem areas: training, nutrition, hoof care and shoeing, the fit and comfort of an animal's tack, and day-to-day handling all play roles. Detecting and controlling inflammation of a joint, tendon, or respiratory passage while still in an early stage can often prevent a minor problem from becoming a major one, and even significant problems can sometimes be managed successfully for racing or performance purposes with the application of sufficient skill and patience. (Frank Whiteley's masterful management of the great gelding Forego, who required several hours of tubbing and hosing with cold water on a near-daily basis to reduce inflammation in his injury-prone legs, is a study in what can be done with a chronically unsound horse.) Medication can help in treating acute problems but may do more harm than good if used to treat the symptoms of an issue without the underlying causes being addressed.
Essentially, keeping a horse sound boils down to several basics. First, choose an animal that has a general physique and conformation characteristics suited to the task you want it to perform. Second, provide training and care that will develop its body and mind to performance level. Third, remove sources of discomfort and irritation from the animal's environment and handling. (This can take some serious sleuth work since a horse can't tell you what the problem is, but quick resolution of a small problem beats having to deal with a major behavioral or physical issue later.) Fourth, patronize the best farrier, feed supply, tack source, and veterinarian you can find—do not skimp on any of these areas! Fourth, give an animal time for rest and refreshment when you realize it is going off form physically or mentally—“tincture of time” has cured a lot of ills. Finally, learn what your horse looks like when it is happy, healthy, and ready to go, and do your best to keep it there. As one wise old trainer put it, “When a horse looks good he feels good, and when he feels good he runs good.” There is much worse advice to follow.