1.) 'Rest' is not a four letter word.
2.) Don't race juveniles. Period. The extra R50k odd that you spend by leaving him/her on the farm for an extra year will probably save you 3x that amount in treating shins, splints, knee chips, backs, tendons et al., which I can almost guarantee you will financially punished by for forcing an immature animal.
I looked up my vets' bills for the last three horses I raced and they amount to a total of about R5000 (including vaccinations) for all three. Spread over about 5 years. What did they all have in common? Not one of them saw a racing yard until about 3 months before their third birthdays.
Nothing will kill off the career of a promising horse faster than 2 year old racing.
There should be a vet stationed at every training yard .. My horse got seriously injured at the Vaal during work there was no vet available had to load the severely injured horse in a borrowed box as there is also no emergency box available for the horses if injured .....Who talks for the Owners ......
Debi
Yes, that was addressed at Vaal, whilst I chaired the Trainers Forum. We had no vet. When we had an emergency, we were told to "bring the horse here". I then negotiated with Patrick Davis of Phum, who, in his normal efficient manner, rapidly came to the party and allocated a section of 10 stables plus an area to be used as a surgery as well as overnight accomm for the Vet Assistant at Vaal. This was an enclosed area, behind the saddling enclosure area, at no charge to the Vet. I then personally arranged the rest.
Dr Datnow took up the position. We then always had emergency stand by. Obviously this made me a "bad boy" and the other "big" Vets refused to work for me thereafter, especially on the odd occasions that Dr. Datnow may have been away, flying horses to Mauritius etc.
I am no longer at Vaal and am saddened to hear that this has not continued...
Here at Ashburton, we also do not have a Vet at the Centre. My 2 berth is available to any Ashburton Trainer , for emergency. They don't have to ask - just hook up and go. However, costs aside, I will readily admit that Ralph and his team do provide excellent and rapid response to call outs, during emergency.
Also, as used to be the case at Vaal, the Ashburton Trainers always try and help each other during emergencies.
Back to the Vaal - what an absolute privilege it was to see the expertise of some of the Trainers during my 17 years there. When it comes to a colic, I have yet to see a Vet who is better than Barend Botes or one who can drain a horse's stomach like Coenie De Beer can. I specifically remember what Coenie did for Capture the Gold's colic , on the Friday night before the Alan Robertson, which was to be run on the Sunday, 2 days later. No drugs could he used... I also remember Paul Peter's rapid response in helping me with a severely injured horse, when it needed emergency help.
But, the problem remains - none of us may have ANY scheduled drugs in our possession, anyway. And this takes us back to the 1950's....
Lauren and myself will never ever forget the early morning when we lost our champ, Trip Tease. Barend Botes and his missus, Landie, went through the night before, with us. We eventually had to force them to leave, at about 02h00. There was nothing else left that could be done. Barend is "opposition", his job is to beat us in a race. Yet when it comes to good and proper
old fashioned love of horses, he and Landie stood by us, gave their all. No Bill's, no debts - just people who love horses and who want to help horses. We can never repay them.
I sometimes marvel at the fickle side of Racing and why some of these Trainers out there just never get recognized as being true horsemen and why there are Trainers like this who do not have a waiting list of Owners, waiting to get just one box in their yards..
It's a stupid game, at times. Maybe time to write my book...but, oops, I can't do that whilst still Training..
The following user(s) said Thank You: Dave Scott, Muhtiman, Chris van Buuren, naresh, Craig Eudey, gg, Debi, Nic Botes
