radiographs

The pilot program currently in place at Oaklawn Park under which veterinarians administer any intra-articular corticosteroid injections at the racetrack in a designated area and in the presence of Oaklawn's integrity department has an addendum: any repeated intra-articular corticosteroid injection to the fetlock joint will now require the attending veterinarian to perform a radiograph. The original program was in association with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and began Dec. 8 along with the track's 2023-24 race season. The new rule will be in place beginning Jan. 25, is...

As we approach the beginning of the Thoroughbred yearling sales season, it is worth reflecting on the process used by buyers to select their racing and sales prospects.  Part of the process includes veterinary scrutiny of the radiographs of yearling's' joints.  Veterinarians review the radiographs, note any abnormal findings, and then are called upon to assign a level of risk for racing and / or resale that the findings may represent.  Another layer of due diligence in recent years has been ultrasound examination of horses' limbs for soft tissue abnormalities,...

A report in the Feb. 20 Lexington Herald-Leader, claims that Midwest trainer Tom Swearingen, who filed a class-action lawsuit in February 2019 alleging that Hagyard Davidson McGee Associates had been falsifying dates on radiographs for over a decade, admitted in a deposition that he never viewed or relied on X-rays during the years in question, nor did he have a veterinarian examine X-rays. "That is the foundation of his claim, and removing that foundation causes that whole complaint to collapse," Tom Miller, the attorney representing Dr. Robert Hunt, one of...

Veterinarians who work in the Thoroughbred industry are still a year or two away from being able to make better practical use of emerging digital imaging technologies to avoid racehorse injuries before they happen, but there are some low-technology tools and practices that can be implemented to identify at-risk horses at both high-profile racing events and on a day-to-day basis. That was the takeaway message in a half-hour Thursday teleconference that featured Dr. Larry Bramlage. The internationally recognized equine orthopedic surgeon was fielding media questions one day after the release...