Veterinary Science Collected Works - Theses
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ItemAn investigation of training and racing workloads in Thoroughbred racehorses in Australia and their relationship to performance and bone fatigue( 2020)Bone and joint injuries in Thoroughbred racehorses typically originate in areas of intense loading and are attributable to fatigue damage accumulated under repetitive cyclical loading. This thesis will focus on an epidemiological understanding of the bone fatigue process as it relates to Thoroughbred training and racing. Factors investigated include workload, stride parameters, speed and distance worked. Specifically, this included an investigation of racehorse management, training and rest compared to previously published risk factors and how they relate to performance, stride characteristics of galloping horses during racing and how varying strides and race factors influence the estimated accumulation of bone damage over race starts. It was hypothesised that (i) there would be a large variation between trainers in the training and rest practices; (ii) greater workloads in training would not be associated with superior race performance; (iii) speed would be correlated with stride parameters, increasing proportionally more with stride duration than the number of strides (and therefore stride length) at higher speeds; (iv) stride parameters would differ by horse-and race-level factors; and (v) a higher percentage of bone fatigue life would be used for longer distance races, firmer track surfaces and higher classed races. These hypotheses were investigated by conducting a semi-structured in-person interview of 66 registered Thoroughbred trainers in Victoria, Australia; by analysing GPS and accelerometer data including speed and stride data from 25,245 Thoroughbred race starts in Tasmania, Australia; and by generating a mathematical model of bone fatigue accumulation using information from the stride parameter data. Australian Thoroughbred training programs include high volumes of galloping with more than half exceeding previously reported risk levels for fracture. Older age and longer intended race distances were associated with higher galloping workloads, and there was a large degree of variation between trainers in workloads, rest practices and surfaces used in training. Trainers who utilised the lowest and highest galloping workloads (at speeds of >13.3 or 13.3-14.3 m/s) as horses prepared for racing had fewer wins and places. There was substantial inter-horse variation in stride parameters, with speed predicting half or less of this variation. Male sex, greater race distance, better finishing position, and firmer track surfaces were associated with fewer strides per 200 m and longer stride durations. Females, older age, longer race distances, firmer track surfaces, and greater weights carried for high-classed races were associated with greater percentage fatigue life accumulated over each race start. There was a wide variety of strategies implemented by trainers in preparing and maintaining horses for racing and managing them between racing campaigns, yet this variation did not translate to how well horses performed. Variation was identified for stride parameters of horses galloping in races under different conditions, but further variation existed based on innate qualities of the individual horse, therefore future studies assessing risk for individual horses would benefit from the inclusion of stride characteristics. The future goal is to establish appropriate racehorse training and racing programs which allow for appropriate bone adaptation to withstand load whilst avoiding fatigue failure.