Equine Analysis weeks 3-6

Hey everybody!

Sorry for the delay since the last update. Since I am not in a clinic like my peers, I don't have new cases to report on each week. Right now I am still in the data collection stage so not much has changed since my last post. We are still going to Churchill Downs about three days a week and collecting data on the horses that are breezing 5/8 that day. As a reminder we perform a wind, motion, and blood test on each horse and then evaluate the data back at the office. We have data on over 30 horses now ranging from proven Grade I winners to 2 yr olds in training.

I am mostly responsible for helping to analyze the sound files collected by the wind test. I edit every breath of the sound file and make sure all of the inhales and exhales are recorded correctly. This can be very tedious as a horse breathes in and out every .2 of second when they are breezing. However, it is amazing to see the difference in breathing styles and efficiency between the great horses and those that aren't quite suited to racing. I'm also starting to be able to recognize different upper airway pathologies just by sound. I've listened to so many sound files that sometimes I hear them in my sleep! The rest of the team, the other techs and vets, have been working on analyzing the other data sets. With all of the data getting analyzed, we are finally able to start putting it all together and predicting the performance ability of each individual horse. Since some of the horses are actively racing, we also follow their racing record and see if how they run matches how we predicted they would.

Last weekend we went to Churchill Down to watch the races as some of the horses in our study were running that night. It was really fun to be on the other side of the track. We are usually working on the backside of the track and it was nice to be on the frontside for once. We went the night Gun Runner won the Matt Wynn and the crowds enthusiasm was infectious! Below are some pics from that night.

The historic twin spires!

In the starting gate about to take off

Racing for home

On days that I'm not analyzing data I get to travel to the other farms in the area. I've gotten to see amazing training centers and stallion barns. All of the farms are beautifully landscaped and the barns look like mansions! There are also famous horses kept at all of these farms and it is unreal to be in close contact with them. I am also planning on shadowing the track vet for a day and seeing exactly whats involved in race track medicine.

We are still having issues getting our endoscope to work but the upside is that I've gotten to practice passing the scope every time we test it out. In the mean time I've gotten to evaluate a few of the horses' airways with the track vet's scope. It definitely takes lots of practice to get used to driving and maneuvering the scope! Luckily most of these racehorses are used to being scoped and are very patient with me.

Stay tuned to see how our summer project progresses.