The University of Melbourne Veterinary Clinic is conducting a post-mortem into the death of a Melbourne Cup racehorse. Racing Victoria (RV) Executive General Manager of Integrity Services, Jamie Stier, confirmed the euthanisation of Anthony Van Dyck after the horse sustained a fractured fetlock during the race held on November 3. […]
Vet ethics: Death on the racecourse
One of the notable animal welfare stories to hit the headlines in March was the temporary closing of the Santa Anita Park horse-racing track. The track in California’s Arcadia witnessed the death of over 20 horses in a ten-week period. Santa Anita Park featured in the popular movie Seabiscuit and […]
Abstracts: Pawing by standardbred racehorses: frequency and patterns
The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of pawing behavior in a population of Standardbred racehorses and the relationship of pawing frequency to time of day. Standardbreds (n=41) were observed using instantaneous scan sampling twice daily, in the morning before training and in the afternoon after training. […]
Risk factors for race-associated sudden death in thoroughbred racehorses in the UK (2000-2007)
Reasons for performing study: sudden death adversely affects racehorse welfare, jockey safety and the public perception of horseracing. Objective: to describe the risk of racing-associated sudden death in thoroughbred racehorses in the UK from 2000 to 2007, to identify whether there were risk factors uniquely associated with sudden death and […]