I was training some of my horses to get their fitness up for their races, and a promising 3 year old broke his leg during a 2 furlong breeze! I had just purchased [color=blue]Danceajig, and he was entered to race next weekend for the first time for my barn. I’m pretty bummed, but what can you do? I don’t want to retire him so early, he seemed to be just getting his stride, so he’ll be shipped to rest at the barn. Maybe he can recover and race next year… Maybe I’m just too attached to retire him.
Has anyone had horses come back after a broken leg? Is there any hope at all?
My mare, Brightest Light, broke her leg early in her 3yo year. I gave her a year off, and brought her back slowly (regaining fitness, entering the lowest level race she qualified for).
As a 4yo her record was: 13(7)-3(1)-3(1)-4(2)-2(2) $289,000
As a 5yo this year her record is: 8(5)-2(1)-2(1)-1-2(2) $221,000
I try not to race her more than once a month, even if she’s regained energy, since I figure the more she runs the greater chance she has of re-injury. (She has injured herself once since her leg, she came up with swelling in a different leg when I first brought her back to the track - other than that, knock on wood, she’s been fine.)
I definitely didn’t think she’d come back from a broken leg (and a relatively modest race record of 4-1-1-0-0) to become a MSW.
Sorry to hear about Danceagig, but have a look at Meet You Upstairs, he runs tomorrow. He broke a leg last year training and he had 12 months rest then came back this year and has won 2 from 3 -Hopefully 3 from 4 after tomorrow
There’s hope! Thanks everyone for the encouragement. I’ll keep him around and see what sort of shape he’s in next year. I’ll definitely have to pester the more experienced players for tips on getting him back to racing shape
I would think so long as he is in his prime for a long time he will be ok eventually
-Hopefully 3 from 4 after tomorrow