Wind Operations – Long Term Effects

[Bachelors Hall]

I’m a bit dense when it comes to this subject so I’m hoping to be enlightened.

I understand that wind operations are essentially a minor tweak to help improve air circulation. I also gather that horses who have had wind operations are liable to lose their form after a number of years.

After seeing Sprinter Sacre today, I thought to myself "five champion chases". But there is a gap in my thought process that is unable to properly account how, when and if the wind operation will accelerate a horse’s natural and inevitable decline.

Would someone care to fill in that gap?

Thanks.

[Steeplechasing]

My thoughts were that the positive effects of these ops rarely lasted beyond three or four races although, on his blog, Don McClean makes the point that the immediate post-op improvement might simply be diluted by the horse moving up the handicap.

On wind-ops in general, here’s a blog piece I wrote some time ago

Paul Nicholls reports that more than 20 of his string have had breathing operations during the summer. Mr Nicholls seems to be the chief advocate for this process.

Does anyone have any stats on the effectiveness of this surgery? Anecdotally, my impression is that they rarely offer more than very short term benefit.

If the stats show these ops are effective, should trainers be obliged formally to declare them before the horse next runs?

If Mr Nicholls who, arguably has his pick of the best and healthiest horses, deems surgery necessary on such a high percentage of his string, how many among the general population of racehorses suffer breathing problems?

Should horses with breathing problems be racing at all? (welfare issue?)

Surgery is invasive and must carry a degree of risk to the animal; if medication were available to do the same job, would the BHA allow it to be administered? If not why is a different medical intervention allowed which produces the same result?

Are breathing ops performed to correct ‘faults’ or enhance oxygen intake in an otherwise healthy animal? If the latter, should they be permitted?

I’ve asked Paul Struthers (head of communications at the BHA) if the BHA keep any stats on horses who’ve had breathing ops. Paul says that , in short, they do not. He points out that there are numerous different procedures which tend to be bracketed as ‘breathing ops’.

Finally, you might some interesting content here http://www.drtomahern.com/Dr_Tom_Ahern. … _%26_rider)_INPUT_IS_ESSENTIAL!.html

[Tuffers]

That’s a difficult question to answer as there are a number of different procedures that come under the heading ‘breathing op’ and they seek to correct different things. The positive effect or otherwise very much depends on the seriousness of the condition. Some horses also have breathing ops as a precautionary measure even if no breathing problem has been reported by a jockey during a race.

For example, we had Poetic Power’s larynx cauterised as soon as we bought him because, after having him vetted, we discovered his airway was flaccid. We had no knowledge of an actual breathing problem but the operation was likely to improve his breathing as it tightens the airway which should therefore be less likely to collapse. He was having a month’s break in the paddock so it made sense to carry out the operation then when he had plenty of time to recover. In his first two runs no breathing issues have been reported so does that mean the operation was a success or that he would have been fine without the op?

Personally, I think a lot of the breathing ops carried out for trainers like Paul Nicholls probably come under the catoegory of ‘prevention’ rather then ‘cure’. It’s difficult to attribute any subsequent improved performance therefore to the succes or otherwise of the op.

If a horse is known to have a serious breathing problem, though, my own view is that a breathing op is unliklely to solve the problem.

[moehat]

Someone on here wrote a couple of years back abouit an owner [or trainer; I think it was owner] who made a point of only buying horses from lines that were free of breathing problems. I wish I could remember what was said as I found it really interesting and I wanted to follow those horses.

[andyod]

Then there was an anecdote about an owner who only bought horses after they had the wind operation and gelded. They tended to be cheaper and less expensive to train since the surgery was already done at others expense and the horses were ready to go on.(Cheaper since low demand for them)

[moehat]

Just waiting for Strong Suit to be gelded then, I’d imagine.

[Steeplechasing]

Someone on here wrote a couple of years back abouit an owner [or trainer; I think it was owner] who made a point of only buying horses from lines that were free of breathing problems. I wish I could remember what was said as I found it really interesting and I wanted to follow those horses.

I might have mentioned Ian Robinson who runs a few syndicates. Imperial Commander has been his most famous buy. Ian has a strike rate of around 95% in buying winners and his pedigree research concentrates on horses who have been free of breathing problems.

One thing he mentioned that I found interesting; horses who put their heads down and stretch their necks looking as though they really want to get to the post first, Ian reckons that what they are actually doing is getting the straightest open channel for air to their lungs.

That link I published in an earlier post is worth a look; it suggests that a relatively high number of horses might suffer from breathing problems, but diagnosing them is not easy unless the horse makes a noise or scopes badly.

Many horses too, I believe, are bleeders.

I suppose that when considered logically – even though they have been bred for it through many generations, it is not natural to race all out, sometimes under strong driving from a human.

I’m guessing about this and someone might be able to provide contradictory evidence, but would wild horses, even when hunted, gallop all out for a sustained period and repeat on a fairly regular basis?

[moehat]

Thanks steeplechasing; that was the reference I was thinking of. Am I right in thinking that there are more wind operations done on NH horses and, is this because they run further or race for longer, or is it a breeding issue? I’m also surprised that French breds have breathing problems; I read an article a long time ago that said the French were very careful about which mares they bred from; over here we tended to breed from any quality mare that was not able to race regardless of her conformation etc but they were much more picky. However, I have to admit to not remembering if the article was about racehorses or horses in general.

[Steeplechasing]

I don’t know the split between flat and jumps; I’d guess jumps would feature more simply because the horses tend to have many more miles on the clock.

But until such time as the BHA makes it compulsory to disclose them we will never know the figures

[Bachelors Hall]

Many thanks for the responses. I would like to think that my understanding has greatly improved.

Top stuff.

[moehat]

I’ve just googled hobday operations and found lots of info. Operations are much more straightforward now they can use lasers for some operations. Sounds much more common than I’d realised. As with humans the ent area is quite complicated and prone to minor problems.

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