Lasix: Demystifying the drug, methods of training without it

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Mizzy's owners are racing all of them without lasix and she said they all have done well - and they recuperate faster after a race without it.  I'm still a fan of no lasix/salix for ALL!

The pics were gross!

XXOO

This is very interesting. Our 2 y.o. ny bred colts have had 2 races without lasix and scoped clean and came back very fresh the next day. Will race without lasix for awhile and take care to see what happens.   

You are not the first person to make that comment, I read that from Kieran McLaughlin that the 2 year olds he is running without lasix are bouncing back better and are not bleeding. I just wish our trainers would condition the horses better, IMHO I do not think 1/2 of the horses racing are fit enough to run the race they are in.

 

I SO agree with you.  I know you weren't sure on the lasix issue - but it seems that its better for them if they don't use it.

Yes alot of horses won't run if they can't run on lasix - but to me - if they can't run without it - they shouldn't be running!

XOXO

ThoroEdge references the drf atricle you posted and gives his take on the subject...

EIPH: If You’re not Breezing, You’re Bleeding

  >>the recent attention paid to the future of Lasix in US racing begs us to take a more detailed look at the role of conditioning and its effects on bleeding/EIPH. One point of this post is that every drug in the history of the world has negative side effects, some that take years to be discovered. Lasix is no exception. Drugs are shortcuts, meant to make things easier on the trainer and owner, often at the expense of the horse itself.

http://thoroedge.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/eiph-if-youre-not-breezing-youre-bleeding/

Lasix would help if they are bleeding but I have been reading that they can be conditioned with longer gallops as babies.  So far so good with the boys. They were scoped and there was nothing in the throat so we are doing well with them. And if they are really bad bleeders they should not be racing at all I think.  I read that horses years ago like Seabiscuit had so many more starts. Man O War ran 4 times in a month, running back in a few days and was OK. Horses do run after all . They are raised like hot house flowers as babies..mine go to a farm and run around like crazy with other babies. If they are sore, they rest, if they have a cough, they rest, no needles in the knees to pull out fluid and then stuff to dull the pain. I had to retire my Boro Kid rather than torture her and she is fit and happy upstate but will be good to go in the spring to be a jumper and show horse in the area. But you as an  owner have the set down the rules and I do think trainers will be on board. They are under pressure to get the horses to run.  I was so happy with the 2 colts I have. We let them get race fit, they are learning and telling us how they like to race--I think long and of the pace. We do not start them until the late fall or later when they are babies.  They will do their best for you and they deserve the best.

I read here that people are worried about joint injections. They can be done but then the horse needs a time out..not inject and race.  They are athletes and can have physical problems but also can be taken care of.  Getting on top  of  problems before they get bad, treating them and then being conservative about when the horse gets back in training and then the hard decision to retire a horse--even a young one- rather than go forward and risk their health or life.  Again an owner has to work with the trainer.  

I agree it is the longer gallops as 2 year olds and even as they mature that are the substance they need to not bleed. THese horses that go out and jog a half mile and then gallop a mile or a mile and a quarter are not fit horses, I love the trainers who sen out the horses for good 2 mile gallops and a few times a week they are at a 2 minute lick. Baffert does this and so do some of the others, but so many others do not and it is the horse that suffers, either by bleeding or getting injured.