Cover image courtesy if The Image Is Everything
Tuesday heralds the launch of the New Zealand Equine Safety Initiative (NZESI), collating information from throughout a Thoroughbred’s life to build a more complete picture of the horse - a picture that will help us better understand the risk of injury.
The initiative is inviting trainers, veterinarians, breeders, and anyone interested in building a better future for the Thoroughbred to follow the work as it evolves.
All the data, all in one place
Important information about a horse currently sits in separate places, and sometimes that information is difficult to share across its life journey. A breeder holds its early development records, a trainer observes it on the track, a veterinarian records its clinical history, and a racing authority holds another set of data entirely.
Conceived by internationally acclaimed researchers Professors Wayne McIlwraith, Chris Rogers and Chris Kawcak, NZESI will collect and combine all of this data into one, holistic history of a horse that can evolve and develop as the horse ages. The first research projects analysing the combined data are already underway in partnership with New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing.
“Racing has never had a system that connects what happens to a horse from its first months of life through training and racing,” Professor McIlwraith said.
“NZESI will build that system, bringing science and real-world information together to make injury more predictable and preventable. New Zealand can lead it, but its potential is global.”
Professor Wayne McIlwraith | Image courtesy of Colorado State University
The work starts with the foal; drawing on established research on the effects of exercise during the first six months of life influences musculoskeletal development NZESI will study how factors such as paddock size and stocking density play into this, and will then turn their findings into evidence-based advice for breeders.
“Some of the most influential decisions in a racehorse’s life are made when it is being raised,” Professor Chris Rogers of Massey University said. “Understanding those early conditions gives us another opportunity to reduce injury years later.”
“Some of the most influential decisions in a racehorse’s life are made when it is being raised.” - Chris Rogers
The program will follow horses through training and racing, and into their life after racing. NZESI will examine where fatalities occur and why, and will engage in post-mortem research to expand the picture.
The perfect test population
So why New Zealand? Because its unique structure offers both a large enough horse population to support meaningful research, while being connected - geographically and interpersonally - enough to easily follow horses through their whole life cycles.
It also already ranks amongst the best internationally for safety and welfare standards, and has a committed body of people motivated to improve that even further.
“New Zealand is big enough to produce robust data and small enough to connect it,” said Professor Rogers.
“We can study the horse across its whole life, with breeders, trainers, veterinarians and researchers working across the same population. That is difficult to achieve in larger, more fragmented racing industries.”
Professor Chris Rogers | Image courtesy of Massey University
NZESI will invite international racing jurisdictions and research partners to contribute their expertise to the project and participate in the development of what NZESI hopes will become a connected global system.
“Thoroughbred horse racing is a global sport, and the research should be just as connected.” - Chris Rogers
“Thoroughbred horse racing is a global sport, and the research should be just as connected,” Professor Rogers said. “New Zealand can provide the foundation, then work with international partners to build a system capable of improving the lives of Thoroughbreds wherever they are bred, trained or raced.”
The work already underway
NZESI has already begun to collate data from across the lifespan of the horse, and is also testing Equimetrics wearable sensors and further exploring using metabolomics to detect changes in bone health before clinical signs appear.
A study conducted by Colorado State University was able to predict injury risk with 73.8% accuracy up to six months ahead of the injury itself, however the assays used were too expensive to be suitable for routine screening. Current research is examining whether metabolomics, which looks at metabolites in the blood, has promise as a more cost-effective screening method.
“Catastrophic injury is rarely as sudden as it appears,” said Professor Chris Kawcak of Colorado State University. “The final failure may happen in one stride, but the underlying bone damage can develop over many months.”
“The final failure may happen in one stride, but the underlying bone damage can develop over many months.” - Chris Kawcak
Professor Chris Kawcak | Image courtesy of Colorado State University
“We can detect those changes in a research setting. This program is about making that knowledge practical and affordable enough to use routinely with horses in work.”
Development of a new standing computerized tomography (CT) scanner is nearing completion and will play an important role in NZESI’s research, allowing horses to be imaged without general anaesthesia. Over time, the intent is for it to form part of an Equine Safety Centre, combining preventative screening, ongoing monitoring, and the central research database in one location.
What the researchers most need going forward is the enthusiastic cooperation of the industry to get this work done.
“This work will only succeed if it is useful to the trainer deciding how a horse works, the veterinarian deciding what deserves further investigation and the breeder making decisions at the start of a horse’s life,” Professor McIlwraith said.
The NZESI website offers both a full breakdown of the work underway and what is in store, and a way for trainers, breeders, owners, veterinarians, and researchers to get involved.
“We are building the science with the people who will use it.” - Wayne McIlwraith
“We are building the science with the people who will use it,” Professor McIlwraith said. “Those who become involved early will help shape how the system works in practice.”
