Horse news: Horse ambulances

An intersting story from The New York Times News Service, about the horse ambulances used at most larger racetracks these days, like the one that was used to carry Barbado off the track after his injury in the Preakness.

It said the ambulances were developed by a pair of track veterinarians in the 1970s who were concerned that the ambulances at that time -- basically conventional horse trailers -- were inadequate to get horses safely off the track after a severe injury. So they went to a farm-equipment manufacturer with their idea and the company produced it for them, and tracks began buying them.

Regarding my post yesterday on the need for racing to do more to protect horses, this is evidence that those involved with racing have not been just sitting on their hands. They have, in fact, been working on different things to make racing safer for horses.

Even so, there were these sad figures in The New York Times story

"According to studies conducted by New York Racing Association, 7.3 out of every 1,000 horses who race sustain some significant injury, and 1.1 out of every 1,000 starters incur a fatal injury. The statistics are fairly universal. They include the career-ending, and potentially fatal, injury sustained by Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner, during the Preakness at Pimlico last Saturday."