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Does periosteal scraping of the third metacarpal bone reduce the incidence of ‘bucked shins’ in young T horoughbred racehorses?
Author(s) -
Plevin S.,
McLellan J.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
equine veterinary journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.82
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 2042-3306
pISSN - 0425-1644
DOI - 10.1111/evj.12197
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , cumulative incidence , juvenile , horse , significant difference , surgery , biology , paleontology , physics , transplantation , optics , genetics
Summary Reasons for performing study The occurrence of bucked shins in young T horoughbred racehorses in N orth A merica is high. Although an altered training regime has demonstrated a significant decrease in this condition, trainers can be opposed to altering something as fundamental as their training routine. Periosteal scraping of the third metacarpal bone ( McIII ) is a putative prophylactic technique used to prevent bucked shins; therefore, a study to investigate the validity of the procedure is warranted. Objectives To investigate whether prophylactic McIII scraping: 1) reduces the incidence of bucked shins in juvenile T horoughbred horses at race speeds (breeze); and 2) allows increased cumulative breeze miles before the onset of disease. Study design Nonrandomised prospective clinical study. Methods One hundred and seventy yearling T horoughbreds from one farm, under one trainer, were enrolled in this study over one training season; 85 horses were treated and 85 horses were control animals. Horses were observed for bucked shins over 5 cumulative breeze miles. The objectives were evaluated by comparing incidence rates and K aplan‐ M eier plots. Results The incidence rate for bucked shins was 0.059 cases per breezed mile in the treatment group, compared with 0.103 cases per breezed mile in the control group. Comparison of K aplan‐ M eier plots of breeze miles for the 2 groups demonstrated a significant difference between groups (P = 0.035). Horses that developed bucked shins following periosteal shin scraping breezed an average of 3.52 miles before the onset of disease, compared to 2.50 miles for horses not prophylactically treated (P = 0.005). Conclusions Periosteal McIII scraping reduced the incidence rate of bucked shins. The procedure allowed treated horses to breeze greater cumulative distances before an incident but failed to prevent the disease over the long term. Further investigation into this commonly used prophylactic technique is required.