[Useful life, departure rates and causes in sport horses].

A review of the operational life, attrition and lethality rates, major causes of attrition and death for thoroughbred and standardbred race horses and competition horses is given. Because of the lack of data, it was not possible to supply answers for all the sport disciplines. The operational life in sports for thoroughbred race horses was 3.3 years, for standardbred horses 4.1 and for competition horses 5.5 years. Attrition and lethality rates could be determined only for the thoroughbred race horses. The yearly rates of attrition and lethality were 30% and 2% respectively. The major causes of attrition for thoroughbreds were due to inadequate performance and breeding, for competition horses due to damages of the locomotor, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. Damage of the locomotor system was by far the most important cause for the death of thoroughbreds while for competition horses it was the gastrointestinal, locomotor and respiratory systems. The available data was not sufficient to make an evaluation of the parameters selected.