Prevalence of, and factors associated with, musculoskeletal racing injuries of thoroughbreds.

All horses diagnosed by a commission veterinarian of the Kentucky Racing Commission as having sustained a musculoskeletal injury, defined as an obvious change in soundness immediately before, during, or after a race held between Jan 1, 1992 and May 31, 1993 were included in a study to determine the prevalence of and factors associated with racing injuries involving the musculoskeletal system of horses competing at 4 Thoroughbred racetracks in Kentucky. During the 17-month study, there were 35,484 racing starts among 7,649 horses in 3,824 official Kentucky Racing Commission races. During this period, 132 musculoskeletal racing injuries were diagnosed among 117 horses. Twenty-eight injured horses were male, 46 were geldings, and 43 were female. The prevalence of horses with racing injuries per racing start was 0.33% (117/35,484). The injuries of 51 horses were classified as catastrophic, and 66 as noncatastrophic. The prevalence of horses with catastrophic injuries per racing start was 0.14% (51/35,484). The proportion of horses with injuries of the left forelimb, sesamoid, and third metacarpal bone in the catastrophic group was significantly (P < or = 0.05) greater than those of horses in the noncatastrophic group. The proportion of horses with injuries of the superficial digital flexor tendon among those in the catastrophic group was significantly less than that of horses in the noncatastrophic group. The distance of the race was significantly shorter and the number of turns less among horses with catastrophic injuries than among horses with noncatastrophic injuries.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)