I'll Have Another - ESWT

[justwin]

Jason Shandler will have an article on this tomorrow on bloodhorse.com

[Caradoc]

I have been in contact with Paulick, who is also working on a story about this.  According to an email he sent me, he has spoken to O\'Neill, who has confirmed the treatment.

[sighthound]

Depends entirely upon what, where and the details of how.

Edit:  okay, found Paulick Report, which says

“We don’t do it a lot, but we shock-waved his back,” said O’Neill. “He gets a little tight in the lumbar area right behind where the saddle sits. It’s Paul Reddam’s horse, and he was OK spending the money to do the therapy.”

“This horse is treated like a king and he is a king,” said O’Neill. “We’re bringing a chiropractor to Kentucky. Shock-waving does help if you’ve got some tightness in the back, but it’s not the kind of treatment that is going to make a slow horse fast.”

So:  exactly what is said above.  It\'s just good sports therapy.  Yes, they automatically go on the vet\'s list for 10 days, because some type of treatments can possibly decrease pain for a day or two.

Just watch him in the morning to make sure he doesn\'t have a sore back.  Any track man will be able to see it at a trot and normal gallop around the track.

[alm]

\"Good sports therapy?\"  

That\'s a very odd way to describe it.  Deadening a horse\'s back, ankle, whatever...so it can train and maybe so it can run isn\'t therapy in my book.  Forewarned is forearmed.  Bet this horse at your own peril.  

By the way, bettors are betting horses treated like this every day because they aren\'t on any vet list.

[sighthound]

Not all shockwave treatments deaden nerves.  Not all shockwave is the same, it depends upon pulsations, number and depth.  Absolutely, yes, you are right, there is some evidence of temporary pain relief for some types of shockwave therapies in some locations in the horses body.

But no, shockwave will not just \"deaden\" anything you move it over.  It\'s great muscle massage therapy (like a deep massage).  You can use different methodologies to help healing of tendons and bone.

The 10 day shockwave vet list is because pain relief only has been documented to last a few days at most.

I\'ve seen trainers attribute magical special powers to some types of shockwave treatment, and alot of the way they use it is just magical thinking.  But yes, there are some very good proven applications for it, that really work.

[Caradoc]

This confirms what I was told by a vet in California.  As the literature indicates, ESWT is also used to address tendon issues and other orthopedic conditions.  We don\'t know why it was used on IHA, and many questions remain unanswered.

My guess is that there is much more to the story, as there is evidence that this is not the first time IHA has been on the Vet\'s List.  I have given what I have found to Paulick as I have no way to follow up any further.

[TGJB]

Sight-- and not all trainers will tell you what the real problem they\'re treating is, either. All we know is what O\' Neill said he was doing.

Ever hear anyone with a Derby horse say it was doing less than great?

[Caradoc]

Exactly. Much of what we know now is what O\'Neill said in the interviews he gave last night to Paulick and Haskin.  Some of what he said is in conflict with what is in the record now and a lot of what he said raises other obvious questions that neither Paulick or Haskin asked as followups.  In the former category is when the horse was treated.  O\'Neill said he was treated on 4/20, but remember that this issue came to my attention because the Hollywood worksheet dated 4/19 already showed him on the list.  So was the list postdated? It\'s possible, although in my experience that list is often published the day of the works. In the latter category: Is there any underlying orthopedic issue the ESWT is designed to treat?  If he was in fact treated on 4/20 (and there should be vet records, one way or the other), was the reason for the ESWT that he came out of the 4/19 breeze sore? If \"his back gets tight\" (O\'Neil\'s description to Paulick), has he ever been treated before with ESWT and if not, why not?  And finally, what was the reason this horse was previously on the vet list?

[PatrickM]

He\'s been treated with it before and was treated after the work on the 19th.

[Caradoc]

How do you know this?

[PatrickM]

Oneil stated it during interview. Will update w/link later.

From the Bloodhorse interview/report:

O\'Neill said it was after the April 19 work that he first thought about doing the shock wave therapy.

\"The next day he had a little tightness in his lumbar area where the saddle sits and I called Paul and he was OK with doing it,\" O\'Neill said. \"It seems to help him from a therapeutic standpoint; I have done it on him a couple times in the past and it seemed to help.

Read more: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/69218/ill-have-another-has-shock-wave-therapy#ixzz1t4al1dSu

[sighthound]

What?  Gambling in Casablanca?  I\'m SHOCKED, I tell you!

[alm]

Guys, I don\'t think you have to spend a lot more time thinking about this issue.  The horse has some sort of problem...back, shins, whatever.  He but backed up in his last race, even though he won.  Likely, the problem won\'t go away before the Derby and he\'s likely to back up some more.  Isn\'t this what the patterns are supposed to be telling us in the first place?  I could be wrong, but you might prefer to spend a lot more time thinking about other horses in this situation.

[Caradoc]

I\'m assuming that you are referring to Haskin\'s updated article.  If so, the link is posted below. In short:

1) We are still relying on O\'Neill\'s version of events.  There are (or should be) records to confirm parts of this story, one way or the other.

2) There is still the issue of why the April 19 workout report showed him on the vet list already.

3) If O\'Neill has ordered the treatment multiple times before, why were those treatments not reported? The link sixmoreouts posted yesterday shows the 4/20 treatment as the only ESWT treatment IHA has received.


http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/69218/ill-have-another-has-shock-wave-therapy

[PatrickM]

Caradoc,

Both good points and neither to which I have any further insight. They\'re bringing a chiropractor to Kentucky with them so it seems like horse has more issues than a bus full of strippers to me. I\'ve never leaned toward him so no real matter to me.

Good luck