Click here to read the latest issue of the Breeders' Bulletin has been mailed to NZTBA members today.
Members will recall in the Summer issue published in December 2008, PhD Massey student Charlotte Boswell had written an article on a survey being undertaken on the management and exercise of yearlings in preparation for the yearling sales. Charlotte now provides an update on her findings of this research and a thank you to participating members:
"With the yearling sales at Karaka over for another year, the data collection for the industry funded study on Early Exercise and Future Race Training and Performance has come to an end. I would like to thank all the studmasters and their staff who agreed to participate in this project and worked so hard to accurately record the information. Without them and their careful recording of data, the study would have been impossible to undertake.
The response from the industry was very positive and resulted in a total of 25 stud farms across the North Island taking part. Each day, the stud farms recorded the type and duration of exercise and the number of hours spent at pasture, for each yearling enrolled in the study. The yearlings that were not sent to the sales have also been entered into the study as a comparison group. At this stage, there are over 600 yearlings enrolled in the study. These yearlings will now be tracked through their time at the breakers and then on to the trainers, to be followed through the coming 2-year-old season.
The intention of the study is to determine if the exercise undertaken by young horses has an effect on their later performance. So another step toward this goal has been reached with the assembly of this impressive dataset, which is now being entered ready for analysis. So again, many thanks!!
Charlotte Boswell
- NZTBA
Members will recall in the Summer issue published in December 2008, PhD Massey student Charlotte Boswell had written an article on a survey being undertaken on the management and exercise of yearlings in preparation for the yearling sales. Charlotte now provides an update on her findings of this research and a thank you to participating members:
"With the yearling sales at Karaka over for another year, the data collection for the industry funded study on Early Exercise and Future Race Training and Performance has come to an end. I would like to thank all the studmasters and their staff who agreed to participate in this project and worked so hard to accurately record the information. Without them and their careful recording of data, the study would have been impossible to undertake.
The response from the industry was very positive and resulted in a total of 25 stud farms across the North Island taking part. Each day, the stud farms recorded the type and duration of exercise and the number of hours spent at pasture, for each yearling enrolled in the study. The yearlings that were not sent to the sales have also been entered into the study as a comparison group. At this stage, there are over 600 yearlings enrolled in the study. These yearlings will now be tracked through their time at the breakers and then on to the trainers, to be followed through the coming 2-year-old season.
The intention of the study is to determine if the exercise undertaken by young horses has an effect on their later performance. So another step toward this goal has been reached with the assembly of this impressive dataset, which is now being entered ready for analysis. So again, many thanks!!
Charlotte Boswell
- NZTBA
