Racehorses...........?

Question

I am loaning an ex racehorse, and when he was being used to race he had to have a piece of metal which would be extremely hot, run down the bottom of his leg to make the tissue rip and grow back stronger so he would have stronger legs.

Does anyone know what else happens to racehorses like this?

Answer 1

that is called pin firing. trainers in ireland still do it. also they do a thing called 'blistering'. they put this severe skin burning chemical on the shins of young horses( usually 2yo) so the skin melts away and that forces the body into overdrive to repair its-self so the horses legs become stronger. although they are tranquilised for the procedure its still very sore. its down to mans greed to make horses race at 2 yrs old when they shuold just leave them to mature till they are 3 yrs old.

Answer 2

That sounds like pin firing. The theory was to increase the blood flow to the area and healing would be faster. This is an older method that I have not seen done in over twenty years. There may be some old timer that still believes in it today. But I can assure you it is not a treatment that is widely used anymore.

http://www.saferhorseracing.com/gpage14....

Answer 3

It sounds like pin firing.

They use a small pin type thing that is heated up and make a pattern of burns through the skin on the lower leg of the horse.

Because the burns need to heal it will increase the blood flow to the lower leg causing everything down there to heal faster.

It is not commonly done now as they have better methods.

But you see it used every so often with an older trainer.

These horses often have perfectly normal second careers.

I had one who had one leg pin fired and he was never lame a day that I owned him. He did some jumping and trail riding and dressage. I never had any problems with it other than he had scars from the firing.

Answer 4

sounds like pin firing, if this was done generally, there are small circular scars on the legs, kind of like wire. Here in Australia, trainers are no longer allowed to do it.