Keeneland Breeders’ Cup

A Game of Flight

 

 

 

Flightline is some name, some horse. El Invicto is what the caballerangos have nicked him (speaking of nicks, he has them inside and out). El Baron, some say. So far, all true. Scars, vitiligo, run, this horse has it all.

Keeneland is some venue, set amongst bluegrass farms sporting fields upon fields of horses, yearlings with cohorts racing around together at speed building their confidence and awareness to run by and through horses. Watch the horses run, watch them race in circles in tight company as they evolved to do, a sight to behold. Horseracing matches the horse’s evolved survival mechanisms as close as any horse sport out there. Horses evolved to run in tight company at speed. Their facial whiskers, vibrissae, help them judge nearby horses’ speed, acceleration, gait, and proximity. 

Outriders riding home for the day, vibrissae intact.

Vibrissae are essential sensory structures that allow horses to race safely at speed in close company, spatial locators of not only their position, but other horses’ shifting spatial positions surroudning them. Their whiskers can feel the rail, sense the going, know the acceleration of others approaching or departing, and so much more that we do not know. The amount of brain tissue to which vibrissae deliver information is considerable, informing neurologists of the critical survival and protection functions of horses’ treasured facial hairs.

Flight is the long-evolved survival mechanism of the horse, a foremost survival line. Flightline is a fine and right name for a winner. Sometimes to survive, a horse just has to run faster than all the others, such as we have here. But as it goes in the survival game, if Flightline flies too fast too early, Rich Strike and Life is Good are apt to run him down deep stretch. Those two are full of wind, while Flightline races full of speed. The rail is firm today. You can see footsteps sinking deeper the further they walk from the rail.

Sensation keeps running horses on their feet. Horses survive by feeling, sighting, hearing, and smelling with an ancillary smelling apparatus known as the vomeronasal gland. With this information, they flee their predators, and how, their vibrissae keeping them upright. Coastal horses’ vibrissae tell them to seek high ground well before the Tsunami arrives. Vibrissae are a weather station of sorts, sensing atmospheric conditions and responding in kind.

Equine locomotion is complex, as fascinating as any of their predators’, whom they have managed to stay one stride ahead of as a species. That quick start can cover ground, as we see out of the starting gate, an act horses evolved to excel. 

Quick starts can save lives or win races, or lose them. Horses are born to quickness. They bolt, as they say, and they bolt in unison. Safety in numbers utilizes teamwork, which is communication, silent communication in the case of the horse, a beautifully silent species in natural settings. Can you hear the horses grazing the open high country? No. Kinetic empathy is their talk, a scientific term I adopted to describe their gesture language. Awareness of each other’s ear flicks and tail moves, and by that, I mean every flick and snap. This constant contact with others is coupled with a keen awareness of their surroundings, dozens of eyes watching for anything different, all eyes connected by tails, by ears, and by vibrissae. In order to outrun big cats, one must get the jump, and that requires perception. The keenest perceptionists survive.  

After the merging of horses and humans, flight was selectively bred out of many horses, save the military and racehorses. In the world of bloodhorses, the flightiest horse wins to this day. Take flight away from a thoroughbred at any stage along the line, especially fillies, and you will fail to develop a winner. Treat them inappropriately, fail to fulfill their social, sensory, and movement needs, and they will refuse to run to win. Nurture willing partnerships, and you’ll have your winners. Nurture that flight, subdue it carefully, if at all. Re-create a natural existence for your race horse, and cash those lucrative gambles in.

Draft horses are bred for docility, not so the blooded thoroughblood. Flight passes on flight for generations onward, flight and sight, into the yearling sale they go. 40 million years of flight naturally bred into the horse since she left the forest for the plains, and five thousand years of selective breeding to suppress the flight gene to assist in training and drayage, to facilitate the horse as a beast of burden, rather than a beast of speed. Until racing captured the fascination of man, which must have been early. Once willing partnerships became established, mankind could get away with selecting for or against flight. Two divergent paths emerged, breeding for flight or speed, or breeding for docility and trainability. Thoroughbreds and mules require the most sophisticated teachers. These creatures must be taught as horses teach other horses, which is softly, and clearly. Unambiguous, sensitive, patient, and knowing.

Kinetic empathy is the scientific term to describe communication via movement, the utilization of gesture language. In addition to kinetic empathy, there is also haptic empathy, a language of touch, a haptic language, haptic like your vibrating phone, but in the case of the horse and human; finger to rein to bit to tongue to cheek to mind to a bodily response, a change of leads or directions. The more subtle the cue the better. That said, the cue must be unambiguous to the horse. Operant conditioning: pressure is applied, and then released as the request is answered. Cues are the pressure eliciting a conditioned or taught response. The primary reward is the release of pressure (negative reinforcement), along with a reward (positive reinforcement) such as verbal approval or stroking the withers or neck. It is said stroking or rubbing is better than patting, as horses seldom pat one another but are often observed rubbing and stroking the other, which should be imitated. 

The Keeneland turf firms up 10 feet or so away from the rail. No training allowed today. Rail lanes will be different.

The less punishment there is the more reliable the horse becomes, as there is less fear in the relationship. The more the horse’s needs to socialize, forage, and move about, the more dependable the horse is. Horses are neophobic, suspicious of all new places, motions, things, creatures, and persons. That flight trait kicks in each and every time they see something new. Until a new object, sound, human, place, or environment is deemed safe, the horse will usually attempt to avoid or flee it. Neophobia. If a horse is expected to perform in a certain environment in front of an audience of people, the horse must be habituated to that environment.

                                                         Chain of Love in isolation, gallops daily, lavished with morning attention and afternoon walking. Fit and calm. Post 6

 Dr Gustafson graduated from Washington State University as a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine in 1979. He is a practicing veterinarian, animal welfare journalist, equine behavior educator, and novelist. The application of behavioral science to the husbandry of horses enhances optimal health, performance, soundness, contentment, and longevity. Behavioral, social, locomotory, and nutritional strategies enhance the prosperity, vigor, and health of stabled horses. Sid offers veterinary care, training, husbandry, and conditioning from the horse's perspective to achieve willing and winning equine partnerships with humans.