Word: ruffianism
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...surprised that your story on Ruffian [July 21] contained none of the abuses of racing today...
There were immediate charges that the track was unusually fast that day, and thus too hard for Ruffian's legs. Replied Track Superintendent Joe King vehemently: "The day of the race, the 3%-inch sandy loam surface was normal, and we had normal moisture conditions." Other observers felt that Ruffian's first match race placed her under unusual stress. Noted one racehorse owner, "When you figure that 1,125 Ibs are being carried on cannon bones as thick as broomsticks, it is a wonder that such an accident doesn't happen more often." However, another compelling hypothesis...
...medical treatment given the huge filly caused more comment. Immediately after Ruffian, her foreleg in an air-inflated splint, was moved to her trainer's barn, a mob of doctors, track officials and hangers-on descended...
...retrospect, Veterinary Dr. William O. Reed, who runs the hospital, remarked, "I would have preferred to have been able to wait a day or so prior to surgery simply because the filly's condition was anything but stable." But most believed that the contamination in Ruffian's dirt-filled wound required an immediate operation. Once Ruffian was trucked to the equine hospital behind the Belmont track, Dr. Reed removed bone chips, repaired some of the ripped ligaments, flushed the wound with antibiotics and saline solutions and inserted drains. Then Dr. Edward C. Keefer, an orthopedist...
Untimely Death, The second-guessing among the experts was intense. Some questioned the failure to use more care in easing Ruffian out of the anaesthesia. When she awoke, she knocked off her cast in frenzy, which led to the decision to destroy her. Would other methods of treatment have worked? Continuous sedation is unrealistic because a horse lying too long on its side develops radial paralysis; placing a horse in a sling often impairs circulation and waste elimination and could cause death; finally, putting a horse on a rubber raft in a pool, so that kicking off a cast becomes...