The 2023 Cheltenham Festival was once again a successful event on the international National Hunt calendar. There were some memorable performances that will go down in history in the sport.
This year’s Festival also gave us an insight into who the biggest stars are going to be in jump racing over the next few years across the respective divisions, with Constitution Hill and Galopin Des Champs among those who stole the headlines.
Heading into this year’s Champion Hurdle, Constitution Hill had already established himself as a hurdler who could be very special. He has won all five of his previous appearances over hurdles comfortably, including in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, Fighting Fifth Hurdle, and Christmas Hurdle, three Grade One races.
The Champion Hurdle was set to be the horse’s biggest test so far, with 2023 Irish Champion Hurdle winner State Man being a strong rival. However, Nicky Henderson’s star blew the field away again, coming home at a canter at Cheltenham. Just like he had previously, he scored with ease in arguably what was the performance of the week.
Constitution Hill is now being compared with the greatest hurdlers of all time, and he has left his connections with a big decision to make over the summer months. They need to decide if they should remain over hurdles and win as many Champion Hurdles as possible, or if to switch their horse to fences to take on races like the Arkle Trophy and Cheltenham Gold Cup.
In search of the Baguales, the last wild horses in Patagonia. The last herd of wild horses. In support of the protection of the Baguales for future generations.
by Kentucky Equine Research Staff
Conception problems are the bane of a broodmare manager’s existence.
“Broodmares are notoriously difficult to manage and early pregnancy loss occurs relatively commonly,” said Laura Petroski-Rose, B.V.M.S., a veterinarian at Kentucky Equine Research.
“Compared to mares that can’t stay in foal, failure to become pregnant is a different scenario wrought with a separate set of concerns,” she added. Reasons why mares may not become pregnant, ranging from easy fixes to the worst-case scenarios, include:
The mare was not in heat when bred due to a persistent corpus luteum (hormone-producing follicle on the ovary stopping ovulation) or is in a transitional phase of estrus or even in anestrus;
Silent heat, possibly because she did not like the stallion, her environment, or may be protecting her foal. Some mares never show outward signs of estrus;
by Alessandra Deerinck
The connection between humans and horses has always been strong and universally evident ... Opposites attract. Horses do not change their surroundings, adapt to survive wherever they find food, water and other horses, and live always alert, completely immersed in the environment. On the other side of the spectrum, man, by nature, tends to modify everything to fulfill his life needs. For example, he builds houses that allow him to live in safety, abstracting himself from the surrounding environment.
When man met the horse he tamed it, because it seemed a resource to improve life ... and so it was! Over the centuries, humans have even modified the original equine species, creating breeds that have genetic traits that can satisfy human needs and desires. The horse has been able to adapt to survive in conditions that are extremely different from the natural ones for him, allowing man to build entire civilizations. Nowadays the original functions that the horse has had in human life are performed by mechanical means, but, once again, due to their flexible nature, horses still find a place in our life as men of the twenty-first century.
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