% front wraps

[johnhenry81]

Can anyone quick query the % of horses that wear front wraps now, versus 10 or 15 years ago? this would settle a discussion between a couple guys.

thanks,
jh

[RonTiller]

Steady decline in percentage wearing front warps since 1995:

1995... 24.4%
2005... 23.4%
2010....21.4%
2019....19.7%

Ron Tiller
HDW

[johnhenry81]

thanks for the answer! I lost the bet

[johnhenry81]

Could that mean that horses are sounder??

Or has the training community concluded that a piece of cloth has little chance against 1200 lbs. of speeding muscle.

[mountainman]

Originally Posted by RonTiller

Steady decline in percentage wearing front warps since 1995:

1995... 24.4%
2005... 23.4%
2010....21.4%
2019....19.7%

Ron Tiller
HDW

My hunch is the decline stems more from evolving surface composition and maintenance measures than from comparative soundness of the breed.

Fronts aren't always for support, in some instances they are used to prevent horses from "running down." Scraping the fetlock, that is, which can burn the sesamoid. Bandages employed for this purpose are indistinguishable from those applied for support.

Also, the stats do raise an obvious question, sir: Do they incorporate synthetic footing?

[lamboguy]

agree with the above post...

the only thing i can add is that often times horses show up for the first time with front wraps on for the first time and they don't run well. i happen to have caught an example of that at Mountaineer last night.. the horse was the favorite and finished a poor 3rd. if the horse comes back in 2 weeks in the same condition i will probably play him...

first time front wraps can signal a problem, or it may be a new thing for the horse that takes a race or 2 to adjust to wearing them.

[mountainman]

Flowzano. I was all over it on the air.