Shoeless in Lexington: Polytrack Podiatry at Keeneland's Last Artificial Surface Meet

An interesting experiment was available to bettors Sunday at Kentucky's Keeneland racecourse as trainer Wayne Rice prepared to send no less than six horses to the post in five races. None of them would be wearing shoes.




Rice's attempts to beat both other horses and the Keeneland Polytrack surface at its own game have been documented on The Hoof Blog in the past. He's had mixed results. He

On the Case: Foal Foot Bone Sequestrum Infection, Surgery and Recovery with Fraley Equine Podiatry

"It's just a gravel." "This wet weather is causing him to abscess." "He gets an abscess every winter." "He's been lame from that abscess for too long..."

When is it time to worry about a hoof abscess? When it grows from a sniper site of infection to a battlefield, when a horse does not respond to standard antibiotic treatment, or when it becomes obvious that it's not an abscess, after all.