Justify lame

[kcmel]

@Essie

They are saying that he has scratches.

Well, he is a chestnut :lol:.

[LuvRedHeads]

@Texarkana

This is my take on the situation:

Justify is obviously lame. Bob Baffert is 100% capable of discerning lameness. But, I think in the hubbub, he mistook Jusitfy’s bad steps for balking at the cameras, hence the “you better get used to this” comment.

As for what the actual deal is, anyone’s guess is as good as mine. I think it was a terrible decision to parade a lame horse in front of the press. Although the more times I watch the video, the more I get the impression that Baffert et al. were not anticipating that level of discomfort from him when they took him out of the dirt shedrow and on to the gravel.

I 100% agree with this. Baffert is no dummy. I think the lameness behind when he walked Justify out on the gravel caught him by surprise, which is why he was quick to return him to the shedrow, once he realized what the situation was.

I really hope it is not major, but non-weight bearing/toe touching looked pretty extreme to me (not that I am a vet or even a Pro).

[Laurierace]

Corticosteroid aren’t banned to my knowledge, not sure what the withdrawal is these days though. Equiderma will clear it up quickly with no worries about testing

[Mara]

@Laurierace

Corticosteroid aren’t banned to my knowledge, not sure what the withdrawal is these days though. Equiderma will clear it up quickly with no worries about testing

Yes, but it’s important to give the inflammation and its cause adequate time to cool out and calm down…

[findeight]

You know, if he wouldn’t have presented the horse to the press, they’d be claiming he was lame because they refused to bring him out…

Dont know that walking him in tight circles stepping on and off random mats over a hard surface is helping anything. That’s not well thought out. At all.

Have had trouble with a Hunter or two after jumping in slop on regular footing ( not synthetic) coming up sore with conditions similar to scratches or aggaravating chronic cases. It’s not out if the question. Esoecially since, besides their daily baths, they’ve been schooling in mud for weeks with the rainy spell. I bet there’s lots of scratches trouble.

Not that I am defending anybody here…just that I’d trip over those dam mats myself and have experience with just how sore they can get. And really sore down low can create sore higher up trying to compensate or protect the area.

In my cases, 2/3 days keeping it bone dry, SMZs and various topical (non steroidal) scratches remedies cleared it right up. I hope that’s the case here, like to see this one back in two weeks.

[Samantha37]

I would say this is a load of crap, except my horse had an overnight explosion of skin fungus under wraps (yes, the guilt is very real and has lasted a long time) and he was hopping from one hind leg to the other because his skin hurt so badly. It took forever for them to heal totally and the hair grew back white. The vet had to come sedate him almost to knock out, and scrub the patches off because he was so violent when we tried to treat.

[Mardi]

@Samantha37

I would say this is a load of crap, except my horse had an overnight explosion of skin fungus under wraps (yes, the guilt is very real and has lasted a long time) and he was hopping from one hind leg to the other because his skin hurt so badly.

Was your horse more comfortable walking straight than when being turned in a small circle ? (just curious)

[Mardi]

@findeight

Dont know that walking him in tight circles stepping on and off random mats over a hard surface is helping anything. That’s not well thought out. At all.

.

Agree. If the horse was 100% sound, it wouldn’t have been a problem.

[findeight]

Know you didn’t direct that at me but mine didn’t look bad at all straight on a level surface. Uneven ground or little circles were positively wince worthy. Almost looks like this one stepped off one of those mats behind in the video while awkwardly doing the tiny circle. That wouldn’t help.

[Samantha37]

@Mardi

Was your horse more comfortable walking straight than when being turned in a small circle ? (just curious)

It was hard to say because he didn’t really turn in a bunch of tight circles- just going into the wash stall. Maybe slightly worse on the turn. And he did not look quite as lame as Justify, but it was also BH, not just the LH so perhaps the lameness in both evened it out some?!?

[EmilyM]

Not a race horse expert here.
Someone sent me the video. My first thought was abscess. If he did have scratches and ran in that horrible mud and even heaven forbid whacked some legs together, he could have raging cellulitis or lymphangitis that would make him that lame the next day. Been through it with a show horse. Horse showing in the 3’6 Sunday, call from the BM monday that his hind legs are touching and he’s crippled>> Lymphangitis. I imagine a top trainer such as Baffert would know if the horse had a serious injury the day after the biggest race of the year.

[Lord_Helpus]

He seemed sound this morning, walking the shed row. I think that Baffert knows how his horses are doing, so I will try not to second guess him. But if he thought the horse was lame, he never would have brought him out, and he certainly would not have been making tiny circles to the left.

After all, he waited until last Feb. to start him, and then, after a spectacular MSW win, he ran him in an optional allowance race because that was what the horse needed to progress.

[merrygoround]

Scratches can come on like a shot, particularly in susceptible horses. It is also,with the proper combo of medications, fairly easily treated. It just takes diligence, which I suspect Baffert’s crew has by the bucket load.

[RPM]

https://www.horseracingnation.com/news/No_Justify_wasnt_lame_after_Kentucky_Derby_win_very_minor_issue_123

[Palm_Beach]

@EmilyM

Not a race horse expert here.
Someone sent me the video. My first thought was abscess. If he did have scratches and ran in that horrible mud and even heaven forbid whacked some legs together, he could have raging cellulitis or lymphangitis that would make him that lame the next day.

Justify had the cleanest trip of any horse all day. There was no whacking any legs together.

[mommy_peanut]

Not going to armchair what’s wrong or not with Justify as I’m sure it’ll come to light one way or another, but I will point out that BB has stated Justify has had issue’s with scratches often before.
I’ve seen horse dead ass lame due to having a slight case. To the point you’d think they pulled something, had a major abscess, etc

[saratoga]

I want to know how scratches that bad could be cleared up instantly! Two of my horses have had it several times in the past- really sore, never dead lame like this though, and I’ve actually had to miss events with them because it generally takes weeks, or even one time months to heal. I cant fathom it going away in day! I suppose tho the drugs available to BB are a lot more powerful but still!

[Where_sMyWhite]

@saratoga

I suppose tho the drugs available to BB are a lot more powerful but still!

I suspect most of the drugs (don’t know what they would be) may not be race-day legal.

I’m with MP at this point. Hard to armchair based on what we saw on a short video and not knowing Justify’s history. Maybe BB doesn’t see him every day but someone on his staff does.

If he’s still 3-legged lame on Preakness day, he won’t even get in the gate and I suspect BB would scratch before waiting for a vet scratch.

[roseymare]

I just wish the coverage was not saying phrases like “he was not lame” “it is not lameness”

He was lame in the video. Now he may not be tomorrow and it very well may be scratches as I have seen horses painful with it. But he took lame steps and that needs to be acknowledge. And the other thing that annoyed me was the quote saying walking on the gravel made it worse. I have issues with that statement unless he was walking on those giant hunks of gravel that are sometimes beside creeks!

[Mac123]

I don’t understand how walking on gravel would make lameness from scratches worse. scratches head That being said, on a quick first glance I initially interpreted the funny steps as him getting fresh and wanting to bounce around. Then on closer view I realized they were bad steps. I could see with all the hubbub going on BB not realizing how sore the horse was, especially if it was mostly straight lines to get him out there, because he did look way better on the straight line.