It’s What You Say, Not How You Say It I was just reading some of the usual propaganda from the usual suspects, concerning injuries at two of the greyhound tracks in the US, specifically the venues in West Virginia. Between January 2008 and June 2012, 30% of those injuries were “career ending”. So that begs the question, what constitutes a “career ending” injury? We certainly can’t rely on people who still haven’t learned to hold onto their greyhound’s leash in public to know one when they see one. But career ending sounds pretty serious. What on earth can they mean? Well let’s see. In the worst-case scenario, a displaced fracture of the central tarsal bone in the hock is almost always career ending. Thanks to the miracles of modern veterinary surgery, these injuries are usually operable, and greyhounds who sustain them, usually go on to have perfectly happy and fulfilling lives as pets. Greyhound professionals will all tell you that hock injuries are the most common of the career ending type. Or are they? The first pet I adopted was a greyhound who was pushing 4 years of age, had run over 100 races, and who dinged one of his toes. Didn’t break it, just split open a cuticle. The trainer decided, given the dog’s age and the fact that he owed no one so much as a dime, that this minor injury was to be “career ending”, and so I had my first greyhound pet. I can recall a nice Raynham grade A greyhound, owned by one of the largest and most successful kennel operations in the country, who cramped one day in a grade A matinee race. He was fine afterwards, just a bit sore. He was 40 months of age, and a sterling character, a true prince of a greyhound, who had been a stalwart competitor in Florida on the major circuit in his heyday. Splendid behavior. I knew a lady who had just lost her greyhound, and who wanted another. I phoned the greedy, mercenary, cold-blooded owner, and asked him if I could pet out this grade A dog, who would have missed maybe one or two starts as a result of the minor trauma he suffered. The answer was, “Sure”. Whoops. Another “career ending” injury. As a matter of fact, older greyhounds who have had long and successful careers, often sustain minor injuries that are “career ending”, only in the sense that a racing career has to end at some point. We might also say that these injuries are “career beginning”, for the vast majority of greyhounds who sustain them, and for whom a nagging injury or even a traumatic injury is their ticket into an adoption program, and a new life as a pet. But that wouldn’t fill too many fishbowls, would it? copyright, 2013
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 02:31:52 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015