ROB'S SHOUT - WOORIM, A SMART RACEHORSE AND A PERFECT PATIENT

By Robert Heathcote | Thursday, September 23, 2010

Robert Heathcote is the leading racehorse trainer in Brisbane. 'Rob's Shout' - the personal blog of the premiership winning trainer will appear every Thursday on HRO.

Wow, arguably a couple of strides more and Woorim may well have won the connections and I a coveted Group One in last week's Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes
at Caulfield.

Whilst it was a bit frustrating to just miss out on the Group One prize, we were all delighted with the effort put up by this very, very good race horse.

I have often said that he has the best final closing 200m sprint of any horse I have ever trained and you could see why with his explosive finish to just miss out on the win last Saturday.

The electronically timed sectional was in fact the fastest of the entire day which is further proof on such a big day, which included the superb win of So You Think, of how strong this horse can be over the final stages of a race.

Two, maybe three more strides were needed and it would have been champagne all round!

It has also been well documented that we have had quite a number of hoof issues with this very talented galloper.

When we have his feet right and 'pain free', there is no doubt that he can match it with the best!

So what exactly are his problems?

Woorim suffers from what is often referred to as 'Long Tie / Low Heal Syndrome' which is a minor defect in how his hooves are shaped and grow.

This causes him to have very 'flat' feet which cause him to get heel bruises very easily.

He is a constant work in progress. Great care has to be taken with all his farrier work. In his case we are fortunate that my farrier, Chris McMullen, has done a superb job with him and we are quite fortunate that the guru of Melbourne farrier's in Peter Strafford is working with us whist Woorim is down in Melbourne.

Chris often has to unload his heals which further takes pressure off the horse.

Woorim has a feed additive which is high in the B Complex vitamin called Biotin. This assists in various metabolic reactions in the horse and is recommended for strengthening and promoting hoof growth.

We also have been using a hoof bath for him with very positive results.

Epsom salts with age old washing soda added. No idea where this came from, but Chris's grandfathers grandfather used it with success and it's still working for us!

Quite funny really in today's age of optimum airport security … when I recently flew down to Melbourne with 3 x 1 kilo bags of white washing soda, a set of aluminium racing plates and my mobile phone in a carry bag!

The alarms did go off at the airport, but all was well after some fast talking explanations and when they put the explosives tester over my bag and it came up negative!

Woorim is a great patient as well. He gets his foot bath after each working session and he patiently stands there while his hoof is being bathed and he lifts it out when he 'feels' he has had enough.

Remarkable really and he makes it a real pleasure to work with him.

This is also where some credit has to be given to my staff, Melissa and Robert who diligently attend to him after each track work session. Time consuming but very well worth it when we see the achievable fruits of our labour!

I have done a bit of research in this area regarding his hoof issues and a few other horses I have and we are finding some good results using a new set of shoes on him which are called 'Rocker' shoes or plates.

These shoes or plates have a convex ground surface which sometimes give cause for them to be referred to as banana shoes.

They are designed to offer a self adjusting 'palmar-angle'. This can be rather technical with a simplified explanation being that they are designed to enhance the break over of the foot.

An excellent veterinarian in this field is Julian Wilmore who has done a lot of research in this area of horse care.

I have certainly improved my knowledge associated with these horse issues and the really good news for us with Woorim is that we are seeing the very positive results of our care and attention to his 'problem feet'!

We also regularly use clay to poultice his feet. This is packed into the soul of his feet and held in with bandages in an effort to create the optimum moisture level for his hooves.

The clay we use is just the regular potter’s clay we get from a local supplier and doing the job well for us.

I don't know if we will ever find the absolute best product or method that is fail safe but, in the meantime, we will continue to carry on with what we know that works and see if we can get that Group 1 prize that just alluded us last week.

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