HORSES
ORC Death Registry: 2003-2013 postmortem summaries
Josepha DeLay
The Ontario Racing Commission Death Registry has been in place for 11 years and continues to provide excellent data regarding the causes of morbidity and mortality in racehorses in this province. Fewer fracture cases were submitted from 2008 to 2012, but these are again receiving more attention. The breed distribution continues to be ~50:50 Standardbred:Thoroughbred, with occasional Quarter Horses. See Table 1 for summaries of diagnoses.
Table 1. Postmortem diagnoses of ORC Death Registry submissions by body system, 2003-2013.
|
Diagnosis by body system: |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
2007 |
2008 |
2009 |
2010 |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
|
Fracture / limbs |
53 |
69 |
48 |
42 |
54 |
16 |
4 |
9 |
6 |
2 |
23 |
|
Fracture / other |
10 |
4 |
7 |
13 |
10 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
|
Non-fracture musculoskeletal |
8 |
6 |
6 |
8 |
6 |
5 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
|
Gastrointestinal |
15 |
19 |
17 |
16 |
18 |
5 |
4 |
7 |
5 |
6 |
4 |
|
Respiratory, including EIPH |
21 |
17 |
9 |
11 |
16 |
9 |
21 |
6 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
|
Cardiovascular |
5 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
2 |
4 |
1 |
7 |
|
CNS |
6 |
11 |
7 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
|
Integumentary |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Renal |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Hematopoeitic |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
Whole body, e.g., septicemia |
1 |
7 |
5 |
2 |
9 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
|
Cause of death undetermined |
4 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
2 |
5 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
0 |
Total |
125 |
142 |
110 |
107 |
122 |
51 |
45 |
32 |
46 |
34 |
48 |