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Horse. --- Hurdle racing. --- Hurdle. --- Risk-factors. --- Risk.

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Reasons for performing study: Falls during racing present a risk of injury to both horse and jockey and a risk of fatality to horses. Objectives: To use video recordings of races to describe the circumstances surrounding horse falls at hurdle and steeplechase fences and to identify and quantify within-race risk factors for horse falls in National Hunt racing in the UK. Methods: A retrospective, matched, nested case-control study using video recordings of races was conducted on 6 UK racecourses. Cases and controls were matched on both race type and jump number at which the fall occurred. Conditional logistic regression analysis was used to examine the univariable and multivariable relationship between predictor variables and the risk of failing. Results: The risk of falling was significantly associated with whip use and race progress. Horses which were being whipped and progressing through the race were at greater than 7 times the risk of falling compared to horses which were not being whipped and which had no change in position or lost position through the field. Conclusions: This study has identified whip use and the position of the horse with respect to others in the field as potential risk factors for horse falls. Potential relevance: If these findings are confirmed by the use of intervention trials (eg. with whip-free or restricted whip use races), modifications could be introduced which would reduce the frequency of horse falls, leading to improved equine welfare

Analysis. --- Cohort. --- Control. --- Eg. --- Equine. --- Fatalities. --- Fatality. --- Field. --- Frequency. --- Horse. --- Horses. --- Hurdle. --- Injuries. --- Injury. --- Method. --- Musculoskeletal injuries. --- Physical inspection. --- Position. --- Racehorse. --- Relevance. --- Retrospective. --- Risk-factors. --- Risk. --- Thoroughbreds. --- Time. --- Uk. --- Video. --- Welfare.

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We identified risk factors associated with falling during steeplechase racing. We used retrospective data from all steeplechase runs on UK racecourses during 1999: 10,866 starts with 647 horse falls. The relationship between continuous variables and falling was assessed using generalised additive models (GAMs). Polynomial fits then were included in a multilevel, multivariable logistic-regression model. The number of runners had a linear, positive association with the risk of falling. The distance of the race had a non-linear relationship with the risk of falling; the risk steadily increased in races up to 23 furlongs (1 furlong similar to 198 m), and then decreased in longer races. Age also had a significant, non-linear relationship with the risk of falling: a decreasing risk up to 12 years of age followed by an increasing risk in older horses. Horses that wore visors and had raced previously were associated with a decrease in the risk of falling. Intra-class correlation coefficients (ICCs) showed that although most of the variation resided at the start (level 1), a proportion of variation in the risk of falling could be attributed to horse and race. Trainer and jockey contributed very little to the variation in the risk of falling. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved

Age. --- Association. --- Boxes. --- Distance. --- Falling. --- Fatalities. --- Flat. --- Generalised additive models. --- Horse. --- Horses. --- Level. --- Model. --- Models. --- Multilevel models. --- Racehorse. --- Random effects. --- Retrospective. --- Risk-factors. --- Risk. --- Steeplechasing. --- Time. --- Uk. --- Variation.