ABSTRACT
Performance-oriented horsemen have two major goals: to make the most of each horse, and to develop the super horse. Traditional methods of trying to reach these goals have been extremely wasteful. They waste potential never realized, they waste effort on horses who are never going to make it, and they waste time and money on injury and down time which could have been anticipated and prevented. The serious breeder, of performance horses therefore has additional needs which are in no wise met by conventional methods. Most athletic injury is in fact not accidental but the result of ill-advised or inappropriate work or performance schedules. What follows is a discussion of the application of scientific measurements using the basic principles to the goals of early assessment, optimal development, and minimal risk in the horse athlete. The non-oxygen using fast twitch fibers are representative of the all-out sprinting horse such as the Quarter racing horse.
