HISA releases guidance for preventing shoulder fractures

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority released a new equine health advisory Monday that identifies key risk factors associated with fatal proximal forelimb fractures in Thoroughbreds. The advisory, which is based on data drawn from the HISA portal, provides practical guidance for trainers and veterinarians on how to help prevent these catastrophic injuries.

Fatal proximal forelimb, or humeral and scapular, fractures accounted for 15% of training fatalities reported to HISA by regulatory veterinarians in 2024. More than 40% of horses that experienced fatal proximal forelimb fractures that were reported to HISA had no recorded high-speed furlongs within the 60 days prior to the fracture occurring.

On average, horses with these fractures logged only 12.3 high-speed furlongs in the 60 days prior to injury. Horses with humeral fractures averaged only 5.9 high-speed furlongs in that same time frame.

These findings suggest that horses in early stages of training or those returning from an extended layoff may be at higher risk for fatal proximal forelimb fractures than previously recognized.

This marks the first time HISA is publicly sharing insights from its portal, making these findings available to the broader industry to support better-informed care, promote best practices and reduce the risk of equine injury and fatality. As HISA continues to collect and analyze exercise history data from across the country, it will issue additional advisories on other injury risk patterns. This effort reflects HISA’s broader mission to proactively identify risk factors and help industry participants make racing safer for both horses and riders.

“It is HISA’s goal to substantially reduce the number of these fatalities beginning in 2025. Building awareness is the first step. This advisory reflects our commitment to data-driven safety and highlights the collective responsibility we have as an industry to intercede for at-risk horses before injuries occur,” said Dr. Jennifer Durenberger, HISA director of equine safety and welfare. “Our goal is to translate this growing body of information in our Portal into actionable guidance that can make our sport safer.”

The full advisory is available on the HISA website in the resources section. It has been distributed to all trainers and veterinarians registered in the HISA portal.