{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T08:51:40Z","timestamp":1791363100942,"version":"4.3.1"},"reference-count":35,"publisher":"The Royal Society","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791331200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Hong Kong Jockey Club Equine Welfare Research Foundation","award":["MRG-2023-231012"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["MRG-2023-231012"]}],"id":[{"id":"https:\/\/ror.org\/015ygrv52","id-type":"ROR","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100010313","name":"Racing Victoria Ltd","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100010313","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Victorian Racing Industry Fund"},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001782","name":"The University of Melbourne","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001782","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Musculoskeletal injuries (MSI) in Thoroughbred racehorses are a leading cause of death and premature retirement, and are heavily influenced by training practices. Greater distances of high-speed galloping accumulated during racing campaigns are associated with MSI. Bone injury is the most common MSI, and understanding how training practices influence bone damage accumulation is critical for improving both horse welfare and racing outcomes. This study builds on an existing mathematical model of bone adaptation and damage to investigate the impact of different training programmes on bone injury risk. Several training programmes (three progressive, four race-fit, six rest programmes and two with rest replaced by low-intensity training) were constructed to reflect representative practices undertaken by professional trainers in Victoria, Australia. Training programmes varied in training volume, rest frequency and programme duration. Lower-volume training programmes that included high-speed training achieved sufficient bone adaptation with less accumulation of bone damage, and subsequently lower risk of bone failure. In addition, incorporating more frequent rests (minimum of two per year) and\/or longer rest periods (minimum of six weeks) reduced bone damage owing to the extended opportunity to remove and repair bone damage. These results provide an in silico mathematical model of the bone's response to training, demonstrating the effects of training programmes on bone adaptation, damage formation and repair. The findings can guide the design of training programmes that balance both bone adaptation and bone health throughout a horse's racing career.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1098\/rsos.260818","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T00:09:40Z","timestamp":1791331780000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Balancing training load, rest and musculoskeletal injury risk: a mathematical modelling study in Thoroughbred racehorses"],"prefix":"10.1098","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8302-1266","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Md Nurul","family":"Anwar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Equine Centre, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 1 , Werribee, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"School of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 2 , Parkville, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8978-7350","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Michael","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Equine Centre, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 1 , Werribee, Victoria, Australia"},{"name":"School of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 2 , Parkville, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2776-4273","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Ashleigh V.","family":"Morrice-West","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Equine Centre, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 1 , Werribee, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2415-0778","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fatemeh","family":"Malekipour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology, The University of Melbourne 3 , Parkville, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9183-530X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peter","family":"Pivonka","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology 4 , Brisbane, Queensland, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8809-726X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jennifer A.","family":"Flegg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Mathematics and Statistics, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 2 , Parkville, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0012-4065","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"R Chris","family":"Whitton","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Equine Centre, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 1 , Werribee, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7528-7056","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Peta L.","family":"Hitchens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Equine Centre, Melbourne Veterinary School, Faculty of Science, The University of Melbourne 1 , Werribee, Victoria, Australia"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"175","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"2026100704093106000_RSOS260818C1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tvjl.2018.11.014","article-title":"Meta-analysis of risk factors for racehorse catastrophic musculoskeletal injury in flat racing","volume":"245","author":"Hitchens","year":"2019","journal-title":"Vet. 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Sci."},{"key":"2026100704093106000_RSOS260818C7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"273","DOI":"10.1111\/evj.13156","article-title":"Training practices, speed and distances undertaken by Thoroughbred racehorses in Victoria, Australia","volume":"52","author":"Morrice-West","year":"2020","journal-title":"Equine Vet. J."},{"key":"2026100704093106000_RSOS260818C8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"443","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tvjl.2014.09.010","article-title":"Thoroughbred horses in race training have lower levels of subchondral bone remodelling in highly loaded regions of the distal metacarpus compared to horses resting from training","volume":"202","author":"Holmes","year":"2014","journal-title":"Vet. 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Res."}],"container-title":["Royal Society Open Science"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/rsos\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1098\/rsos.260818\/6169531\/rsos.260818.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"syndication"},{"URL":"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/rsos\/article-pdf\/doi\/10.1098\/rsos.260818\/6169531\/rsos.260818.pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T08:09:45Z","timestamp":1791360585000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/rsos\/article\/13\/10\/260818\/483549\/Balancing-training-load-rest-and-musculoskeletal"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"references-count":35,"journal-issue":{"issue":"10","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1098\/rsos.260818","relation":{},"ISSN":["2054-5703"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2054-5703","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]]},"article-number":"260818"}}