Conservative just wasn’t pleasing us in his homework, so we got the vet to X-ray his back, and sure enough that did show that there was an issue. 

It’s a common problem, and it was preventing him from really striding out, but the good news is the most common treatment is an injection that we’ve given him. In a large percentage of cases, this is very effective.

This course of treatment also means that Conservative doesn’t require a lay-off of any significant amount of time, so we’ll monitor him over the next week or so, and we should see signs that he’s moving well again.

It was a frustrating setback, but as soon as we’ve got his fitness levels back up, there will be plenty of opportunities for him on the all-weather. There’s no reason why we can’t have a decent run through the winter months with him.

Scott Dixon, Coral Racing Club Trainer