Historically, lameness exams involve watching a horse move, often at the walk and trot, in a straight line or in a circle. New research suggests that a horse gives clues to his soundness even while standing still, reports EQUUS magazine.
Dr. Judith Shoemaker observed that a healthy horse stands squarely. A horse that stands with his legs tucked under his body is more likely to have chronic or recurring lameness like navicular syndrome, suspensory and hock issues, or back pain. It is not clear whether the way a horse stands causes these issues or if these issues cause a horse to stand that way.
A horse that stands canted-in also often has dental and hoof capsule issues, which might be sending distorted signals to the brain about what posture feels correct. Once the hooves, teeth, and poll issues are remedied, the horse's posture returns to normal.
Dr. Karen Gellman received a grant from the American Holistic Veterinary Medical Foundation to research which is the initial cause: the physical issue or the postural stance. She worked with Dr. Andy Ruina, a professor of mechanical engineering at Cornell University to create a model of a standing horse that would explore postural stability. Human postural stability is modeled in a similar way.
The 2D model included a trunk that represented the back, head and neck as a horizontal line, and single vertical lines for the front and back legs. Theoretical “springs” acted as the horse's shoulders and hips. The researchers sought to find out how much neuromuscular effort the model horse needed to stabilize its stance at different leg angles (postures). The stiffer the springs needed to be to stabilize the model, the more effort the horse must exert to maintain his posture.
The researchers found that a horse must expend twice as much neuromuscular effort to stabilize his body when he stands canted in than when he stands squarely: this stance places additional strain on the joints, hooves, muscles, and back.
However, a horse that stands parked out, with his legs out in front of and behind his trunk, uses less effort than a horse that is standing square. Similar to humans who spread their legs when picking up a heavy object, a horse pulling a heavy load or a mare who is pregnant may stand in a camped-out stance to ease the stress on her back and limbs.
Further research is needed to determine why a horse would adopt a stance that requires more energy use.
Read more at EQUUS magazine.
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