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Equine Affect

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18.01.2022 Wow!! A different perspective/way of looking at things underneath the skin. There is quite a bit of asymmetry going on.

18.01.2022 EQUINE BACK MOTION A lot of people have been asking on the earlier saddle post today about how much the horses back moves during exercise. There are a fair numb...er of papers now published on this but visuals are always good. Here is a short video of a horse walking and trotting on a treadmill viewed from above with painted markers along the spine and IMU's (orange) to record motion. Replayed at half normal speed Copyright Dr David Marlin 2020.

17.01.2022 Is there a link between the prevalence of poor hoof balance and poor posture? When things become increasingly common they begin to be considered normal. Rece...ntly I was asked about my discussions on the ideal posture of vertical metatarsals/carpals, this was questioned in the light of very few horses presenting with such a posture. Other studies have also shown that a straight hoof Pastern axis is also very rare (Craig 2020) and underrun heels are more common then good heels (Dyson 2011). There is an obvious pattern of unacceptable norms becoming accepted, but also they all relate to one another!!! Poor hoof proportions. I.e underrun heels/long toe low heel leads directly to a broken hoof Pastern axis and a broken hoof Pastern axis affects posture. To understand these relationships it’s important to understand that The horse’s foot is the primary avenue for the horse to obtain information about the physical features of the ground surface upon which it stands and moves. the generated nerve activity becomes incorporated into the different reflexes needed for movement, protective mechanisms and postural adjustments!! (Bowker et al. 2012). So when we have poor hoof balance in the majority of the population (Dyson 2011) this is affecting the proprioceptive in put from the feet, and the feedback from the mechanoreceptors in the tendons, as they have increased strain. This is why the majority of the population have poor posture! Not because poor posture is to be accepted as normal. The reason my social media rhetoric is one of encouraging the ideal is because, if we aim for the ideal we may miss it by a working tolerance, but if we accept unacceptable norms and don’t aim at all, then where do we draw the line between natural variation and what predisposes to pathology!! Further reading on unacceptable norms at this link... . https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com//the-unacceptable-n

17.01.2022 It really does take a team! Keeping a horse sound, athletic and, most importantly happy, to carry out the tasks asked of them, takes a selection of professionals and an educated owner. Make sure you know as much as you can.

14.01.2022 Why is it important to control soft ground surface interaction? Surfaces have been shown to be huge factors in the pathogenesis of soft tissue injuries in the ...horse. Hobbs et al. (2014) stated that surfaces a horse trains, works and competes on play a crucial role both in enhancing or limiting the horse’s ability to perform and in determining the risk of injury. Farriers can play a role in reducing that risk from the foot - surface interaction. We know that the orientation of the digit affects soft tissue strains in the distal limb and this holds true for their orientation when loaded on soft surfaces. Changing the surface areas of certain parts of the shoe can manipulate how much that area sinks into the soft surface. This can help to prevent and treat common soft tissue injuries. Further reading in the captions... Mustad Hoofcare

12.01.2022 Before backing your youngster please read - A horse ages roughly 3 times faster than a human. So a 90 year old human is a 30 year old horse. Both very old, usu...ally arthritic, don’t have many of their original teeth left, and very likely retired and enjoying the finer things in life. A 25 year old horse is a 75 year old human. Still works so far. A 20 year old horse is a 60 year old human. At that point where the body doesn’t work like it use to but the brain is all there and wants to be active. A 13 year old horse is a 39 year old human. Middle aged, prime of their life where their knowledge and physical ability are about equal. So let’s get down to the babies and work our way up. A 3 year old horse is a 9 year old child. A child. Not ready for work by a long stretch. We have moved past sending children down the mines. A 4 year old horse is a 12 year old child. Often will do odd jobs for pocket money, maybe a paper round, mowing lawns etc. Basically a 4 yo horse can start a bit of light work to earn their keep. A 5 year old horse is a 15 year old teenager. Think they know it all, cocky, and ready to up their work and responsibilities. Still quite weak and not fully developed so shouldn’t be at their physical limit but can start building strength. A 6 year old horse is an 18 year old human. An adult. Ready to work hard. Pushing your youngster too hard too young will result in failure of many body parts. Joints, tendons, ligaments as well as their brains. Waiting one year at the beginning can give a horse another 10 years of useful working life. Be patient with your pride and joy! Written by Vicky Fowler

10.01.2022 Knowledge is everything in training a horse. It is a fact that the more we know about the horses the better placed we are to train them in a humane and producti...ve way. When we study the patterns of a horse's behaviour, how they learn to react to certain things becomes obvious. But generally, we don't apply that objective mind - instead, we people want to make the horse into something more human, but we would do the horse more justice if we would see the horse for what it is. What we need to understand as riders and trainers is that a horse can't be held responsible for something they did even a few seconds ago, because the chances are it was a reactive response and not a calculated one, so the horse won't remember it. And our response will seem to the horse just a random act of punishment with no clear reason. That is what makes horses such wonderful animals, they don't seek to make our lives worse. There are other reasons why they act the way they do. This is an excerpt of the article series 'Conversations with Dr Andrew McLean', available to purchase here: https://www.esi-education.com//conversations-with-dr-andr/

09.01.2022 A little diagram to highlight the importance of monitoring gluteal muscle mass. The gluteal muscles are truly a window, providing a view in of the quality of ex...ercise and the bodies response to training. Atrophy or weakness can have an unzipping effect, causing other areas of the musculoskeletal system to be compromised and at risk of injury. It should also be noted that this solely considers muscle mass, and not tonicity; where a muscle should be well developed, this shouldn’t compromise on the quality of the muscle.

08.01.2022 Another great post by a great therapist!

08.01.2022 Cost of saddle fitting...

01.01.2022 The emotional cup is a fabulous metaphor of life for all of us. For our horses it's probably called The Emotional Bucket! We all need things that nourish and su...stain us physically, emotionally and psychologically. * click on the photo to see the full infographic **Thank you for the original inspiration of THE EMOTIONAL CUP by Upbility, Publisher of Therapy Resources.

01.01.2022 How important is the Poll in your horses posture? The small muscles that connect the head to the neck are critically important for postural information they ...contain 500x the density of muscle spindle cells compared to limb muscles. Afferent (towards the brain) information from this region is so critically important that there is not even a dermatome (skin sensory segment) associated with the C1 nerve all of the afferents go to postural control. - Dr Gellman See more