Concussion And Bounding Stride At Speed

These photos show visually the bounding stride at speed and the elevation and extension of the front lead leg that you get only occasionally at the slower speeds below :12.5. Exhibit A, so to speak, that at top speeds the front leg comes down with greater force, the hoof hitting the track produces signficiantly more concussion, and that there is thus presumably a differing remodeling effect in horses doing :13s as opposed to :12s.

Absent studies I've tried to imagine what happens to the bone structure, and we're talking quantity of bone in terms of size and circumference and also quality interms of density, filling in the bone lattice work and matrix with mineralized and non-mineralized collagen and quite a few other structures.

My thoughts are that bone size, though affected by concussion, perhaps is more a function of distance and frequency of galloping. I can see how a trainer who consistently gallops horses two miles (Asmussen, Drysdale), even at slower speeds will get increase in cannon bone circumference but will leave that cannon deficient in quality. I'm imagining it is the concussion and force that causes the bone to fill in the spaces in the latticework. And further, that were we to dissect the cannons of horses doing :13s and :12s, I'm supposing we'd see a difference in bone quality that might in some instances be significant.

Can you train a horse to soundness doing only :13s? Wrap it up next post.

Training: yesterday afternoon marks the first time this winter I've made the farm trip and passed on training. That's significant for me cause it's never happened before as I always do something when I arrive. Yesterday, solid sheet of ice. Will post on our stable soon.