How Many Hoof Strikes

These calves were run 50 yards a day for 4 months and achieved substantial cannon bone thickening. So, we know that bone much like muscle responds to almost any exercise stimuli. Human walkers have stronger, denser tibia's than human couch potatoes and they never strike at 12,000 lbs./sq. inch.

But, we're talking about achieving fracture resistance at racing speed/distance, and so we require more out of our bone building than the grandmother out on her morning jaunt.

Additionally, when we're talking about how many hoof strikes it takes for desired remodeling we're also confronted with this:
A hoof structure, suspensory system, skeleton, designed to dissipate force. Was this what Mandella refers to in "On The Muscle" when he says the horse was built to run a mile. Thus, our "hoof strikes" are hardly the ball ping hammer hitting the steel anvil. It's more pillow hitting a pillow, hoof to forgiving surface, but with tremendous force.

And, in considering, we also need to understand what we mean by remodel, as there seems to be various versions of this process from thickening and growing, to filling in the bone matrix, to the osteoblasts filling in micro-fissures caused by overexertion. So, when we think what one single hoof strike at 12,000 lbs./sq. inch might do the thought process runs the gamut of what is possible in terms of remodeling.

Without studies, how many furlongs the horse has to progress at :12.5/f for remodeling is mostly guess work, though we have a little information.

First there are the calves. For the confined, unconditioned animal we may surmise that even one strike daily if the bone could stand up to it might cause significant effect. For a conditioned animal in training, I'm supposing that one strike, or 2,3,4 and so on up to about 30 does little besides keeping the bone from resorption, i.e. the first furlong or so, were we to stop there, at most maintains what's already there from the slower longer work.

I'm imagining that from the first strike as we progress down the track(and this presumes a warm up) the process begins with an awakening and awareness in the bone tissue, they're shook up a bit, the bone glue process tightens, and so forth. My guess would be that the shaking from the impact is what causes spaces in the latticework to fill up, and that the more shaking that occurs by continuing strikes the denser the fill up resulting from any single work.

To carry that one step further, I doubt any single work shakes up all that much tissue, but an accumulation of works will cause the gradual depositing with corresponding build up in bone glue and everything else in the bone tissue.

Since the weather is threatening us again, I'm off to the farm to get the training in early. Continue next post with what happens as the horse motors on down the track.

Training: Its hot and windy. We're so upset. But, tonight 2-3 inches of rain on top of our quagmire. It's depression. Minor hoof problem with Art last night. He was put in a boot and ridden under tack. But, has been unable to exercise for 4 days. 2 year old was off as all the problems with Art's feet ate up the daylight.