The Lead Leg Of Got Country Grip

Above is "Got Country Grip", a Paint Horse featured in this week's Blood Horse videos setting a world record for 350 yards en route to 15 straight wins, and once again the illustration of the forces working on the horse at these speeds. (Left click for better view.)

I watched Grip's lead leg hitting the track in both in real time and at slo mo at these much faster speeds than you see in thoroughbred races. We're looking here for hoof hitting track surface and deciphering what we see visually as this contact occurs. For any single clean hit on a pristine surface we consider the questions of severity and degree of forces operating and the manner in which the leg seems visually to adjust to these forces. It's a bit of a "stop action" thing as consider exactly what's going on.

The visual impression (at world record Paint Horse speed) is more the hoof "flicking" the ground instead of "hits" or "pounds". While I'll note that the impression of "flicking" fades just a bit in slow mo because there you can see that momentary instance where there is some jarring, the overall visual impression you get from watching the lead leg hit the track is more one of fairly easy absorption instead of overbearing force that might cause real damage.

BUT, this is only a visual inspection of a single hoof strike. I've noted before there are other ways to judge the event including being on the horse and "feeling" and "hearing" the degree of force from every stride. Note that feeling and hearing the strike give an impression of a much greater degree of force than you are able to pick up visually. I'd go as far as to say what you see with your eyeballs in a hoof strike almost makes no sense compared to what you feel and hear in terms of degree of force.

So, between watching, feeling and hearing any single hoof strike, where's the reality? I'll elaborate later, but I'd be surprised if there's any damage either at the macro or micro level from any single hit. I'd said you get 90 of those per mile race. I was mistaken. It's actually 230 hoof strikes per race--15 strides per furlong. Even if we conclude that any single hoof strike is unlikely to damage our horse, when we consider 230 of those it becomes a different ball game. I'll take a look at this at the cellular level and systemically in the next posts.

Training: It rained 11 or 12 days in July including the last 5 days straight. 2.1 inches Tues and Wed. We've given Rod off time over the last week as he seems to be in a growth spurt. I avoid exercise during growth spurts. Thus, the below is only for Art the three year old, though Rod did a little light galloping and trotting here and there.
Fri. 7/25: 6F riderless at max speed with warm up and warm downs.
Sat. 7/26: trotted 1 mile under tack.
Sun. 7/27: Off. Rain
Mon: 7/28: 2 miles riderless slow + 1 mile trot under tack
Tues. 7/29: Rain threatens but we get in 6f riderless near all out with warm ups and warm downs. Nice work for Art.
Wed. 7/3o Off. 2.1 inches of rain.