Horses Movement

Evolution has allowed the horse to become an outstanding athlete, largely due to their power and speed. The modern horse can carry out various movements and jump obstacles which would have not been necessary for feral horses. Although horses have adapted well the increased pressures placed on them can unfortunately cause stresses and strains.

It is important for the rider and trainer to be aware of the way, in which the horse moves. The rider should being able to visualise the pattern in which the limbs make whilst carrying out various movements. This will help develop a greater feel for what is correct and a greater understanding of how the horse moves.

The walk is a four beat pattern with a lateral footfall sequence, when observing a horses walk the footfalls should be equally placed showing a regular rhythm. There are four types of walk, recognised in equestrian sports, collected, extended, medium and free walk. A horse that walks well is believed to have a good regular rhythm however it has been observed that a proportion of horses studied at a national competition had irregular walk patterns (Clayton 1995).

The trot is a two beat pattern with diagonal limbs moving in a synchronised manner, with the footfalls of the diagonal limb pairs being evenly spaced out. There is a moment of suspension within the trot which follows the diagonal limb movement. (Holstrom et al 1995) studied the horses trot using slow motion technology similar to the Equinalysis system, and concluded that positive advanced placement of the limb is considered to be a desirable characteristic, indicating the horse is well balanced. However this does not suggest that horses which do not have an advanced limb placement are of less quality. Research carried out during the Seoul Olympics identified that 15% of the Olympic dressage horses showed that during the extended trot there was negative placement.

Negative placement is when the hind limb makes contact with the ground after the fore limb. Positive placement is when the hind limb makes contact with the ground before the fore limb. Positive placement is usually seen in collected trot which is when riders are encouraging the horse to engage their quarters as a means to elevate the forehand.

The canter is the only asymmetrical gait of the horse having a transverse sequence of limb placement. Similar to the walk and the trot there are four types of canter, medium, collected, extended and working, which are determined by a change in speed. Due to the horses innate ability to flee or fight, the horse has an outstanding ability to move quickly. There are two main components of speed, stride frequency (the number of limb cycles) and the stride length ( the ground distance covered by one stride).

In horses that have chronic lameness there will be a visual difference in limb movement. Forelimb lameness is associated with an elevated head carriage during the stance phase of the affected limb, during the stance phase of the unaffected limb the head is lowered, creating nodding of the head. New research has shown that the head movement can identify lameness, during the stance phase of the affected limb the amplitude of head oscillation decreased compared to the increase seen during the contra lateral stance phase (Bucher et al 1996).

Horses with suspected hind limb lameness will show signs of an elevated croup during the stance phase of the affected limb, and lowering of the croup during the stance phase of the unaffected limb, there will also be alterations in trunk and neck movement whilst trotting. When assessing lameness a hard surface should be used and dynamic observations should be made at both walk and trot.

Subtle lameness can be identified with the use of the Equinalaysis software, providing great use in diagnosing cases, where other methods have not been successful. This allows horses to be treated correctly and a rehabilitation programme set which is specific to the injury and the horse. Also providing confidence in returning horses back to work, for those horses who have been out of work for a long time due to an injury where the true origin of the injury is not known.