A preliminary study on pressure-plate evaluation of forelimb toe-heel and mediolateral hoof balance on a hard vs. a soft surface in sound ponies at the walk and trot.

The research paper is a preliminary study that compares the effects of walking and trotting on hard surfaces versus soft surfaces (like sand) on the hooves of sound ponies. By using a pressure plate analysis, the study found that the soft surface distribute load more evenly, leading to lower loading on the hoof, primarily due to the dampening effect of the substrate.

Objective and Methods

• The study’s objective was to evaluate the use of a pressure plate to analyze the effects of different surfaces (hard vs soft) on a pony’s forelimb toe-heel and mediolateral hoof balance. This is significant as equines often perform on deformable or soft substrates and the analysis till now has been primarily on hard surfaces.
• The research design involved a nonrandomised crossover study using noninvasive techniques.
• The study utilized five sound, unshod ponies which were walked and trotted over a pressure plate in two different conditions. The first one involved covering the pressure plate with merely a 5mm rubber mat (hard surface) and the second involved adding a 50mm layer of sand and synthetic fibres (soft surface) over the pressure plate.
• A range of limb loading and timing variables such as peak vertical force, vertical impulse, peak vertical pressure, hoof contact area and stance phase duration were measured.

Results

• The study found that values for peak vertical force, vertical impulse, peak vertical pressure, and stance phase duration were decreased when the ponies were on the soft substrate, compared to the hard one. Essentially, there was more even load distribution on the soft surface.
• Furthermore, it was observed that upon impact, there was a more uniform distribution of load between the toe and heel region when the ponies were on the soft surface, as compared to the hard one.
• Different loadings were observed between the walk and trot. At walk, a more even load distribution between lateral and medial was on the soft surface. However, this was not replicated at trot.

Conclusions

• The dampening effect of the soft substrate was identified as the key factor contributing to lesser loading on the hoof on the soft surface. However, the study suggests that further research with concurrent force-plate analysis would be required for definitive conclusions.
• The study demonstrated that the pressure plate allows for quantitative evaluation of hoof balance on a deformable surface at both the trot and walk, and proved that there is more even load distribution on soft surfaces like arena footing.