Effect of circle, surface type and stride duration on vertical head and pelvis movement in riding horses with pre-existing movement asymmetries in trot.
Abstract: Head and pelvis vertical movement asymmetries in horses are often evaluated under different conditions yet better understanding is required of how these asymmetries are altered by factors such as surface type or circle size. This study investigated how stride duration, surface and lungeing in circles of different sizes influenced objectively measured head and pelvis movement asymmetries in riding horses in full training. Movement asymmetries were recorded with body mounted accelerometers and were based on the differences between the two vertical displacement minima or maxima of head (HDmin, HDmax) and pelvis (PDmin, PDmax) within a stride cycle. Each horse was evaluated during straight-line trot and during lungeing (d = 10m/15m) on hard and soft surfaces at slow and fast speed (determined by stride duration). All horses (N = 76) had at least one movement asymmetry parameter above a predefined thresholds (|HDmin| or |HDmax| >6mm, |PDmin| or |PDmax| >3mm) during a straight line trot on hard surface (baseline). The horses were assigned to a 'predominant asymmetry' group (HDmin, HDmax, PDmin, PDmax) based on which movement asymmetry parameter was the greatest during the baseline condition; the head movement asymmetry values were divided by two to account for the difference in magnitude of the thresholds. Analysis was carried out for each predominant asymmetry group separately using linear mixed models-outcome variable: predominant asymmetry parameter; random factor: horse; fixed factors: surface, direction with stride duration as covariate (P<0.05, Bonferroni post-hoc correction). The 'direction' conditions were either a straight-line locomotion ('straight') or lungeing with lungeing conditions further classified by circle diameter and by whether the limb which the predominant asymmetry was assigned to ('assigned limb') was on the inside or outside of the circle ('inside10', 'inside15', 'outside10', 'outside15'). Only parameters related to asymmetrical weight-bearing between contralateral limbs (HDmin, PDmin) were affected by changes in stride duration-the most common pattern was an increase in asymmetries as stride duration decreased. Only pelvic movement asymmetries were affected by lungeing. When the assigned hindlimb was on the inside of the circle, the PDmin asymmetries increased and PDmax asymmetries decreased compared to the straight-line condition. With the assigned hindlimb on the outside, PDmin asymmetries decreased but PDmax asymmetries did not change. Trotting on 10 m circle compared to 15 m circle did not increase movement asymmetries. In conclusion, circular motion and changes in stride duration altered movement asymmetries identified in horses in full ridden work but no changes were seen between the soft and hard surfaces. These patterns should be further investigated in clinically lame horses.
Copyright: © 2024 Marunova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Publication Date: 2024-08-16 PubMed ID: 39150961PubMed Central: PMC11329133DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0308996Google Scholar: Lookup
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- Journal Article
Summary
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The research studies how factors such as stride duration, surface texture, and the size of lungeing circles influence the asymmetries in vertical head and pelvis movements in trotting riding horses. This is primarily assessed using body-mounted accelerometers, under a variety of test conditions.
Methods
- The analysis involved evaluating 76 horses using body-mounted accelerometers for the measurement of asymmetries in the head and pelvis movements.
- The horses were evaluated while trotting in a straight line and while lungeing (moving in circles of diameter 10m and 15m) at varying speeds and on different surfaces (hard and soft).
- The asymmetries in the movements were determined based on the differences between the two vertical displacement minima or maxima of head and pelvis within a stride cycle.
- The horses were grouped into ‘predominant asymmetry’ groups based on which movement asymmetry was greatest during the straight-line trot on a hard surface, which served as the baseline.
Results
- The research revealed that only parameters related to uneven weight-bearing between opposite limbs (such as the minimum vertical displacements of the head and pelvis) were influenced by alterations in stride duration.
- The study further found that lungeing only affected the asymmetries in pelvic movement, with the most common pattern being an increase in asymmetries as stride duration decreased.
- Circular motion and stride duration changes were found to alter movement asymmetries in trotting horses, but no changes were observed in relation to the type of surface (hard or soft).
- Additionally, trotting on a 10m circle as opposed to a 15m circle had no significant effect on movement asymmetries.
Conclusion
- In conclusion, the study found that circular motion and changes in stride duration can alter movement asymmetries in horses engaged in ridden work, albeit surface type having no effect. These findings warrant further investigation, particularly in lame horses with pronounced clinical symptoms.
Cite This Article
APA
Marunova E, Hernlund E, Persson-Sjödin E.
(2024).
Effect of circle, surface type and stride duration on vertical head and pelvis movement in riding horses with pre-existing movement asymmetries in trot.
PLoS One, 19(8), e0308996.
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0308996 Publication
Researcher Affiliations
- Department of Clinical Science and Services, The Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield, United Kingdom.
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
- Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Uppsala, Sweden.
MeSH Terms
- Animals
- Horses / physiology
- Pelvis / physiology
- Gait / physiology
- Head / physiology
- Male
- Biomechanical Phenomena
- Female
- Movement / physiology
Conflict of Interest Statement
Data used in this study was originally collected for a previous study, Effect of meloxicam treatment on movement asymmetry in riding horses in training. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0221117. Co-authors Elin Hernlund and Emma Persson-Sjodin co-authored this previous study. However, they were not the recipients of the grant that supported data collection for the previous study. Grants from The Swedish-Norwegian Foundation for Equine Research (grant number H1347029) and the Swedish Research Council Formas (grant number 2014-1200328225-26) supported collection of data for the previous study. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
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