Effects of trot quality and collection on the angular velocity in the hindlimbs of riding horses.

This study investigates the effect of trot quality and collection on the angular velocity of the hindlimbs in riding horses, helping to understand the factors that influence a horse’s performance and movement.

Research Methodology

• The study involved 14 horses, which were composed of 6 Grand Prix dressage horses and eight other horses divided into two categories based on their ability to trot: 4 horses were good and the other 4 were poor.
• The same group of horses was used in earlier research by Holmström in 1994, which focused on the riding horse’s conformation and trotting gaits.
• The researchers analyzed four successive strides from each horse including the corresponding pace. For each angle, mean velocity curves were calculated.
• To eliminate noise within the data, they were purified both forward and in reverse using a Butterworth third order filter with a cut-off frequency of 60 Hz.

Key Findings

• The results showed that during the last 60% of the stance phase, significant differences were observed in all analyzed hindlimb angles, except the femur inclination, between horses that were good at the trot and those that were poor.
• The angular velocity in the hock joint, pelvis inclination, and hindlimb pendulation was higher among the better performing horses. This indicates that horses with higher trot quality generally demonstrate greater angular velocity.
• The researchers found that the angular velocity of the hindlimb pendulation reduced with collection among the Grand Prix horses. A gradual decrease in the femur angular velocity was also observed from the trot at hand to piaffe, a movement in classical dressage.
• The hock joint’s angular velocity showed no difference between the trot at hand and the passage (another dressage movement) during the final 30% of the stance phase.

Implications of the Study

• The study suggests that the higher compression of the hock and pelvic angles to the horizontal plane is likely indicative of a higher compression across the entire hindlimb.
• This could result in greater springiness in the movements of both high-quality younger horses and Grand Prix dressage horses. This springiness relates to the ‘bounce’ or ‘energy’ infused into the horse’s movements and can contribute to better performance overall.
• The study’s findings also shed light on the role of stored elastic strain energy in the quality of a dressage horse’s gaits, suggesting that the capacity to store and utilize this elastic energy contributes significantly to gait quality in a dressage horse.