Impact or push-off lameness presentation is not altered by the type of track surface where horses are trotted

Abstract

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of the track surface on which horses are examined, regarding the phase of lameness presentation. Ten horses with lameness in at least one limb were evaluated with wireless inertial sensors on three track surfaces (concrete, loose sand and grass). Six crossover track sequences were established. The variables vector sum, maximum and minimum height of the head and pelvis, variation coefficient of the maximum and minimum height of the head and pelvis were analyzed using ANOVA, followed by Tukey test to compare means between track surface and sequence, at 5% significance level. The lameness phase (impact or pushoff) was analyzed considering the proportion of affected animals. There were no differences on vector sum, maximum and minimum height or variation coefficient of head and pelvis. Difference was observed on the number of strides registered on sand compared to grass and concrete (p <0.0001) for fore and hindlimbs. Impact lameness on forelimbs was presented by a larger number of animals on the concrete surface; pushoff lameness was more evident on the grass surface. In the hindlimbs, impact lameness was more evident on the grass surface, while pushoff lameness was in greater number of animals on concrete surfaces. The track sequence on which horses were trotted during evaluation does not seem to be a factor, but the number of lame horses and the phase of lameness manifestation can vary between track surfaces, as some horses showed impact lameness on soft ground and elevation lameness on hard ground.Keywords: horse, impact lameness, lameness locator, objective evaluation, push-off lameness RESUMO Este estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a influência do tipo de superfície em que os cavalos são examinados em relação à fase de apresentação da claudicação. Dez cavalos com claudicação em pelo menos um dos membros foram avaliados com sensores inerciais sem fio em três tipos de superfície (concreto, areia e grama

Associations between Racing Thoroughbred Movement Asymmetries and Racing and Training Direction

“…An asphalt surface was used for most of the trot-up examinations of the horses in both Singapore and Hong Kong; however, a number of horses were sampled whilst trotting in-hand on a rubber-over-concrete surface for the HKJC cohort, and the effect of the trot-up surface on the results was not tested in this investigation. Previous work by Azevedo et al (2015) showed that the impact or push-off lameness presentation for both front and hindlimbs are not altered by the type of track surface that horses trot on [43]. As all surfaces used for this study were considered firm, there was no anticipated effect of the surface type on the measures taken from the gait assessment between the STC and HKJC cohorts and within the HKJC cohort.…”