Ground reaction force and hoof deceleration patterns on two different surfaces at the trot

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to compare the hoof deceleration and ground reaction forces following impact on two different surfaces. Seven unshod Standardbreds were trotted by hand at 3.0-5.7 m s 21 over a force plate covered by either of the two surfaces, sandpaper or a 1 cm layer of sand. Impact deceleration data were recorded from one triaxial accelerometer mounted on the fore-and hind hooves, respectively. Ground reaction force data were obtained synchronously from a force plate, sampled at 4.8 kHz. The differences between the two surfaces were studied by analysing representative deceleration and force variables for individual horses. The maximum horizontal peak deceleration and the loading rates of the vertical and the horizontal forces were significantly higher on sandpaper compared with the sand surface (P , 0.001). In addition, the initial vertical deceleration was significantly higher on sandpaper in the forelimb (P , 0.001). In conclusion, it was shown that the different qualities of the ground surface result in differences in the hoof-braking pattern, which may be of great importance for the strength of the distal horse limb also at slow speeds.

Application of Wavelet Filtering to Analyze Acceleration-Time Curves of Horses Trotted on Different Surfaces

“…Acceleration measurement is a relevant method to evaluate stress on the horse's limb [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Owing to the fact that the sensor system and the sensor application often induce noise in the recorded data, data processing is an important part for analyzing acceleration data.…”

“…Several investigations have shown that acceleration measurement is a suitable method to find differences in the stress on the horse's limb caused by various shoeing [1,2] or different surfaces [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Measurement data, such as acceleration-time curves, often include noise that influences the results.…”

“…Therefore, data processing is important for the interpretation of the recorded data. In previous studies that have dealt with the analysis of a horse's gait by acceleration measurement, Butterworth filters have been used for data denoising [6][7][8]. These filters have not always yielded satisfactory results [9].…”

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

“…The tensile and deformation strengths which act on the horse during exercise differ according to physical and structural track surface properties (Burn, 2006;Gustas et al, 2006;Burn and Usmar, 2007) and to the sport discipline in which the horses compete. The surfaces used for training and racing thoroughbred horses have a significant impact on the risk of injury (Cheney et al, 1973;Parkin et al, 2004;Perkins et al, 2005); an example is that horses exercised/trained on packed dirt surface are 2.5 times more likely to develop dorsal metacarpal disease (Moyer et al, 1991), a clinical manifestation of stress fractures.…”

The Use of a Technical Device for Testing the Sport-Functional Properties of Riding Surfaces

“…Therefore, differences in the sport-functional properties of riding surfaces can be expected. Some previous studies have shown the possibility to illustrate the influence of the surface on the stress on the horse's limbs by acceleration measurements on the horse's hooves [2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. However, a high variability between and within horses has been found in acceleration data [6].…”