Horizontal moment around the hoof's centre of pressure during walking in a straight line

Abstract

Extrasagittal joint motions in the forelimb are unlikely to be symmetric and future studies should account for possible bilateral variations.

Horizontal moment around the hoof centre of pressure during walking on right and left circles

“…The average horizontal moments between the hoof and ground while walking around the circles were small under both the fore‐ and hindlimbs, in the region of 12 Nm and 14 Nm, respectively. These moments are not substantially different from the values reported by Colborne et al . (2009) for the same horses walking in a straight line and probably reflect the different limb posture at the initiation of the stance phase in the turn (Chateau et al .…”

“…The earlier report by Colborne et al . (2009) showed that most horses generate an internally directed moment around their left forelimb and an external moment around the right forelimb when walking in a straight line, although 2 horses exerted internal moments under both forelimbs.…”

“…In an earlier report (Colborne et al . 2009) reported that horses walking in a straight line demonstrated forelimb stance times of 0.81 s whereas in this study of the same horses walking around circles of 5 m radius, mean forelimb stance times were 0.84–0.85 s. Likewise, the hindlimb stance times in a straight line were 0.81 s and around the circles 0.85–0.87 s. These increases in stance time are consistent with Chateau et al .…”

“…Wilson and McDonald (2008) reported asymmetry of distal forelimb and hoof morphometry and suggested this was associated with unequal loading. Colborne et al (2009) reported that horses walking in a straight line use their hindlimbs symmetrically, but that the horizontal moments under the forelimbs tended to be internal in the left limb, and external in the right. Thorpe et al (2009) identified a handedness effect in horses trotting and cantering on an inclined treadmill.…”

“…This moment may be internally (or medially) directed if the twisting effect of the horizontal moment would turn the toe of the hoof toward the horse's midline, or externally (or laterally) directed if the toe tended to twist away from the midline. In a study of horses walking in a straight line, Colborne et al (2009) showed that the mean horizontal moment around the vertical axis passing through the hoof's instantaneous centre of pressure was in the region of 13 Nm and largely symmetric and internal in the hindlimbs, but asymmetric in the forelimbs. A mean internal moment of about 7 Nm was measured under the left forehoof, while an external moment of about 8 Nm was measured under the right forehoof in 7 of 9 horses.…”