Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Completion rate of Masters Series

You answered your own question. With the hardness of the surface the impulsive
forces go up - the surface absorbs less. As the speed goes up the less the
time the foot and leg have to deal with the force so the time rate of change
of the momentum goes up - hence the impulsive forces go up. These too together
imply a higher impulsive force for a horse going 16 mph on a hard packed
road than on a horse going at 8 mph in softer footing. 

Under these conditions the peak loading on the foot and leg are greater than
for a horse going at 8 mph in soft footing and it is peak loading that causing
things to break.  I would expect on high profile rides (read this to mean
races) on flat hard footing, the foot and legs ability to deal with the high
peak loading may give out (resulting in a lameness pull) before metabolic
issues arise. And conversely on a course with soft footing the foot and leg
have less implosive forces do deal with so their ability to deal with that
give more horses time to develop metabolic problems. 

Truman

Steph Teeter wrote:

Jaye - as a farrier, what is your gut feeling on the causes of lameness in endurance horses? I read once that over 3/4 of the lamenesses in performance horses (not necessarily endurance) could be attributed to the feet. You have an exceptional eye for gait irregularities, and I know you have spent a lot of time watching horses move. Does this seem like a likely estimate? It sure seems that on courses like the one in Spain, that are flat and primarily hard packed trail or road - that the foot would be the first thing to feel the effect...

 

Steph