Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Support for a column - such as the bones - is proportional to the cross sectional
area. The circumference is proportional to the radius but the cross sectional
area is proportional to the square of the radius, the old pi*r^2 we all learned
in high school. So if a horse of 1000 pounds requires an 8 inch circumference;
a horse of 2000 pounds requires an 11.3 inch circumference, a 800 pound horse
requires a 7.15 and a 1200 pound horse 8.8 inch curcumfence.  

BTW where does Deb Bennett measure the curcumfence, right below the knee
or in the middle.

Truman 

Heidi Smith wrote:

Well, I got the "formula" from listening to Deb Bennett--she says 8" for a 1000# horse, adjusting up or down for those heavier or lighter.  It is not exactly a linear formula, but close enough for horses not too far off of that.  Bottom line, though--a great many Arabs are considerably lighter than 1000#, so the idea that "I won't have any horse with less than 8" bone because that is inadequate" is not very sensible.  Also, many make the mistake of trying to correlate to height, and height isn't the issue.  I rode a horse for a long time that was under 14.3 and weighed 975# in running shape--so he certainly needed the 8" (he had 9"), whereas I've dealt with many horses a good hand taller that weighed considerably less in running shape simply because they had lighter frames and were lighter-muscled.  Regardless of height, a horse that weighs 800# in running shape and has 7" cannons has enough bone.  I also get a chuckle out of ads for larger horses that DO weigh more that brag about a 15.3 horse that weighs 1150# and has 8" cannons--nope, he's flimsy, and I wouldn't be bragging on his bone, at any rate.....

 

Heidi

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Susith@xxxxxxx

To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Sent: Saturday, January 18, 2003 4:32 PM

Subject: [RC] bone density, etc.

There was a thread awhile back about bone density and there was a formula presented for how much cannon bone was needed to support horses of different weights. i.e. I think Heidi Smith was speaking about it, and would like to see that info again please or be directed to it.

Thanks,
Susan