RE: [RC] [RC] Causes of Suspensory Injuries - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.
In your opinion, Susan (and other
vets), once the horse has been properly conditioned, does "the big
trot" contribute any more to suspensory injuries than trotting at lesser
speeds? Just curious.....
Kathy
There’s some good research that
identified a certain individual ‘preferred speed’ in each gait in
all quadrapeds (except for elephants, that only have one gait). The
preferred speed is that at which the animal moves most efficiently, based on
oxygen consumption, joint strain, concussion, etc. Any speed markedly
outside that preferred speed range means a decrease in efficiency, and
efficiency is usually regained by either allowing the animal to shift gears up
or down into the NEXT preferred speed.
So a big trot is fine if that happens to
be the horse’s preferred speed, and I mean without influences like
excitement, rider’s urging, fear, whatever. But I see a lot of
horse’s that are urged into a big, giant trot when their most efficient
speed is either a smaller trot, or possibly up into an easy canter. Think
of the big trot for some horse’s like an engine being asked to redline
without being allowed to shift gears---yeah, you might be able to push the car
into doing 50 mph while in second gear, but it’s not very efficient and
definitely hard on the engine. Better to either slow down to a more
reasonable speed for that gear, or shift into third gear and travel at lower
rpms. Does this make sense?
Okay, so back to your question. Any
big trot that extends the leg far forward increases strain on the ligaments and
tendons, so yeah, there’s some increased risk. More so if the horse’s
conformation of long, sloping pasterns, being back at the knees, poor hoof
angles, etc contribute to ligament/tendon strain. Moving at speed through
sand or mud or the like also increases strain and chance of injury. If
your horse on top of all that is being asked to ‘redline’ to
maintain that great, big trot, then yes, there’s additional risk of
injury. If the horse’s natural preferred gait just happens to be
big and scopey, then less so, and you can count your lucky stars.
