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Re: [RC] Sorough Cup photos/pasterns/Internat'l participation - recklessheartranchMary -- I had difficultly see the photos enlarged -- every time I clicked for that option I got a "Page unavailable". But from what I could see everything looked "normal" for galloping horses. As you probably know, when a horse gallops, there is a moment when one leg bears all the weight. If you look at photos of racehorses at that point in their stride you will see their pasterns look the same: the front leg that is bearing all the weight has the pastern down to the ground. Check out photos of horses landing after a big jump -- the hoof that hits first will often have the pastern stretched out so that it's hitting the ground -- it looks almost deformed in those type of photos! Certain horses on the track will routinely wear "rundown bandages" because the back of their fetlocks will rub raw from the abrasion of contact with the track surface while they run at speed. As for how long they will last -- well, traditionally conformation folk will tell you long pasterns are weak pasterns...but I've seen enough horses have pretty long performance careers and still have long pasterns. Katrina From: Mary Krauss <lazykfarm@xxxxxxxxxxx> Date: 2008/01/29 Tue PM 05:19:26 CST To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Sorough Cup photos/pasterns/Internat'l participation Though the whole show was exciting and inspiring, some of Steph's pictures were really disturbing. I'm open to how wrong I might be, but do delicate legs and weak pasterns like those in many of the photos really hold up over the years? Here I am fretting about my five-year-old's "weak" pasterns--yet they're made of iron in comparison to those depicted in the photos.... I assume the focus on legs was highlighting the issue--does anyone know if outcomes correlate with conformation as one would expect, i.e., do those horses fall apart early in the game? The race looked really exciting but it seemed awful too, really weird riding positions, lots of big vehicles gumming up the works. Am I way distorting what the event was like? For all I know these horses love what they're doing and are up and eager at the end as fit athletes. I'm not even that disturbed if they're not being handled for longevity in the sport, as long as they aren't getting used up every outing. I'd dearly love to ride in international events someday--is it possible to get exciting international experiences without wiping out ones horse? Do countries welcome riders who are there for the experience, not for a trophy? =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Katrina O'Neal Reckless Heart Ranch 822 Estates Loop Priest River, ID 83856 (208)265-4837 recklessheartranch@xxxxxxxxxxx =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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