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Re: Big bone vs. small bone



Dear Frank,
    No, I think you are absolutely correct!!!  I love European horsemen, they
read, and think . . . as opposed to so many Americans, who merely read . . .

Trish & "pretty David"
Grand Blanc, Michigan

<< Trish, you wrote:
 
 >  Irregardless
 > of the bone, I think the gradually increasing stress loads encouraged by
 > endurance training are much better for a horse than "typical" track
training;
 > horse is trotted for 5 minutes, breezed for a mile around the track for 2
 > minutes, put on the hotwalker for 15 minutes, then back in the stall for
the
 > next 23 and1/2 hours.  I have never seen an endurance horse snap a cannon.
It
 > happened with regularity at the track.
 
 I think that's true. poor bone structure should be no matter for the
endurance
 horse - if growing-up and basic conditioning are alright. To stress bone, or
to
 train bone moreover, you need high speed. speeds that are typical for the
track
 (and causes i.e. bucked shins at a 2-3 year old racehorse), but not for
endurance.
 
 To stress, or to hurt tendons, ligaments and joints you don't need high
speed.
 This can also be done with missteps/fatigue, long duration of exercise, bad
 footing, and/or bad shoeing or trimming (i.e LTLH). As far as I know, this
happens
 more often to an endurance horse than trouble with cannons. I read somewhere
that
 the load capacity of tendon directly relates to diameter of the tendon fibre.
 That's why I like big short cannon bones on my horses, because tendon is
hanging
 on bone, and thick cannons have enough surface to keep thick tendons. So as
far as
 endurance is concerned, I would convert the "big bone, soft bone"-theory to
"big
 bone, big tendons". At least for the dry type (Arabian or partbred) commonly
used
 for endurance...
 
 - or I am deadwrong ?
 
 regards
 Frank Mechelhoff (Germany)
 
 & Natjasha (5) who has *at least* 8 inch cannon bones... >>



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