Friday, November 30, 2012

Slo-Mo Reining Horse: What They Won't See in Oklahoma City



You have to love the sport of reining, but you also have to admit that it is all sort of a blur when those horses pick up the tempo. During the spin and slide I always wish I could see their legs and hooves. Good luck with that!




There's no doubt these horses get a workout in the biomechanics department so when I saw that Russell Guire of Centaur Biomechanics had videotaped a reiner with his high-speed video camera, I knew it would be worth watching in slo-mo.

So let's toast the beginning of the big weekend for the sport of reining.

What's going on? It's the most elite reining event in the world--with about 3,000 entries, $2 million in cash and prizes, and over 100,000 visitors from nearly 20 countries--also known as the National Reining Horse Futurity in Oklahoma City. It's as big a deal as you'll find in western performance sports.

The little horse is carrying a heavy saddle and rider, and he's on the forehand. And then he turns inside out to slide and stop.

This is one of those videos that you should watch once or twice, then go to full-screen mode and watch it while toggling the stop/play buttons. Watch the neck, the shoulder, the back and the hocks.

It makes it a little easier to understand why Adequan is one of the chief sponsors of the Futurity.

The ironic thing about this video is that it was shot in Great Britain, where Russell Guire's Centaur Biomechanics consultancy focuses (normally) on the FEI disciplines. An early pioneer with Haydn Price's Equinalysis team, he's been advising the Team GB High Performance Squad for the past six years. 

The rider is Shane Borland, an accomplished European-circuit reiner; he represented South Africa in reining at the 2006 and 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games.

I'm sure everyone who watches Russell's video will see something different. But maybe after watching it, you will notice more than you did before the next time you watch a reining horse slide, and maybe you'll look at some different parts of the horse.

Thanks to Russell Guire for making this video available...and good luck to everyone at Oklahoma City!


--written by Fran Jurga

If you like what you read on The Hoof Blog, please sign up for the email service at the top right of the page; this insures that you will be sent an email on days when the blog has new articles. 


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing; Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.  
Follow Hoofcare + Lameness on Twitter: @HoofcareJournal
Read this blog's headlines on the Hoofcare + Lameness Facebook Page
 
Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any direct compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned, other than Hoofcare Publishing. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.