Nothing much happens but there's plenty to look at. Hoof Blog readers may be mesmerized or bored or inspired or exasperated by this two-minute excerpt from a video artist's interpretations of disembodied but parallel equine details. Best experienced in full screen mode; click the embiggen icon between "HD" and "vimeo".
The Hoof Blog talks a lot about science. The anatomy and physiology of the horse's hoof are combining with locomotion and biomechanics; slowly, but surely, a field of science is emerging.
But is it art? Creative video artist Chaja Hertog thinks so...
Watch a segment of Jack Hanna's "Into the Wild" television show filmed in a lameness lab
Television wildlife promoter Jack Hanna visited The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center's Galbreath Equine Center in Columbus, Ohio in February; he was filming a segment for his television show "Into the Wild."
Dr. Bertone tried to explain different diagnostic methods for osteoarthritis in horses as well as how a horse progresses through her new clinical trial for horses with osteoarthritis--when Jack wasn't mugging for the camera.
It's nothing short of fun to watch Jack stumble through the familiar treadmills and force plates and surgery room hoists, all the while taking Dr Bertone not very seriously. Luckily, we know she has a great sense of humor and was well-chosen to host someone like Jack.
If you live in the United States and watch television, you know Jack Hanna. But since so many Hoof Blog readers are not US residents, it might be helpful to explain who this character is.
Some might say that he is best known for taking his role as director of the down-at-the-heels and unknown Columbus Zoo back in the 1980s and turning "Jack Hanna"--and that zoo--into household names through his back-to-back appearances on every news and talk show on television. He actually does have a show of his own, however.
But most of us see him over breakfast on "Good Morning America" or late at night on David Letterman's show. He brings the creepiest or cutest animals he can find and turns them loose on Dave's desk.
Jack Hanna still lives in Ohio; that location meant that he became the de facto spokesman to the press during the terrible tragedy of a home zoo gone mad when wild animals escaped from a Zanesville, Ohio farm.
One reason he's so effective on-camera is because he plays dumb. Sure, it's dumb like a fox, but it works to get--and keep--the audience on his side. He's been able to become the most visible icon of American wildlife not in spite of but perhaps because of his lack of a DVM or a PhD.
With the possible exception of the Zanesville aftermath, Jack Hanna doesn't usually lecture or talk down to his audiences. He falls over his own words often, makes more than his share of off-the-wall comments, and acts downright goofy sometimes, especially when David Letterman is around.
The AVMA and AAZPA may or may not approve of what Jack Hanna says or does, but they can't argue that he fuels the public's interest in wild animals, and has probably done more than any individual to increase the sales of family tickets to zoos and nature parks around the country.
And there's nothing wrong with that.
The horse world could use someone to do for us what Jack has done for zoos. Maybe this little video is a start.
Click on the ad to learn more about this beautiful guide to the equine foot anatomy
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This video is a simple example of the product of a thermographic video camera. Thermography is a system for measuring the relative temperature of body tissues close to the skin surface of an animal. In this case, the video clip was provided by the Flir company, which manufactured the system.
Please don't ask me any questions about this horse because I don't know anything about it, nor do I know at what point the video was shot, so the relatively high temperature (see scale on right of screen) may be a function of the horse being "warmed up".
And don't ask if the horse was shod or unshod. No info, unless someone out there recognizes this video clip.
Watch this a couple of times and you will start to understand why thermography has been recommended for the detection of soring practices in Tennessee Walking horses, as well as in use to monitor therapy or as an aid to other modalities of diagnostic imagery.
Note: if you are reading this blog as an email, the videos will not show up; you need to click through to the actual blog post to run the videos.
Once you are bored with the horse on treadmill, click the play button on the next video, below. What do you notice? (I don't know if the settings on the two videos were comparable, so this is just for fun.)
Thanks to Flir and Science Photography for these videos.
Motion Imaging Corporation (MIC) is headquartered in Minnesota, and the company must be thrilled that the University of Minnesota has built a state-of-the-art equine sports medicine center right in the neighborhood. This week, MIC gave us a peek at their motion capture analysis system in use at the center.
What you see here are a few strides of a horse on a treadmill. MIC also makes a system called Equine Gait Trax that captures motion to aid in the evaluation and assessment of gait in horses. The high speed ratio of the camera allows great detail to be seen when the speed is slowed down.
Next month, the University of Minnesota will host the 5th International Symposium on Rehabilitation and Physical Therapy in Veterinary Medicine in Minneapolis. Speakers include Dr. Hilary Clayton.
Via press release from the Society for Experimental Biology. This research was presented today at the Society for Experimental Biology's Annual Meeting at Marseille, France.
A team of scientists from Wageningen University, led by Professor Johan van Leeuwen, has carried out studies both into the benefits of a method of equine rehabilitation. By using computer modeling and specialist horseshoes to measure acceleration, these investigations suggest that aqua-training rehabilitation is beneficial to horses due to lower impact accelerations.
Rehabilitation after equine joint and muscle injuries, including those of the back, shoulders and legs, now often involves 'aquatraining', whereby horses move in water-filled treadmills. Depending on the condition of the horse, different workloads can be obtained by regulating water level and walking velocity. Due to buoyancy, this treatment is currently thought to reduce weight-bearing forces, which can otherwise have detrimental effects on joints, but to date there has been a virtual absence of studies into the magnitude of these benefits.
Professor van Leeuwen's team has used special horseshoes to measure accelerations of horses undergoing aquatraining, as well as walking normally, which provide a good indication of the impact forces involved. "Our results, based on data from seven horses, show the accelerations are significantly lower during 'aquatic walking'," he asserts. "We will be carrying out further experiments to confirm these results, but at this stage, it appears that aquatraining may indeed be beneficial for rehabilitation after joint injury."
This work involved collaboration with the Department of Equine Sciences at Utrecht University, the Mary Anne McPhail Equine Performance Center at Michigan State University and the Dutch Equestrian Centre.
(end press release)
Here's a short video clip of a horse on an aqua treadmill. There are several units such as this one on the market, showing this video is not meant as an endorsement, nor do I know what manufacturer's treadmill was used in the Dutch study.
