Mo-Cap Video Treat: Horse and Rider in Motion, Video-Captured and Computer-Recreated

by Fran Jurga | 13 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



This little clip is titled A Biomechanical Analysis of Relationship Between the Head and Neck Position, Vertebral Column and Limbs in the Horse at Walk and Trot and is from the Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science, at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science in Uppsala, Sweden. Thanks to researcher Marie Rhodin for sharing this little snapshot of what goes on at Uppsala.

Dr. Rhodin writes: "Reflective markers were glued onto the skin above anatomical structures defined through palpation. A high speed 3D infrared camera system (ProReflex) was used to capture data. Twelve cameras were used and a treadmill instrumented with a force measuring system was used for simultaneous, synchronized force measurements. Qualisys software was used for the motion analysis."

Dr. Rhodin's name is one that is seen quite often lately on the rosters of world-class equine biomechanics research. She was involved with two presentations at last year's International Conference on Equine Locomotion (ICEL6) in France. Working with our friend at Uppsala, Dr. Christopher Johnston, and Lars Roepstorff and Anna Byström, and collaborating with researcher Dr. Michael Weishaupt at the University of Zurich and Dr. René van Weeren at the University of Utrecht in Holland, Dr. Rhodin's team collected data on the motion of horses when the rider is in the sitting vs rising (posting) trot, and also compared the motion of the horse on each lead.

What you are seeing in this little video clip is the new generation of motion capture gait analysis--the rider gets analyzed along with the horse! The clip begins with the "real" video of the markered horse and rider; you then see the dots that the infrared cameras would "see" and translate into data. The data is then crunched and re-configured into an accurate animation of the horse and rider in skeletal form so that the movement of the bones and joints can be analyzed. This is a huge advance, since the horse is an asymmetric form and needs to be seen from all angles to get a true picture of movement. (And this is a vast over-simplification of the process.)

Through this type of motion capture, researchers can compare the effects of different equipment (Uppsala recently studied the effect of weighted boots on the movement of the back), different riders, and (one day), different surfaces. Being able to accurately record both the rider and the horse are rocketing equestrian sport science ahead. These are exciting times.

Many thanks to Dr. Rhodin and her research team at Uppsala and beyond for making the video clip available to Hoof Blog readers.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

Will You See a Horse Being Shod in Your Church Window on Easter Sunday?

A church window expertly photographed by Dave Webster

Not out the window, but in the window! In at least two churches I've found, farriers are featured in the windows!

The first, which you see above, is in St Cuthbert in Kildale, in North Yorkshire, England. Notice that the farrier is using what we call now a "toeing knife" to trim the hoof, instead of nippers with jaws.

The church hosts some magnificent contemporary (1990s) stained windows by the English artist firm, Goddard and Gibbs. The church windows show a yoke of oxen, too!

Surely there is no more famous farrier window than in the magnificent cathedral at Chartres in France. This window was a gift from the guild of farriers and was sent to Hoof Blog readers by our dear friend, French farrier Denis Leveillard, former president of the European Federation of Farriers.

It's interesting to note that this farrier has a hammer in his hand but he's not nailing on a shoe. He might be guiding some sort of toe knife but the foot is on the ground, so I might need some Euro-coaching to explain this for you. Or maybe he's clinching a nail?

Food for thought: The Cathedral at Chartres was completed in 1260, roughly 700 years before St Cuthbert.

Thanks to Dave and Denis for sharing these images...and happy jelly beans, chocolate eggs and marshmallow Peeps to all!

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

Video: Ian McKinlay's Quarter Crack Patch Drainage System

by Fran Jurga | 9 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog



As promised, here's "film at eleven", just like on the evening news. Ian McKinlay videotaped the steps in the process he used to make a sub-p,atch drainage system for a quarter crack on Kentucky Derby contender Quality Road, who is now training at Belmont Park with trainer Jimmy Jerkens and will hopefully get a good work by this weekend.

PLEASE NOTE: The horse in this video clip is not Quality Road. It's his stunt double. Ian did do this procedure yesterday on Quality Road (scroll down for more on this horse's crack and patch over the past five days) but did it again on another horse in order to make this video so the Hoofcare and Lameness community could see both what he did and how he did it.

The drain is a precautionary step so that if the horse does have a flareup of inflammation, it can be treated. Please read the previous post about the technique, which Ian is not claiming to have invented.

I know that everyone will ask about the glue, it is the same PMMA-adhesive Ian has been selling, but in a new packaging system that will allow the user to cool it in summer to slow down the setup time so it can be shaped. Ian's Tenderhoof company sells sutures, drains and adhesive on his website. Click here to learn more.

Thanks to Ian for doing this; it's not easy filming a procedure in a racetrack shedrow with a moving horse, and that's just the beginning: editing and narrating can be even more work than the filming. I'm sure that this makes it much easier for everyone to understand.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

Ian McKinlay: Quality Road's Hoof Is Patched and Ready to Go

by Fran Jurga | 8 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

Hoof repair specialist Ian McKinlay checked in this morning to let Hoof Blog readers know that the heat is gone from Quality Road's foot and that he was able to patch the colt's quarter crack today at trainer Jimmy Jerkens's barn at New York's Belmont Park. (Scroll down to read Monday's post about the crack.)

There is so much riding on this horse's ability to stay in training over the next few weeks as the Kentucky Derby approaches that Ian modified his usual patching technique: he installed a drain under the patch in the event that any fluid needs to escape. "It's probably overkill," Ian said, "but why take any chances?"

He said that the foot was "cold" (meaning not overly warm to the touch, indicating inflammation).

Other professionals, such as Rob Sigafoos and Dr. Scott Morrison, have used drains under acrylic repair and hoof casting material routinely but Ian has been cautious about this, perhaps because so many of the cases he works on are drive-bys, and he may not be able to return to make adjustments. Thoroughbred racehorses, especially lame ones, circulate from the track to layup farms to other tracks to sales to vet clinics to training centers and back again.

A galloping young Thoroughbred, especially one as large as Quality Road, would also put a lot of stress on a tiny length of plastic tubing.

We should have media on his new technique later this week.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

Oklahoma Uprising? Rodeo Star Arrest for Illegal Equine Dentistry Sends Horse Owners to State Capitol

by Fran Jurga | 8 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog


They say "Don't mess with Texas," but I think there's a PS implied in there: "Or Oklahoma, neither."

I don't usually have much news from Oklahoma but between last year's disease outbreak there, horseshoeing school owner Reggie Kester's recent death, and philanthropist Madeleine Pickens's withdrawal of her multi-million dollar donation to the Oklahoma State vet school because they use live animals to teach surgery, I am singing the Broadway theme song.

Add in the growing popularity of Oklahoma veterinarian Dr. Michael Steward's clog treatment for laminitis, the recent banning of cloned Quarter horses from the state's racetracks and the stiffening of the state's veterinary practice act to classify non-veterinary tooth floating as a felony and I feel like I may as well move there just to report on the news.

But I won't be packing a tooth rasp.

And isn't it tornado season?

In a nutshell, to bring you up to date: Oklahoma's state legislature in 2008 voted to re-classify dentistry work by a non-veterinarian as a felony. It was formerly a misdemeanor. But would they actually arrest someone for illegal tooth floating?

And, if so, which of the state's twenty-odd horse dentists would be targeted?

We found out last month. National Finals Rodeo saddle bronc star Bobby Griswold apparently picks up some money on the side by doing teeth; his downfall came when he sedated a horse and did dental work for an undercover investigator for the Oklahoma State Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners.

That's the first part of the story and it reads like a tv script: the first person arrested in Oklahoma for violating the beefed-up law just happened to be a celebrity. A celebrity who may be turning into a folk hero if you read the barrel racing and rodeo magazines and web sites.

I think there is interesting information in Bobby Griswold's biography: his town was hit by an F5 tornado in 1999, then five years later, in 2004, another tornado hit his new property in a new town. And now, five years again later, he's caught up in a whirlwind, of a different sort. And tornado season is just beginning.

The rest of this story is that, according to an article in today's edition of the Oklahoman, about 50 horse owners "stormed" the state Capitol yesterday and a state legislator filed an amendment to the veterinary statutes.

To quote the newspaper:
"This amendment would allow equine dentistry and other animal procedures, such as shoeing hooves and transferring embryos in cattle, to be done without a veterinary license. Those practices now fall under the supervision of the state Board of Veterinary Examiners. The amendment would put them under the state Agriculture, Food and Forestry Department."

That's the first time I have seen a reference to shoeing in this matter, and it certainly got my attention. Then I re-read it and, being the editor I am, realized that it technically meant shoeing hooves of cattle, which may or may not have been the intent of the writer.

The rally was organized by the Institute for Justice, an organization that has been actively challenging veterinary practice acts in states like Maryland, where a massage therapist stood up for her rights to rub horses.

Somehow, I don't think this is the end to this story. Stay tuned!

Please read information from many different sources before you make up your mind on this complex issue...and please be sure to stay abreast of developments and changes in legislation status affecting the care and health of animals--and who can do what to them, and where and how--in any state where you work on, show, breed, ride, buy or sell horses.

Click here for information from the Oklahoma Veterinary Medical Association (not the state regulatory board, but the association of veterinarians) about equine dentistry and regulations in the state.
Click here for an article in the Journal-Record about the new legislation and the Institute for Justice's involvement.
Click here for the Oklahoman's account of the horse owners' rally and new legislation.
Click here for the Oklahoman's account of Bobby Griswold's arrest for violating the Veterinary Practice Act, complete with mug shot.
Click here for Bobby Griswold's defense fund home page.


© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.

Sport Horse Biomechanics DVD Rollout: "If Horses Could Speak"--Would They Scream "Ouch"? German Vet Thinks So.

by Fran Jurga | 7 April 2009 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog

The trailer for our new "If Horses Could Speak" DVD is in German with subtitles but the DVD we are selling has been re-engineered with an English soundtrack.

Enjoy this trailer for the feature-length DVD now offered for sale by Hoofcare Publishing.

What are the potential ill effects of training methods used for "sport" dressage vs the "classical" way of riding and training? Known for his campaign against "rollkur" (hyperflexion), Dr Gerd Heuschmann's If Horses Could Speak DVD goes even further in this dvd and condemns "modern" training and riding methods that he feels are damaging to horses, even though they produce an upper level dressage horse in a shorter time and the judges seem to like what he considers incorrect movement.

Warning: this DVD is graphic and sometimes even violent; at other times it is beautiful and poetic and the special 3-d animated anatomy graphics are spectacular, if all too brief. The scenes of an anesthestized horse being prepped for surgery may be upsetting to someone who hasn't seen it before and the DVD is not specific about the nature of the leg tendon or suspensory ligament injury surgery and how it is related to improper training or movement.

For all of you who ever thought of dressage as being akin to "watching paint dry", here's your wake-up call.

Specifics: • 75 minute DVD format in English • USA DVD format (may not play on all Euro systems) • "Starring" Dr. Gerd Heuschmann with commentary by Oberberieter Johann Riegler of the Spanish Riding School of Vienna and Professor Heinz Meyer and Peter Kreinberg, riding by Grand Prix rider David de Wispelaere, with introduction and epilogue by the esteemed equestrian historian Hans-Heinrich Isenbart and so much more. • Special effects and animation by Pixomondo • Produced by Isabella Sonntag and Wu-Wei Verlag • Price $60US plus $6 post in USA, $12 post to the rest of the world. (Companion book, Tug of War, is $25 plus $6 post.)

Click here for more information on ordering the complete 75-minute dvd with new English narration and/or Dr Heuschmann's best-selling book Tug of War. Alternately, call 01 978 281 3222 or fax 01 978 283 8775 with Visa/Mastercard information, send checks to Hoofcare Books, 19 Harbor Loop, Gloucester MA 01930, or email our office.

Click here to watch an interview with Dr. Heuschmann posted previously on The Hoof Blog.

Disclaimer: Opinions stated in the DVD are open to interpretation according to some anatomists and biomechanics experts. Trainers and riders and veterinarians and farriers and anyone who works around these horses shares their moments of pain and knows their athletic prowess. There are no easy answers and anyone interested in this area should follow the research of biomechancs leaders like Drs. Hilary Clayton and Jean-Marie Denoix as well as the equine spinal research of Drs. Rachel Murray, Sue Dyson or Kevin Haussler (to name but a few).

The Hoof Blog tries to keep readers abreast of new developments in this area and they are coming along at a fast clip, which must be very encouraging for Dr. Heuschmann and others who have rattled a stick on the fence to get attention for the welfare of competition horses.

Please let me know what you think of this DVD after you have watched it. Whether you agree with this DVD or not, you will have to agree that the window is open to a new world of science and research and that Heuschmann's passionate work legitimizes and demands more of the new field of equine sport science. Thank you, Dr. Heuschmann.

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. No use without permission. You only need to ask.

Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. 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.