Pilotstudie: Duration av belastningsoch svävningsfas i trav på volt jämfört med rakt spår med respektive utan ryttare samt med hästen i olika huvudpositioner

Abstract: Lameness is a common health issue for sports horses. The horse is an athlete that often suffers from injuries in the locomotor apparatus. Such injuries are not only expensive but also have a negative effect on the welfare of the horses. The trot is a two-beat gait where the diagonal limbs move in unison. The trot stride can be divided into separate phases: the loading phase, the stance phase, the protraction phase and the swing phase. The objective of this study was to examine the duration of stance- and swing phases at the trot on a circle, compared to on a straight line, with and without rider, as well as with the horse in different head and neck positions. In this study we examined four warmblood horses ridden by their normal rider. The measurements were done with and without rider, on straight line and circles as well as in several different head and neck positions. Accelerometers where used to examine hoof movements. The Lameness locator was used to examine gait asymmetry. There were no significant differences in duration of swing or stance phases comparing over head and neck positions. There was no significant difference regarding duty factor with or without rider. There were few horses in this study and all of them showed asymmetric movements in more than one examination. The speed may affect the horse’s locomotion pattern and the speed was also different with or without rider. The horses were also trained differently which may have affected their locomotion pattern. The design and the results from this study can be used to set up future studies more optimally since multiple different measurement techniques were tested.