Equine II – 3.02 Understand how four functional muscle groups affect equine movement and different gaits of equine.

Four Muscle Groups Flexors Bend the Limb Extensors Straighten the Limb Flexors decrease the angle of a joint. Examples of flexors include: Teres major in the front leg and Iliacus in the hind leg. Extensors Straighten the Limb Extensor muscle increase the angle of a joint. Examples of extensors include: Brachiocephalicus of the front leg and Gluteus medius of the hind leg.

Four Muscle Groups Abductors Adductors Abductors move a limb away from the center plane of the equine. The abductor of the front leg is the deltoid. Adductors Adductors pull a limb toward the center plane of the equine. Adductors of the front legs are the pectoral muscles.

Terminology of Movement Gait: An equine’s way of going or moving its legs during movement. Beat: The time a foot or two feet simultaneously hit the ground. Step: The distance between the imprints of the two front legs or the two hind legs. Stride: The distance between successive imprints of the same foot.

Terminology of Movement Directness, also called trueness, is the line in which the foot is carried forward during the stride. Spring: The manner in which weight settles back on the supporting leg at the completion of the stride. Balance: The ability of the equine to coordinate action, go composed, and in form

Components of a Stride A stride has two phases: Stride stance is the weight bearing phase Stride suspension or swing is the non-weight bearing phase The speed of a horse is affected by: Length of stride, rapidity or frequency of stride, and overlap time Overlap time is the time on the ground versus the time off the ground

Four natural gates – no training necessary Walk is a slow, even, four- beat gait The sequence of hoof- beats is: left hind, left fore, right hind, right fore Both feet on one side strike the ground before the feet on the opposite side strike the ground

Four natural gaits Trot is a two-beat gait where the diagonal fore and hind legs act together. A period of suspension when all four feet are off the ground occurs between each beat There are different styles of trotting: road horse trot is fast-stepping, hackney trot and heavy harness trot are high-stepping forms of trotting

Four Gaits Canter or lope is a three-beat collected gait where the equine carries more weight on its haunches or rear quarter Sequence of hoof-beats for canter is: right rear hoof, left rear and right front striking the ground at the same time, and left front hoof. Canter is performed in a slow, animated rhythm

Four Gaits Gallop or run is a fast, four-beat gait Sequence of hoof-beats for gallop is: one hind foot, the other hind foot, the diagonal forefoot followed by the remaining forefront A period of suspension follows the four beats Racehorses use the gallop or run gait.

Other Gates Pace is a two-beat, lateral gait used for speed with the fore and hind legs on the same side moving together. The gait has a rolling motion. Slow gait or stepping pace is a show gait that uses a lateral, four beat gait where the front foot on the right is followed by the hind foot on the right. Rack (sometimes called the single foot) is an even, fast four-beat lateral gait that hard on the equine’s forelegs due to increased amount of concussion from the excessive leg movement. Rack is easy on the rider.

Other Gaits Running walk is the fast walk of a Tennessee Walking Horse where the horse travels with a gliding motion as a result of extending its hind leg forward to overstep the forefoot print. Back is actually trotting in reverse.

Gait Defects– may interfere or cause injury Forging is the striking of the toe of hind foot against the sole of the forefoot. Interfering is when the foot of the striding leg strikes the supporting leg and usually occurs between the supporting front leg and a striding front leg or between a supporting hind leg and a striding hind leg. Paddling or winging outward occurs when front feet move forward in wide outward arcs. Paddling is common with narrow or pigeon- toed standing equine and almost always causes interference.

Gait Defects Winding is twisting the front leg around in front of the supporting leg as each stride is taken and is common with wide-chested horses. Other gait defects include scalping, speedy-cutting, cross-firing, pointing, dwelling, trappy, pounding, and rolling

Gravity, Confirmation & Gaits Most commonly located in the middle of the rib cage just caudal to the line separating the cranial and middle thirds of the body. Because the center of gravity is located more cranially, the forelimbs bear 60 to 65 percent of the equine’s weight resulting in more stress and lameness in the forelimbs. Conformation for structure of the horse can be generalized to say that basically an equine that stands straight is likely to move straight and true.

Assignment Horse Gait Flipbook Follow the instructions listed your handbook. There are notecards on the back table. Create a flipbook for the walk, trot, and canter/lope gaits. Place in the basked up front to be graded.