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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE FUNCTIONAL ASPECTS OF CONFORMATI ON Judy Wardrope
hy is one horse a sprinter and another a stayer? Why is one sibling a star and another a disappointment? Why does one horse stay sound and another does not? Over the course of the next few issues, we will delve into the mechanics of the racehorse to discern the answer to these questions and others. We will be learning by example, and we will be using objective terminology as well as repeatable measures. This knowledge can be applied to the selection of racing prospects, to the consideration of distance or surface preferences and, of course, to mating choices. Introducing a different way of looking at things requires some forethought.
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TRAINERMAGAZINE.COM ISSUE 51
Eclipse Sportswire, Judy Wardrope
Questions need to be addressed in order to provide educational value for the audience. How does one organize the information, and how does one back up the information? In the case of equine functionality in racing, which horses will provide the best corroborative visuals? After considerable thought, these three horses were selected: Tiznow (Horse #1) twice won the Breeders’ Cup Classic (1¼ miles); Lady Eli (Horse #2) won the Juvenile Fillies Turf and was twice second in the Filly and Mare Turf (13/8 miles); while our third example (Horse #3) did not earn enough to pay his way on the track. Let’s see if we can explain the commonalities and the differences so that we can apply that knowledge in the future.
Factors for athleticism
If we consider the horse’s hindquarters to be the motor, then we should consider the connection between hindquarters and body to be the horse’s transmission. Like in a vehicle, if the motor is strong, but the transmission is weak, the horse will either have to protect the transmission or damage it. According to Dr. Hilary M. Clayton (BVMS, PhD, MRCVS), the hind limb rotates around the hip joint in the walk and trot and around the lumbosacral joint in the canter and gallop. “The lumbosacral joint is the only part of the vertebral column between the base of the neck and the tail that allows a significant amount of flexion (rounding) and extension