title: Pressure plate analysis of toe-heel and medio-lateral hoof balance at the walk and trot in sound sport horses.
abstract: Empirically, equine distal limb lameness is often linked to hoof imbalance. To objectively quantify dynamic toe-heel and medio-lateral hoof balance of the vertical ground reaction force in sound sport horses, seven Royal Dutch Sport Horses were led at the walk and trot over a dynamically calibrated pressure plate. Forelimb hoof prints were divided into a toe and heel region and a medial and lateral zone. Toe-heel and medio-lateral hoof balance of the vertical ground reaction force were calculated throughout the stance. Toe-heel balance was highly symmetrical between contralateral limbs at both gaits. At the walk, medio-lateral balance of both forelimbs presented higher loading in the lateral part of the hoof throughout the stance. However, at the trot, left medio-lateral balance presented higher loading of the medial part of the hoof at impact, whereas the right limb showed higher loading of the lateral part of the hoof in all horses, and both limbs presented increased lateral loading at the end of the stance. This study provides objective data for toe-heel and medio-lateral hoof balance in sound sport horses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Anaesthesiology of Domestic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium. Electronic address: Maarten.Oosterlinck@ugent.be.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oosterlinck
authors.affiliation: Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Hardeman
authors.affiliation: Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: van der Meij
authors.affiliation: Division of Diagnostic Imaging, Department of Companion Animal Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Veraa
authors.affiliation: Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: van der Kolk
authors.affiliation: Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: I D
authors.initials: ID
authors.lastname: Wijnberg
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Anaesthesiology of Domestic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pille
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery and Anaesthesiology of Domestic Animals, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Ghent University, B-9820 Merelbeke, Belgium; Department of Equine Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Utrecht University, NL-3584 CM Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Back
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005684:Gait / Q000502:physiology*; D006736:Horses / Q000502:physiology*; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000502:physiology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D016474:Weight-Bearing
keywords: Equine; Farriery; Gait analysis; Hoof; Lameness