A description of the motion of the navicular bone during in vitro vertical loading of the equine forelimb.

Motion of the navicular bone might play a role in the development of navicular disease in horses but is difficult to asses. In the present study, 3-dimensional motion of this bone was determined using roentgen stereophotogrammetric analysis. Tantalum pellets were inserted, in vitro, in the bones of 6 forelimbs of mature Shetland ponies and kinematics were measured during vertical loading up to 2 kN.

Calculated forelimb flexor tendon forces in horses with experimentally induced superficial digital flexor tendinitis and the effects of application of heel wedges.

Objective: To calculate forces in the flexor tendons and the influence of heel wedges in affected and contralateral (compensating) forelimbs of horses with experimentally induced unilateral tendinitis of the superficial digital flexor (SDF) tendon.

Animals: 5 Warmblood horses. Procedure-Ground reaction force and kinematic data were obtained during a previous study while horses were trotting before and after induction of tendinitis in 1 forelimb SDF and after application of 6 degrees heel wedges to both forehooves.

Effects of exercise on biomechanical properties of the superficial digital flexor tendon in foals.

Objective: To determine the effects of exercise on biomechanical properties of the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) in foals.

Animals: 43 Dutch Warmblood foals.

Procedure: From 1 week until 5 months of age, 14 foals were housed in stalls and not exercised, 14 foals were housed in stalls and exercised daily, and 15 foals were maintained at pasture.

Forelimb tendon loading during jump landings and the influence of fence height.

Lameness in athletic horses is often caused by forelimb tendon injuries, especially in the interosseus tendon (TI) and superficial digital flexor tendon (SDF), but also in the accessory ligament (AL) of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDF). In an attempt to explain the aetiology of these injuries, the present study investigated the loading of the tendons during landing after a jump. In jumping horses, the highest forces can be expected in the trailing limb during landing.

Sensitivity analysis and application to trotting of a noninvasive method to calculate flexor tendon forces in the equine forelimb.

Objective: To test the sensitivity to measurement and modeling errors of a method for noninvasive calculation of flexor tendon forces in the equine forelimb and to calculate tendon forces for Dutch Warmblood horses during trotting.

Sample Population: A normative set of kinematic and ground-reaction force (GRF) data obtained from horses during trotting in another study.

Procedure: Forces in the flexor tendons were calculated from the data set before and after addition of fixed relative and absolute errors.