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Equine
Locomotion Seminar - Saturday and Sunday 3-4 April
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ILPH
Belwade Farm, at Aboyne, Aberdeenshire this weekend hosted a Seminar
designed to assist farriers and vets diagnose equine lameness.
Equinalysis,
is a new concept in the understanding of horse lameness which harnesses
a video camera with computer technology to assist farriers and vets
to help understand the root cause of a horse's lameness.
The
idea of the Seminar was to bring interested parties up-to-date with
continued professional development and it comprised, basically,
two parts:
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A resumé of anatomy and physiology relating to farriery and
hoofcare and
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A look at gait analysis and how shoeing and trimming can affect
both performance related aspects and the ability to be able to treat
common conditions effectively.
A
couple of Belwade's horses that are currently being investigated
for intermittent lameness were chosen as guinea pigs and their action
was digitally recorded on a video camera. This footage was then
downloaded onto a computer using specialised computer software.
This software provides a useful diagnostic tool to evaluate the
horse's way of going.
Comments
Haydn Price, Consultant farrier to the British Equestrian Federation,
Team Farrier to the British Dressage Team and the Para Olympic Dressage
Team comments, "My associate, Mark Johnson, who comes from
a human bio-mechanics background, and I are putting forward a new
concept with the help of new computer technology, which enables
us to be able to quantify what we are doing from a pre and post-shoeing
position."
Says
Eileen Gillen, Manager, of ILPH Belwade Farm, "We were very
privileged to be one of the few areas to be introduced to this new
concept and I believe in a few months time, when more people are
aware of it, all concerned professionals will want to know more.
Mark and Haydn have possibly one of the most ground-breaking approaches
to equine gait analysis which could revolutionise not just the way
we look at a horse but how we treat and ride those horses."
www.ilph.org
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