Abstract
Horses competing in the team competition at the 1992 Olympic games were
videotaped as they attempted to jump a 4.5 m wide water jump. The video
images were digitised to provide kinematic and centre of gravity (CG)
data from 18 horses: 12 horses that cleared the water jump (Group 1) and 6 horses that failed to clear the tape on the landing side (Group 2). Univariate ANOVA revealed significant between-group differences in horizontal distance jumped (Group 1: 5.79 m ± 0.37, Group 2: 5.03 m ± 0.34; F=0.001), inclination of the trunk segment to the horizontal at lift off of the leading hindlimb (Group 1: 21.4° ± 2.5, Group 2: 16.9° ± 4.1; F=0.011) and horizontal distance of the leading hind hoof from the horse's CG at lift off (Group 1:1.11 m ± 0.12, Group 2:
1.30 m ± 0.06; F=0.004). Pearson correlation coefficients revealed that
3 variables were highly correlated with vertical velocity at lift off:
distance of the leading hind hoof from the CG at impact (r=-0.53,
P<0.05) and lift off (r=-0.76, P<0.001) and trunk angle at lift
off (r=0.70, P<0.001). Distance of the leading hind hoof from the CG
at lift off and trunk angle at lift off were also significantly
correlated with horizontal distance jumped (r=-0.56, P<0.01; r/0.67,
P<0.01 respectively). Stepwise multiple linear regression with
vertical velocity as the dependent variable selected 3 of the 7
investigated independent variables: trunk angle, distance of the leading
hindlimb from CG at lift off and distance of the leading hind hoof from
the approach side of the water (r2=0.799). The position of
the hindlimbs through their take off phase relative to the CG of the
horse and the trunk angle at lift off are important variables in the
take off over a water jump.
Translated title of the contribution | Factors that influence vertical velocity during take-off over a water jump |
---|---|
Original language | English |
Pages (from-to) | 138-140 |
Number of pages | 3 |
Journal | Equine Veterinary Journal Supplement |
Volume | 27 |
Issue number | S18 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - May 1995 |