PHOTO BY MARTIN SCHWALBE

The horses at Sunrise Equestrian Centre know all about community work. For years, they've been carrying challenged riders from Guelph and the surrounding area in the centre's therapeutic riding classes. Over the last year, however, their duties expanded to the U of G research community, as they participated in an OVC study investigating the mechanics of the hoof and the strain put on it during activity before and after a visit with a farrier.

  While recording how a hoof works, this study also looks at what farriers do and the normal activities that humans make working horses perform, says Prof. Jeff Thomason, Biomedical Sciences. "Can we predict what different actions will do to the strain patterns of a hoof, with the goal of saying: 'Don't do this or that to the horse because it will throw its feet out'?"

  A horse's hoof is composed of the same protein as human fingernails, but a hoof is "put together" much differently from the nails on a human hand or the claws on other animals. In fact, the hoof is designed to be the only part of the foot that touches the ground.

  "Not many animals run on their fingernails, and the ones that do have modified them extensively to do that," says Thomason.

  In addition to the natural strain of hooves supporting the weight of a horse, they must also endure changes in terrain. And in a world where humans use horses, the foot also reacts to being trimmed and shod.

  During the one-year study, Thomason recorded the changes in the Sunrise horses' feet before and after a farrier trimmed and shod them by placing electronic sensors in key positions on the hoof and measuring the level of strain experienced by the foot at different levels of activity.

  Expecting to see significant peaks and valleys in hoof strain that reflect human intervention, Thomason was surprised to record little change in the foot, showing that trimming the hoof does not have much impact on foot strain.

  "This is encouraging because it means that a good farrier who is doing the same routine on a horse is definitely not doing much to the mechanics of the foot," says Thomason. "The foot is going to grow the same proportions from front to back all the time. With a careful farrier, there is no reason to expect that the growth of the foot and trimming are going to make any difference to the strain of the foot."

  In addition to gaining important research results for the equine world, the research was also a good example of the community working with the University, he says. "The partnership with Sunrise was great. They were happy to volunteer their horses, and we really appreciate their help because there was a fair time commitment on their part."

  Thomason says the four Sunrise horses used were perfect for the study because they are "bombproof," meaning they can be handled and surrounded by lots of people and activity without becoming frightened. These horses are also accustomed to being ridden and put through different paces and patterns, another factor that made them attractive for the study, he says.