Bone Fusion Schedule
 (Part 2)

Even if the trainers do not use chemicals to sore horses having horses on stacks is harmful in itself. Mechanical soring happens because the big lick horse has to travel with more than 50% of its weight on the hind end which the back and hind legs were never designed to do. This will result in arthritis in the hind legs and in particular the hocks. Second, the weight of the pads is supported fully by the front legs (don't buy that business about so many ounces over the entire weight of the horse-according the laws of Physics, it is completely false!)

The front legs of the horse are not attached to the skeleton through any kind of bony attachment. Only muscle, ligaments and tendons hold the front legs on to the rest of the horse. These muscles, ligaments, and tendons attach into the spine at the neck. Starting immature horses (under five or six) in pads increases the stresses on the incompletely formed vertebrae and can lead to wobblers (in case you were wondering why so many TWH have wobbles and why TWHBEA says its not inherited). The other thing is that the natural breakover point of the hoof is delayed far beyond the time it was designed to break over. There is a suspensory apparatus in the leg whose function it is to pick the front leg off of the ground as the horse travels forward. This is done mechanically with
little to no muscle involved. Now delay the breakover and the suspensory apparatus is over-ridden and the horse has to use the muscles in his neck and shoulder to pick up the leg. This means using the muscles in a fashion they were never intended to be used. The muscles get sore as well as the insertion point of the muscle exerting forces on the bone (that it was not intended to take) which results in muscle tears and arthritis. The other thing is that even if the horse is not chemically
sored most padded horses are trained and shown in action devices aka, chain. Not the legal 6 oz. chain either but heavy chains that are going to hurt. Why? Because if you put something on a horse's pastern that does "not hurt" they will walk funny for about 10 minutes and then forget about it. So it doesn't work to train with action devices unless you are willing to inflict pain.

In conclusion, if a trainer really KNOWS horse anatomy and physiology he will either;

1.not pad and not delay the break over point or
2.decide that the future well being of the horse is not as important as this week's paycheck and will ignore what he knows is harmful.
And then there is option
3. which is that the trainer learned about horses 30 years ago (for about a week) and hasn't learned a thing since then.

 

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