Corner
bone will stay sound. According to common belief, one does not want a horse with a short or upright pastern nor a long cannon bone. If you want to see how ingrained these beliefs are, take a look at the six sample horses and see which ones you think were sound and which ones were not. Before reading the rest of this article, take a minute to make your own assessments regarding each horse’s soundness and longevity. After decades of observing horses of various
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breeds or registries and in a wide range of sports, I have not found those commonly held beliefs to be completely accurate. Using the pillar of support as an indicator has proven much more accurate when it comes to predicting soundness and longevity in all sports. To illustrate this, we will examine six sport horses—half of them remained sound and half of them did not. And all but one of them competed at the open level or above.
By Judy Wardrope Front Leg Testing for Future Soundness
any equestrians have often heard that the horse with the ‘proper’ length and angle of the pastern and a short cannon
HORSE #1 Despite the fact that this horse is leaning forward in the photo, we can still see that the bottom of the pillar of support emerges into the rear quarter of the hoof. If it emerged into the middle or the front of the hoof, the horse would be at higher risk for navicular-type syndromes. If it emerged behind the hoof, the amount of stress on the suspensory apparatus (tendons and ligaments in particular) is increased. Naturally, these factors are influenced by lightness of the forehand as well, and where the top of the pillar emerges influences lightness of the forehand. This horse shows a pillar that emerges in front of the withers and into the rear quarter of the hoof. This horse was a sound international jumper, had his official retirement ceremony at age 21 and has remained sound well into retirement.
HORSE #2 This horse displays a pillar of support (a line extended in both directions through the naturally
1 50 May/June 2015
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Conformation
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