Corner H
ave you ever wondered why a short
horse can have a longer stride or more scope than a taller horse? From a structural perspective, stride length and scope over fences are largely determined by stifle placement. For our purposes, we will use the visible
protrusion created by the stifle joint as opposed to the actual patella to identify stifle placement. This allows us to see it without having to palpate it. We can find the reference point easily (in person and in photos) and watch it through its entire range of motion. The patella is not always visible and many horses do not appreciate palpation in that area. As a general rule, the lower the stifle
protrusion is, the longer the stride and the higher the stifle, the quicker and shorter the stride. Higher and lower are based on comparisons to sheath level or where a sheath would be if looking at a mare. Horse #1 has a very high stifle. It is
actually into sheath level. This limits the range of motion of the hind leg, but gives him a quicker turnover rate in his stride. That shorter range of motion gives him a shorter stride and severely limits scope over fences. It also limits his ability to compress the rear angles for the collection required for some upper- level dressage movements. Therefore, he would not excel in any of the Olympic disciplines, but could sprint over short distances. And, his trot would likely be rougher to ride than the trot of any of the other horse pictured here.
56 July/August 2016 2
By Judy Wardrope Stifle Placement Horse #2 has a stifle just at the bottom of
the sheath, which gives him a bit more range of motion than Horse #1 and would provide a slightly longer stride as well as the ability to collect, but would not give him a truly ground-covering stride nor superior scope over fences. This placement and slightly below this placement (just below the bottom of the sheath) correlates very well with dressage. In fact, the top dressage horses fall into this range of stifle placement. Two mares have been included so that we can see the differences in stifle placement
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Conformation
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