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Thank you so much for your video purchase and we are honored and pleased that your veterinarian, farrier and you have begun to solve your horse’s problems.
The dictionary definition of compensation is: to serve as, or provide a substitute or counterbalance.
Compensation begins when a horse suffers from inflammation associated with an injury or shoeing and transfers weight from the injured leg to its counterpart -- the non-injured leg. The injured leg’s muscles begin to atrophy from reduced use whereas the “sound” leg through compensation -- becomes “overused.” In a period of time, this leg can become lame.
We can also explain compensation by using a mathematical example. Hypothetically, we will start with a horse that weighs 1000 lbs. carrying 60% (600 lbs.) on his forehand and the other 40% (400 lbs.) on his hindquarters. Broken down equally, each front leg would bear 300 lbs. and each hind, 200 lbs. As a result of trauma, the horse begins to carry more weight on the sound leg in compensation -- adding to its normal load. If the horse transfers as little as 25% (75 lbs. on the front end), to the normal load of 300 lbs., the horse is thrown out of balance and is bearing 375 lbs. on one leg and 225 lbs. on the other when standing still.
If you add the weight of a well-balanced 200 lb. rider sitting in the proper position, 100 more pounds are added to the sound leg. It now bears 475 lbs. (59% of the normal load of the front end), while the injured leg is only carrying 325 lbs. or 41%. If this same horse and rider were to jump, the horse would be landing with the total weight of 1200 lbs. divided unequally on his 2 front legs, 750 on one and 450 on the other — that is 2.5 times more weight than the leg is supposed to carry or 25% more than the whole front end’s regular weight. When the horse is in motion, the unequal force of impact is multiplied, adding stress to the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments and cartilage. According to racing research, the horse at full speed hits the ground with as much as 10,000 lbs per square inch on one 6” wide hoof. All the more reason to have the horse in as perfect balance as you can!
Biomechanically speaking, the hoof capsule begins to change, the muscles, tendons, ligaments and eventually bones, begin to lose integrity and undergo great stress, causing lameness due to compensation.
With Healthy Stride, the horse’s posture is rebalanced, helping muscles to recover and cartilage to begin regenerating. Along with renewed posture and proper rest, the horse is on his way to recovering from this compensatory lameness using his natural ability to heal. By restoring equal weight distribution to the limbs, the horse is aided in returning to his pre-injured state more quickly.
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