Published: 20 Jan 2015 | Last Updated: 20 Jan 2015 08:46:32

An article that was a result of two students' final year research project (Charlotte Jennings and Hazel Mitchell) has been selected by Equine Veterinary Journal Clinical Reviewers as one of the most clinically relevant to appear on EVJ's Early View section this month.

As a result, a synopsis of the article will be circulated to equine practitioners via BEVA’s e-News and also sent to other organisations such as AAEP. The article will be free to all users online for the next 8–10 weeks.   This is a great achievement.

The research project focused on comparing head and pelvic movement symmetry between surfaces and reins during lungeing.  It found that while more symmetrical horses showed a consistent amount of movement symmetry across surfaces/reins, horses objectively quantified as lame on the straight showed decreased movement symmetry during lungeing, in particular with the lame limb on the inside of a hard circle. In future, thresholds for lungeing need to be determined using simultaneous visual and objective assessment.

Pfau, T; Jennings, C; Mitchell, H; Olsen, E; Walker, A; Egenvall, A; Troester, S; Weller, R; Rhodin, M.
Lungeing on hard and soft surfaces: Movement symmetry of trotting horses considered sound by their owners. (2014)
EQUINE VETERINARY JOURNAL