The development of the dynamic balance in foals from birth till twelve weeks of age

Abstract

This study was set up to determine how foals develop dynamic balance during walk and trot in the first twelve weeks of life and to determine whether a correlation exists with the development of OC. To objectively quantify the development of dynamic balance during walk and trot in foals, eleven sound Dutch Warmblood foals bred for show jumping were led at walk and trot over a dynamically calibrated pressure plate to collect kinetic data. The nPVF and CV of the nPVF were used to evaluate the kinetics and between the age of 4 and 6 weeks radiographs were made of the hock. We expected that over time the foals will become more stable, which is reflected by a decrease in the variation of nPVF between different trials and thus a lower CV. The results show that the foals develop no dynamic stable balance visible in the kinetics and the results show a higher mean nPVF in walk for OCD- compared with OCD+. Furthermore we expected that the presence of OC lesions lead to a temporary reduction of the nPVF. This indicates that the foals put less load on the affected limb and show no lameness by physical examination, but have a subclinical lameness.