The McPhail Chair Report #5 Published in Dressage and CT, October 1998   The Value of Video - Part 2   Looking for Gait Quality in a Video Tape Last month I gave you some hints for improving the quality of your video tapes. In this column we'll apply these principles in evaluating gait quality. By learning to pick up certain features of the horse's movement in slow motion, you're taking a step toward training your eye to be more effective in evaluating how different horses perform. I'm going to focus on the trot because this gait has a large influence on overall gait quality and the quality of the trot shows a high heritability, which makes it an important consideration in a breeding prospect. In every stride each limb has a stance phase when it is on the ground and a swing phase when it moves forward through the air. The movements of the limb during its swing phase represent the quality and expressiveness of the horse's gaits. These movements are best captured from a side view, while the front/back view is more useful for detecting problems in the stance phase and deviations such as winging. Setting Up the Camcorder For side view recordings, the wall of an arena is a good backdrop. Avoid a 'busy' background that makes it more difficult to see the horse's movements. Choose wraps in a color that contrasts with the background. Position the camcorder on a tripod at the height of the horse's elbow and have the horse move in a straight line at least 30 feet away from you. The most useful strides for gait evaluation are those that occur when the horse is perpendicular to your field of view rather than at an oblique angle that distorts the image. Gait Quality Research on gait quality has shown that tempo, limb coordination pattern and range of motion of the joints are important features. Tempo is the rate of repetition of the strides and it is usually measured in strides per minute. It is easily determined from a video by counting the number of strides taken during a known period of time. In the trot each stride has two steps that give it a 1-2 rhythm . If a trotting horse takes 15 strides (30 steps) in 10 seconds (1/6th of a minute), the tempo is 15 x 6 = 80 strides per minute. For horses moving at the same speed, a slower tempo is indicative of a longer, more ground covering stride, which is a desirable feature. The average tempo of the working gaits for warmblood horses is 55 strides per minute in the walk, 80 strides per minute in the trot, and 100 strides per minute in the canter. Piaffe and passage have a tempo of around 55 strides per minute. Limb coordination describes the rhythm of the footfalls. The trot is recognized as a two-beat gait with the diagonal pair of limbs moving synchronously. However, if the footfalls are observed in slow motion, either the fore hoof or hind hoof of the pair usually contacts the ground slightly earlier. Diagonal advanced placement is the term used to describe this asynchrony. Horses with good natural balance tend to place the hind hoof before the diagonal fore hoof. As a horse advances through training and shows more collection and self carriage, diagonal advanced placement increases in duration as a result of the relative elevation of the forehand. However, placement of the fore hoof before the hind hoof at the trot does not preclude a horse from being a top dressage horse. Three of the horses that qualified for the ride off for the individual medals in the Barcelona Olympics placed the fore hoof in advance of the hind hoof. Slow motion and single frame advance are useful for evaluating range of motion. Features to take note of include: the cycle of limb movement - a good mover reaches forward rather than extending the legs out behind the body. freedom of motion in the shoulder and hip, which are particularly important for creating a long stride. A small increase in range of motion in the upper limb translates into a much larger increase in movement of the lower limb. in the hind limb - the stifle and hock joints should be well flexed during the swing phase and should maintain this flexion as the leg moves forward under the body. This is in contrast to a stringhalt type of movement in which the limb is jerked off the ground and the joints are flexed rapidly, but the flexion is not maintained as the leg moves forward. Dragging the toes is an undesirable feature. in the fore limb - look at the elevation of the forearm and the height of the knee and hoof when the limb is at its most forward and elevated position. A more elevated position gives a more expressive gait. The Last Word In my research I rely heavily on the results of video analysis. Through watching many horses both at normal speed and in slow motion, I have learned a great deal about how horses move. Sometimes video evaluation is a useful part of the decision-making process when you select a riding or breeding prospect, but I caution you against placing too much emphasis on any one aspect of movement. There are many important factors to consider, so try to keep everything in perspective.   Published with permission from Dressage & CT magazine.