Opening neural pathways!

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Ancient Monument

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Visited a yard today which specialises in dressage. The horses were all being lunged in 'bracelets' on their pasterns with lengths of chain attached to them so as they trotted the chains flicked up and down, tapping at their fetlocks.
Apparently this is to 'open the neural pathways' - not a technique I had come across before. Is this a new thing? I'm not sure it's something I'll try but then I'm pretty old fashioned.
 
To be blunt, that sounds like utter nonsense. Tapping the fetlocks will undoubtedly make them lift their feet in discomfort. "Opening neural pathways", however, is one of those nonsense pseudo-scientific terms you get a lot of these days. A neural pathway is any connection between sections of the nervous system or brain that is mediated by neurons. It's a physical structure at the cellular level and we have many of them. Nothing "magical" about them. And there is no sense in "opening" them - it's a totally meaningless thing to say.
 
Suggest you all read your Hilary Clayton biomechanics/rehab manuals! :) This is a technique that has been used for a long time for horses that have atrophied muscles affecting hock action. It works similar to raised poles, as the proprioceptive feedback causes the horse to exaggerate its action. However, it will normally only work for 100-200 yards, then the effect is lost. Consequently, it is necessary to use the bracelets many times a day for short periods of time in order to obtain optimum effect.


"In an attempt to provide a scientific basis for the use of PT and rehabilitation in the equine industry, I focused my research efforts on evidence-based research studies in this area," said Hilary Clayton, BVMS, PhD, MRCVS, Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine at Michigan State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Vice President of the American College of Veterinary Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation.

Clayton, together with equine physical therapist Narelle Stubbs, BAppSc (Phty), MAnimST (Animal Physiotherapy) of the Animal Rehabilitation Institute, in Loxahatchee, Fla., has published several studies assessing how PT might improve toe dragging and short striding in horses. In these studies researchers attached bracelets or light leg weights around horses' pasterns to stimulate receptors in the skin.

"This simulation results in activation of specific muscles that change the horse's movement pattern," Clayton explained. "With practice, these changes can reestablish normal coordination patterns and strengthen muscles that have become inactivated during lameness. Stimulation of the hind pastern results in a reflex response involving contraction of the hock muscles, which results in flexion of both the hock and stifle joints."

In one study published in the April 2010 edition of the Equine Veterinary Journal, Clayton and Stubbs stimulated horses' pastern skin using bracelets consisting of a loose strap with lightweight chains (less than 2 ounces) that brushed gently against the skin of the pastern and coronet as the hoof moved. Motion analysis showed that when the horses were wearing the bracelets the height of the hind hoof during the swing phase (i.e., when the foot is off the ground) increased as much as threefold at a trot due to increased flexion primarily at the stifle and hock joints.

"This (increased flexion) was due primarily to increased activation of the flexors and extensor muscles of the hock," Clayton relayed. "Thus, this technique appears beneficial for toe dragging, but because there was no change in hip flexion, this technique would not be expected to improve short striding."
 
But these were young dressage stallions, not horses being rehabbed. And being lunged in them for some time. Sounds more like an attempt to get an action that may not be there naturally. horse may need rehab afterwards!
 
Just to clarify....I am not endorsing what you saw; I posted above merely to provide the acknowledged PT proof for the misguided thinking behind what you saw!
 
Really? Yeah right!

Given the current fashion for dressage horses to have a flick when trotting, I would suspect a far more sinister reason.

If you have the stomach for it google "soring" in the American gaited horses, but be warned, it isn't pretty.
 
Just want to point out that "Stimulation of the hind pastern results in a reflex response involving contraction of the hock muscles, which results in flexion of both the hock and stifle joints." is just a fancy way of saying horses pick their feet up if you tickle their pasterns. And that this then means they strengthen their legs quicker which is not a huge revelation... We scientists like to write stuff that sounds complicated but essentially what they showed was that if you annoy a horse, it picks up its feet and picking up feet in a more exaggerated way means the horse gets stronger more quickly... Well, yeah, sure - thanks!

Calling it the "opening of neural pathways" very strongly suggests to me that someone along the line actively decided to mislead people...
 
Ancient Monument said:
I wouldn't think there was any weight to these bracelets, just fine flicky chain. Not like weighted show jump boots etc.
Click to expand...

Correct!

Tactile Bracelets

"Proprioceptive input comes from the skin, muscles, tendons, and joints, with additional information from the eyes and the vestibular system," Clayton said, explaining that riders can modify a horse's movement patterns by stimulating the skin, in particular.


A Note

These chains and weights are not like the action devices sometimes used on gaited horse breeds; they are humane treatment methods that are applied during rehabilitation from injury to restore normal locomotion.


Because the horse's pastern is especially sensitive to tactile stimulation, Clayton and her colleagues made lightweight (2-ounce) "bracelets" out of spur straps and dangled seven strands of light chain from each strap. She said their goal was to encourage the horse to raise his limb higher during movement.

"The presence of the bracelets rattling against the front of the pastern and coronet is perceived as an obstacle in the path of limb progression," Clayton explained.

They conducted a study in which they attached these bracelets to all four pasterns and trotted the same horse 30 meters 10 times. The found that:

In the hind limbs, the bracelets increased flexion at the stifle, hock, fetlock, and coffin joint, but not the hip.
In the forelimbs, the bracelets increased flexion of the elbow, carpal (knee), and fetlock joints, but not the shoulder joint.
The bracelets stimulated a twofold increase in forelimb hoof height and a threefold increase in hind-limb hoof height.
The forelimbs adapted to the bracelets quicker than the hind limbs did.
The bracelets' effect wore off fairly quickly (after 180 meters in the forelimbs and 420 meters in the hind limbs).
"Changing the type or position of the stimulation to refresh its effect or doing multiple, short training sessions within a day are likely to be more effective," Clayton concluded.
 
Again with the science gobbledygook... "Proprioception" is nothing more than knowing where your body is. Here the claim is that the horse thinks the chains are obstacles to step over. I think the horse knows full well that there's just some annoying little chain on its foot and it picks it up to get rid of it - but in scientific terms, at its most reduced, there is a proprioceptive input. It's like when you get a rope or fallen branch caught on your foot and without looking to see what's happened, you lift that leg higher - or has that only ever happened to me? :p If you tap a horse's foot with a whip, he will pick it up to avoid the sensation. It's no more a technique than that. And the only sense in which it is helpful is that picking up the foot more takes more effort and therefore builds more strength. It's not harmful - but it's also nothing revelatory.

You could use trotting poles to achieve the same thing without annoying the hell out of the horse (except maybe with your aids). Granted chains are more reliable for an untrained horse you're trying to rehab unridden.

Incidentally, the chains used by the saddle seat world work on exactly the same basic premise. The difference there is just that the horse's foot is first sensitised ("soring"), making the chain quite a bit more bothersome - and leading to the horse lifting its feet much higher. This is only a bad thing because the horse is in pain. Chains in themselves aren't harmful.
 
I was going to say wouldn't raised trot poles do the same job. We trot our horses down a line of raised poles prob five or six times two or three times a week - it takes a lot of effort and must do the same thing, but again, only for a short period of time.
I think we're being a little blinded by science here.
As I said earlier these were young dressage stalllions, surely allowing something to develope rhythm and cadence through training work and relaxation must do the same thing without the fancy gadget?
 
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