The Science behind the art

Cross training can provide the many benefits of

Increased cardiovascular fitness and musculoskeletal strength
Enhanced motivation by diminishing the potential for boredom,
Rejuvenate mind and body during breaks from formal training
All of which result in a prolonged career by avoiding injury and preventing ring sour behaviour but why? Let’s look at the science behind these claims.

The basic law of bone is that it is dynamic – always changing and responding to stress. This bone re-modeling is determined not only by growth but also by mechanical loading on the bone.

Microdamage occurs (within the bone) as a consequence of repetitive strain. When this microdamage occurs, damaged cells send signals to remove the damaged bone and replace it with healthy bone.

Overtraining causes this “microdamage” to occur at a faster rate than the body can fix and so the repair is never as strong as the original bone. This creates a weak point in the bone and sets the horse up for future injury.

A similar ‘micro-damage-repair’ cycle occurs within the tendons and ligaments, however, their relatively poor blood supply limits their ability to self-repair quickly. In addition to the repetitive strain injuries seen in tendons and ligaments, Dr. Hilary Clayton of Michigan State University highlighted an important difference between tendons and bone. Elastic tendons accumulate microscopic damage over the lifetime of the horse, this puts older horses at risk of exercise related damage.

The benefits of cross training (and the impact of over training) are most easily depicted in the thoroughbred racehorse.

“Repetitive Cyclic Stress to the skeleton is the primary cause of lameness in the race horse”

~ Dr. Larry Bramlage DVM MSc ACVS, Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital