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F=ma (Force = Mass Times Acceleration)

The opinions and views of this blog is for information and entertainment only and should not be used as a substitute for seeking advice from your veterinarian about your horse and your situation. Specific advice may only be given after a valid veterinary - client - patient relationship is made.OK, enough for vocabulary.  Time for physics!  Hey!  Where are you going??

Force equals mass times acceleration.  Imagine you are standing in front of me and I am holding a 50 lb farrier’s anvil.  I gently lower it down to your feet placing it to rest on your toes.  Does it hurt?  Were you afraid?  No.  The force equals the mass times 1 (gravity).  Another way to look at this is to lean against a parked car.  The stationary car causes no injury from the car contacting you.

Now I lift the anvil to your favorite fence height, say 1 meter or 3 feet and then drop it.  Did you move your feet?  I hope so.  The force now equals the mass (which does not change even when floating in the weightlessness of space) times the acceleration of gravity (9.8 meters per second squared).  It is the same with the car moving toward you at any speed.  Best move out of the way!

So will you now look at your sport a little differently?  A horse at a canter, a gallop, or coming off a fence is at some point placing all of its’ weight plus you and the tack on one leg.  All of that weight (mass) times the acceleration of gravity.  And this force increases as the time of the drop to the ground increases.  In other words, the higher the fence, the more time of acceleration to increase the velocity.  Just like an accelerating car picks up speed the longer you accelerate it (think of an interstate entrance ramp).

Every extra pound you and your horse carries (remember the anvil) coupled with lack of conditioning of the support structures (bones, ligaments, tendons, and muscle) increases the risk of injury.  It’s too late for correcting the conformation, but it is not too late to reduce weight and train for the long term with long slow distance, many low jumps, and a variety of terrain.  Remember, the laws of physics affect everyone and everything and it never changes.  Obey the Force!
Equine Dentistry Without Drama™ Articles by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on a work at www.theequinepractice.com.
Blog by Geoff Tucker, DVM is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.