Horse handedness could lead to safer bets
... whether a horse is right or left "handed" may be the key to beating the bookies' odds. Horse trainers and riders often say their animals perform better when running, turning or jumping in a particular direction. But whether these preferences were the result of training and experience or an innate, underlying penchant for one side or the other wasn't known. So Jack Murphy and his colleagues at the University of Limerick in Ireland decided to measure how 40 unschooled sport horses, destined for show jumping or dressage, performed on a series of tests. The researchers watched which leg they stepped forward with, which direction they chose to detour around an obstacle or roll over in a bed of hay.
- copyright NEW SCIENTIST -
See pictures from the DRESSAGE SOCIAL CLUB MEETING FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2005 at Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center. If you have questions you can email Ulla Hudson, our German Certified Instructor.
Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center
#733, Route 344, Cedar Grove, Edgewood, NM, 87015, USA
505-615-5050
... whether a horse is right or left "handed" may be the key to beating the bookies' odds. Horse trainers and riders often say their animals perform better when running, turning or jumping in a particular direction. But whether these preferences were the result of training and experience or an innate, underlying penchant for one side or the other wasn't known. So Jack Murphy and his colleagues at the University of Limerick in Ireland decided to measure how 40 unschooled sport horses, destined for show jumping or dressage, performed on a series of tests. The researchers watched which leg they stepped forward with, which direction they chose to detour around an obstacle or roll over in a bed of hay.
See pictures from the DRESSAGE SOCIAL CLUB MEETING FOR WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 2, 2005 at Windsong Dressage and Equestrian Center. If you have questions you can email Ulla Hudson, our German Certified Instructor.
#733, Route 344, Cedar Grove, Edgewood, NM, 87015, USA
505-615-5050
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