Dr. Ober's session was followed by a fascinating lecture on nutrition from Dr. Katie Young. In the evening, everyone moved down the road to the Mallet Grille at the Polo Club for a presentation on conformation by Dr. Danny Marks.
Dr. Marks has a fantastic collection of conformation and competition photos of many of the great show jumping horses. He has noted that some of the best show jumpers have similar characteristics: a long, flat croup with a small jumpers bump, long line from the point of the hip to the point of buttocks, a high hip bone and well-defined thigh muscles. If you look at the horses from behind, they are more square with high, wide hipbones and well-developed thigh muscles. However, not all the horses fit this profile. Other greats like Gem Twist had a very short, sloping croup, which indicates a lack of scope. But what he did have was a long, low and upright shoulder and a very defined triceps muscle. He had to be ridden with a lot of speed to compensate for the lack of scope, but his front end was so powerful that he could lift himself up over the fences. And if you watch a horse jump (Dr. Marks slowed down the sequence for us), you'll note that the horse takes off with his front legs before his hind legs even touch the ground to push off! When you really think about it, you realize just how athletic jumping horses need to be.
With that, I'm turning over the coverage to Nancy Jaffer who will take you through the rest of the events this week. I'm sad to be leaving, but I feel so inspired to go home and start working on some of these exercises with my young off-the-track Thoroughbred. And don't forget, if you weren't able to make it to Florida to watch, we are taping the sessions and are putting together a DVD again this year.
Stacey Nedrow-Wigmore is the managing editor of Practical Horseman magazine.
