SOM would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their continued support. Due to all of your enthusiastic participation in our programs we have grown faster than expected and for this we are very grateful. As we grow we continue to look for ways to assist as many dedicated horse people as possible. Toward that end we happily announce our video evaluation service. For a $45.00 fee Jean Luc Cornille will provide his professional evaluation of individually submitted videos.

 

 Please see submission form for details and please know that in order to be fair to all only those videos that are formally submitted will be evaluated. 

Sincerely,
Editor Helyn Cornille
Science Of Motion

"In horses, and most other mammalian quadrupeds, 57% of the vertical impulse is applied through the thoracic limbs, and only 43% through the hind limbs." (H. W. Merkens, H. C. Schamhardt,G. J. van Osch, A. J. van den Bogert, 1993).

 

Equestrian education states that as soon as ground contact, the alighting hind leg is propelling the horse's body upward and forward. Measurements suggest otherwise. In reality, during the first half of the stance, which is the sequence of the stride where the supporting hind leg is exerting pressure on the ground, the hind leg on support is decelerating the horse's body. Gravity is pulling the horse's body down, inertia is pushing the body forward and the supporting hind leg absorbs and resists both forces flexing the joints. This sequence of the stride is referred to as the braking phase and last the initial 45% of the stance. At the contrary of previous beliefs, the supporting hind leg does not enhance balance propelling the horse's body upward but instead, resisting attraction of gravity and inertia forces during the decelerating (braking) phase.

The concept is easier to understand at the piaff where the supporting hind leg is exerting a considerable braking activity resisting forward displacement of the body over the forelegs. "The hind legs have a considerable braking activity to avoid forward movement of the body over the forelegs.(...) The  forelimbs have a larger propulsive activity." (1)

Activating the hind legs with a dressage whip is therefore a misconception. The stimulus increases the propulsive activity of the hind leg which lifts the croup and shifts the weight over the forelegs. Talented horses usually adapt to the training error shifting their front legs backward underneath themselves and finding balance over the forelegs. As a result, the forelegs are not capable to propel the horse's body upward and after the second or third step, the horse is unable to sustain the diagonal and rhythmic motion of the limbs and the piaff became a walking gait. On this short video, you can compare a horse trained in respect of actual knowledge of the equine physiology with on the back ground, Olympic horses trained with the whip activating the hind legs. While the reference horse is sustaining a regular diagonal and rhythmic motion, Olympic contenders are losing the rhythm as soon as the second or third stride and are shifting the front legs backward underneath themselves. READ ON

Jean Luc  with your video will give analysis and evalution of a horse you are looking to buy or have if you have a horse with problems.

Fee is $45.00 Per video.

Videos must be clear, no shaking , horse in walk, trot and canter on lead and/or being ridden Complete front, side and back views.  History of the problem and eventual treatment. (If any)

We do not diagnosed, we provide analysis, working hypothosis,  reeducation program and follow up.

Below is an example of Jean Luc response to a video he viewed of a horse being considered for purchase:

Asking price of horse below $40,000.

There is a shorter kinematics with the left front leg. This is probably due to the fact that he does travel with a preferential right lateral bending and an inverted rotation. There are signs of stresses on both hocks. This is visible at the trot for the right hind leg and the left hock at the walk. He does have difficulties with the flying change. The rider does have to prepare the horse heavily for both changes. Twice at the counter canter, they cut the video. I guess, the horse did a missed flying change or cross canter. There is no advanced movement such as piaff or passage or canter pirouette. He is not at all in the balance for any advanced movement. In fact, he is quite heavy on the fore end. You would have to have a very serious vet check and you will have hard time to rebalance the horse. He is otherwise a lovely mover but not breathtaking.

Science Of Motion

Jean Luc Cornille

Send video after payment via paypal (go to our website here to pay: CLICK HERE  to helyn@scienceofmotion. As well a youtube video link can be used.

There is a limit to knowledge but I am not sure about stupidity." (Albert Einstein) 

The waspish ghosts of theological thinking never miss one opportunity to illustrate Einstein's observation. A group of them has decided to discover the absolute truth about the horse's vertebral column mechanism. They selected a few authors who according to them know all about the equine back. Someone suggested Jean Luc Cornille. The response was, this might be a problem, he does not believe in the swinging back.

 They want to know the absolute truth but only the truth that fits their beliefs. The swinging geeks have a strange obsession. Facing a mountain of evidence they have finally surrendered to the thought that the horse's vertebral column functions within the confines of a very limited range of motion. However, in their mind, something has to swing. If it is not the vertebrae that is swinging, it is the energy that is swinging. If it is not the energy that is swinging, it must be the muscles that are swinging. The ghosts find decades of old theories in order to support their own theories.

 Ghosts often use classical views as an umbrella. At the time, when these classical views were becoming popular, James Rooney wrote the very classic "Biomechanics of Lameness in Horses" demonstrating the inaccuracy of the swinging back theories. "At speeds higher than the walk the amplitudes of the axial movements are reduced and difficult to discern with the naked eye. Presumably the muscular resistance increases, making the vertebral column as nearly rigid as possible in order to resist wasteful sidewise, lateral motion." (Lames R. Rooney, 1969) However, with the approach of the Christmas spirit, we should let it swing, let it swing, let it swing. After all, there is nothing wrong with a 3year old child believing in Santa Claus.

 The problem may be that the ghosts of the equestrian world believe that they are adults. However, considering the time they spend on the internet slamming everybody else, they cannot ride too much so, the horses are safe. For the ghosts of the equestrian world, we republish this cartoon. We have simply updated the captions.

Immersion has become an International Event. Trainers and therapists came from Finland and England to benefit from the practical application of advanced research studies. Contacts have already been made from Sweden, Denmark and more from Finland for the next Immersions.  

 

  Albert Einstein wrote, "Any fool can know. The point is to understand". Immersion is about understanding how the horse's body works in the light of advanced research studies. But above all, Immersion is about understanding how to apply new knowledge. Common training techniques are about exploiting the horse's talent without preparing efficiently the horse's physique for the performance. More and more riders from all over the world have come to realize the derisive nature of collecting ribbons at the cost of the horse's soundness. We recently received this great e-mail from an advanced level rider. "For quite a few years  I rode at a fairly high level. And today I can only be ashamed of the ignorance that I have had in relation to the training of my horses."

 

  Applying advanced knowledge of the equine physiology, a horse can be properly prepared for most difficult achievements as long as the performance is within the horse's athletic abilities and the horse's education is updated to actual understanding of the equine physiology. However, the practical application of pertinent scientific discoveries is a research in itself. This is also a new research. A clear distinction needs to be made between integrating some new findings into old ideas and verifying validity and accuracy of old theories in the light of recent scientific discoveries. Leonardo da Vinci wrote, "The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions." As well, the greatest deception horses suffer is from their rider's opinions.   Immersion 4 participants were, Gunilla Wahlberg from Finland. Helen Prentice, from UK. Dr. Cindy Courtney, DVM, from Georgia. Dr. Elizabeth Uhl DVM, PhD, Dip ACBP, from Georgia. Louis Wild, Licensed Massage Therapist, Certified Kinesio Taping Practitioner Certified Equine Massage Therapist, from Georgia. Kerry O'Donohue,  from South Carolina. Elana Bertram from Connecticut.    The highlight of the weekend was the Betsy Uhl presentation, pertinent, well delivered and superbly illustrated. Dr. Betsy Uhl DVM, PhD, Dip ACBP. is a pathologist at Georgia University, (UGA.) She is also a classically trained dressage rider. 

 

Betsy presents pathology work as essentially descriptive, concentrating more on what is seen, rather than the cause of why the lesion is there. Betsy insisted several times during her presentation that it was Jean Luc's insights, about proper movement verses dysfunctional horses, that helped her to understand how the puzzle of vertebrae, muscles and ligaments, that were lying on the necropsy table, can effectively move and above all, how their movements can be corrected. Together, Betsy and Jean Luc are currently working on their first project, which is updating Jean Luc's navicular syndrome video to recent discoveries and in particular visual insight permitted by modern technology.   Betsy started her presentation with pertinent remarks; 41% of quadruped of museum specimens are wrong; 50% of our toys are wrong; 63% of anatomy textbook images are wrong!!!   Bone, says Betsy, is being made (osetoblasts) and resorbed (osteoclast) constantly. This is normal throughout the life, so any habitual movement can contribute to change. Trabecular scaffoldings allows a little bit of movement, making the bones capable of absorbing biomechanical stress, as well as responding dynamically to those stresses. 

 

 Then the pathologist explained how, by contrast to old thinking, the new generation of thoughts regards abnormal stress on the bone as the root cause of cartilage damage. Classically, it was thought that the cartilage changes and frays, and eventually the bone is damaged. But really, cartilage is thin. One of the first things you see is an increase in bone-side of the cartilage (subchondral bone). You see bone damage BEFORE you see the cartilage changes. 

 

  "Unload it: the key to the treatment of knee osteoarthritis" in humans. If you lose 11lbs, you decrease Osteoarthritis in the knee by 50%. Dr. Marylin Stanton commented years ago, "Too many therapies and not enough balance." (2002)  Basically, an equitation creating a functional horse instead of exploiting the horse's innate talent, is regulating the stresses on the bones and vertebrae and is much more efficient than injecting the cartilages.

 

  Sunday afternoon, after Betsy's presentation, Manchester helped the riding participants to feel the difference between the shoulder in that combines lateral bending and correct rotation verses the incorrect shoulder in where lateral bending is associated with inverted rotation. The 1800 pound, 18.1 hands high Hanoverian demonstrated also that lightness was not solely about the bit but instead lightness was a subtle orchestration of the whole physique allowing the horse to fully master power and balance. 

 

  The previous day, Saturday 26, was focused on case studies. Jean Luc presented several cases of navicular syndrome explaining that recovery was achieved by addressing the root cause of the kinematics abnormality that created the abnormal stress on the distal sesamoid bone. The therapeutic approach would therefore, allow remodeling. The next day, Betsy Uhl furthered the explanation.Navicular is a remodeling disease in that it is a lack of the ability to remodel, but it's not a genetic/metabolic problem. It is a response to stress. The stress has killed the signaling and remodeling cells and abnormal compression continues, so the response to repair is completely interrupted, leading to degradation. 

 

  The 27 cases of navicular syndrome that Jean Luc was referring to were all resolved addressing the root cause of the abnormal stresses, which was in the back. The remodeling process was there and once again capable to restore soundness once the stress was addressed. 

 

  The second highlight of the weekend was when the Selle Francais, Cesear was brought into the ring. The horse has been donated to the Science of Motion because no therapy was able to restore his soundness, (See Cesear in this newsletter). Jean Luc engaged all participants in a productive discussion, asking for everyone's observations with regard to kinematics abnormalities, muscular imbalance, spine torsion, morphological flaws, etc. The discussion then turned to what would be the best plan to conduct the horse's reeducation, where to start, what would be the consecutive steps, etc. Gunilla from Finland, pointed out the weaknesses and abnormal kinematics of the left hind leg suggesting than the reeducation might focus first on the left hind leg. Louis from Georgia observed that push of the left hind leg was shifting the weight on the right foreleg. Helen from UK was intrigued by the abnormal kinematics of both front legs, questioning if the reeducation should not first focus on the kinematics of the front limbs. Betsy from UGA, pointed out that since the right shoulder was shifting to the right, the use of the shoulder in, which was suggested as a gymnastic exercise, should first be a right shoulder in. Elena from Connecticut observed that working in hand the horse was considerably reducing the weight on his front legs. For each suggestion, Jean Luc explained the advantages and disadvantages brushing little by little an efficient working hypothesis. While each one had made a correct observation, Jean Luc explained how to integrate each observation into a constructive and efficient reeducation program. 

 

  The end of the day was about kissing spine. Jean Luc emphasized that kissing spine was always the combination of a genetic predisposition placing some dorsal spines too close, and a working attitude aggravating the problem. Very little can be done about the genetic predisposition but a horse can learn a body coordination preventing the dorsal spines to come in contact. Everyone watched the video "Kissing Spine," which is the fully documented reeducation of a horse named Cocoa. The journey ended with numerous questions about the riding and in hand techniques applied for the reeducation of Cocoa and other horses.   

 

Friday 25 was the work in hand day. The technique applied at the Science of Motion is the only in hand technique that directly address the work of the horse's back muscles. Through specific orchestration of the back muscles, the technique allows sophisticated control of the hind and front limbs kinematics. The first encounter of the Immersion 4 participants with the Selle Francais, Cesear, was in the context of the work in hand. Each one was able to observe how, through back control, the horse evolved from a heavy impact of the front hooves on the toe, to a subtle and very light hoof placement. Jean Luc explained that through the work in hand, his plan was to create proper stress on the front hooves; slowly walking the horse toward soundness.  Louis, who has participated in each Immersion program, was showing greater confidence and skill with his work in hand. The technique is demanding but extraordinarily efficient. Louis then discussed with Jean Luc that he felt ready to integrate the work in hand into his therapeutic approach. 

 

  The next Immersion is scheduled January, Friday 21st, Saturday 22nd and Sunday 23rd, 2012. Friday will be the work in hand day with a new program and a smaller horse. Saturday will be the Farrier's day. Mike Gallagher will explain that the techniques applied in the shoeing area of show grounds allows problem horses to enter the show ring. Jean Luc will explain the kinematics modifications, short term and long term, good and bad, that these showing techniques are inducing on the horse's limbs and vertebral column structures. Sunday will be the vets' and researchers' day.

 

 

Fairly early on in my current incarnation of [barn owner/manager/head trainer/instructor/handyperson/tractor driver/hay hauler/trail & pasture maintenance/rock picker and head referee for crazy horse people] I experienced a real wake-up call from one of the aforementioned crazy horse people. She was telling me how lucky I was to have the job that I had. It was a hot summer's day and as she was going on about the peaceful existence of my life with horses I found myself quite distracted as I was desperately trying to disengage a piece of hay from inside my bra without looking too much like Lily Tomlin's character Ernestine the telephone operator. "Snort, snort, one ringy dingy, two ringy dingies...oh yes, snort, hello, is this the party to whom I am speaking??? Snort, snort."

The poking (into and under what used to be a T-shirt and soon to be rag) and whining (of the human blathering machine) was becoming more and more unbearable and just short of tearing off all above-the-waist clothing my strip-tease was interrupted by the most profound statement I have ever heard. "The reason I think your job is so wonderful is that you don't have to deal with people." Well suffice it to say that the poking of hay into my personal parts was nothing compared to the poking of my teeth into my tongue - well I had to do something to prevent myself from bursting out laughing. This was even more poignant given that just a week or so ago I had the mind-boggling task of explaining to same said person the folly of closing the barn up tight in 90 plus temperatures when all of the horses were inside - yes you heard me. After a ride (mid-day and in such incredible heat) she put her horse back into the barn and closed tightly all of the barn doors, I suppose in order to prevent any escapees, but it was 94 degrees out with 99 percent humidity. I guess the fact that she was creating the only reason one would even think of leaving the comfort of a stall fan and escape into the sort of bug infested hazy afternoon sun that was plaguing us outdoorsy types on that infamous day, never occurred to her. Not sure where I was at the time but I arrived however many hours later to find 14 horses drenched in sweat, water buckets drained, my brain on overdrive and my emotional state - well in undiscovered territory. As I removed them from the "Oxford-brown" stained hot box, which was actually producing sweat of its own, and hosed each down in turn I could not help but wonder about the workings of the human mind - or more precisely the failure of such.

READ ON 

Jean Luc's competitive career is as distinguished as it is diversified. Competing at national and international levels in dressage, steeplechase, stadium jumping and three-day events, he has won extensively in all specialties collecting several gold, silver and bronze medals. Notably, Jean Luc won the individual and team gold medal at the military world championship of Fontainebleau in 1975. In 1971, he won silver at the world championship of Punchestown. The following year, he was member of the winning team at Bokello. However, Jean Luc feels that his greatest success lies in his ability to intuit the physical and mental condition of each horse the day after their victories.

 

A 1968 graduate of the Equestrian Military School, Le Cadre Noir de Saumur, Jean Luc received intensive training from Joseph Neckerman, Willy Schulteis and Hans Gunter Winkler. In 1972 and 1976, respectively, he worked closely with Michel Cochenet to prepare two Olympic teams for the national three-day event. Margit Otto Crepin, the French and Olympic Champion, is one of Jean Luc's most prominent dressage students.

 

Moving to the U.S. as dressage trainer for the 1984 Los Angeles Olumpic jumping team gold Gold medal, Melanie Smith at Windrush Farm, Jean Luc subsequently founded E. A. 21 in Orange, Virginia, from which he began an extensive program of clinics and seminars throughout the U.S. and Canada. His work has concentrated on applying the latest biomechanical research to redefine traditional approaches to equine training. It was here that Jean Luc also discovered a strong connection to the rehabilitation of lame horses. He has successfully rehabilitated such severe disabilities as navicular syndrome, contracted tendons, degenerative joint disease, and upward fixation of the patella, as well as cases of obscure and idiopathic lameness.

 

Jean Luc began his publishing career in 1982 with a series of articles in the French equestrian magazine L'Eperon. His writing credits also include the U.S. magazines Dressage and CT and The Chronicle of the Horse. He continues to share his research and knowledge through clinics and lectures, and as founder of Science Of Motion. He is currently working on a series of text books and educational videos, that will discuss and explore his findings to date. To that end, he has published a series of articles on biomechanics, a video exploring the subject of appling recent scientific discoveries to equine athletes' education.

 

The computer age allows a more advanced understanding of the horse's gaits and performance than previously known. Computers also have made the knowledge available to everyone. After decades of research and successful application of scientific discoveries, Jean Luc feels that time has come to take advantage of this modern technology by letting everyone have access to be able to apply these discoveries. Thereby, horses can be efficiently prepared for the effort; gait abnormalities can be discerned before they became injuries; and, performance difficulties can be analyzed down to their source. There is a way to educate horses which rises from one's heart and intelligence. There is undoubtedly a more subtle, more ethical, effective and better way. It is a prime opportunity that will lead Olympic caliber riders to the upper echelon of the podium. It will offer other riders an even greater victory, Beyond and between the shows is the quality of the daily life with the horses, the faculty of preparing them efficiently and keeping them mentally and physically sound until their golden age.