Movement asymmetry in working polo horses.
Authors: Pfau T, Parkes R S, Burden E R, Bell N, Fairhurst H, Witte T H
Journal: Equine veterinary journal
Summary
# Movement Asymmetry in Working Polo Horses The intense, repetitive loading of polo training and competition creates significant musculoskeletal demands, yet little has been documented about the baseline gait characteristics of this population. Researchers equipped 60 polo horses with inertial measurement units at the poll and sacrum to measure vertical head and pelvic displacement symmetry during in-hand trot, applying published lameness thresholds to classify abnormal movement patterns and investigating whether asymmetry correlated with age. Between 60–67% of the polo horses demonstrated movement asymmetries exceeding published guideline values for forelimb, hindlimb or both, with 52–53% showing head asymmetry and 27–50% showing pelvic asymmetry; notably, these asymmetries were not preferentially left or right-sided and did not differ between horses with known forelimb or hindlimb lameness (P >0.6 for forelimbs, >0.2 for hindlimbs). Neither age nor lateralisation accounted for the observed asymmetries, suggesting that significant movement deviations in polo horses may represent either an adaptation to sport-specific demands rather than pathology, or alternatively, a widespread subclinical lameness burden in this population that remains undetected by conventional clinical assessment. For equine professionals, these findings warrant caution when interpreting gait asymmetry in polo horses; establishing sport-specific normative data may be necessary before distinguishing functionally compensatory movement patterns from clinically significant lameness requiring intervention.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Movement asymmetry is common in working polo horses and should not be automatically attributed to unilateral lameness or age-related degeneration
- •Practitioners should interpret gait asymmetry findings cautiously in polo populations, as high baseline asymmetry may reflect training demands rather than pathology
- •Assessment protocols for polo horses need to account for population-level asymmetry patterns to avoid over-diagnosis of lameness
Key Findings
- •60-67% of polo horses showed movement asymmetry outside published guideline thresholds for forelimbs, hindlimbs, or both
- •52-53% demonstrated head movement asymmetry and 27-50% showed pelvic movement asymmetry
- •Asymmetries were not lateralised (left vs right) and showed no significant correlation with horse age
- •No significant difference in asymmetry patterns between left and right limb lame horses