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Post by Guest on Jan 11, 2016 8:02:31 GMT 10
Hi Tom,
Was wanting to know if a greyhound has an high arch in his back of the spine is this a bad sign or just the way they are born and structured?
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Post by Tom Meulman on Jan 11, 2016 21:14:27 GMT 10
Hi mate,
The short answer is yes it is a bad sign if the greyhound is a racing greyhound and has a very pronounced arch in its spine.
The reason is simple: the further a greyhound is able to stretch out during its running stride the faster it will run.
For a greyhound to fully stretch it is necessary for its spine to be fully straight or even slightly concave as this will allow its legs both front and back to stretch just that little bit further. If a greyhound has a pronounced arch to its spine that simply is not possible to achieve due to the structure of the spine.
Cheers,
Tom
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Jason (the other Jason)
Guest
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Post by Jason (the other Jason) on Feb 16, 2016 2:07:03 GMT 10
And there's an expression used by trainers 'Nice straight backline' for all the reasons Tom mentioned.
There are some firecrackers with very arched posture that defy this statement but usually the stronger and straighter or slightly concave their backs the better the stride and hence they do less work to cover more ground resulting in quicker times.
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Post by Tom Meulman on Feb 17, 2016 8:41:26 GMT 10
And there's an expression used by trainers 'Nice straight backline' for all the reasons Tom mentioned. There are some firecrackers with very arched posture that defy this statement but usually the stronger and straighter or slightly concave their backs the better the stride and hence they do less work to cover more ground resulting in quicker times. Yes and fifty years ago when I was a young guy, and of course new to training greyhounds and selecting racing stock other trainers were a bit more scathing as to how they described a greyhound that did not conform to what they thought was the ideal shaped racing greyhound. At various times other more experienced trainers would look at one of my dogs with its roach back and ask me what I was doing training that "camel". Luckily this particular dog could run a bit despite of the handicap its physical structure caused. Not only that I also had another greyhound with some ability having won at Olympic park in Melbourne who had quite pronounced turned out front feet, and there I was often asked what I was doing training Charlie Chaplin. The moral of all that of course is, while the physical structure of a greyhound can and does place some handicap on its racing speed, a big heart and keen chasing often makes up for any structural deficiencies. At the same time I have trained greyhounds that looked like Greek Gods and whom other trainers would comment on and admire, which never won a race. Cheers, Tom |
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