Jean Luc Cornille

10/08/2025

I am delighted to post today, in the Science of Motion 's Navicular Course, Michelle Osborn's, MA, PhD, anatomical study of the forelimb and navicular apparatus. I read it five times and will read it five times more. Real Science is a pleasure, and the practical application of real Science is the most efficient rehabilitation. This is the knowledge you need in order to understand that navicular issues must be corrected to a great extent through the management of forces loading the navicular apparatus from the body down to the navicular system.The horse needs to have properly balanced hooves, and we need to upgrade our riding to actual knowledge. An educated rider is the horse's most efficient therapy.

Jean Luc

https://www.scienceofmotion.com/.../navicular_online...

10/06/2025

Today, I posted a video in the Navicular Syndrome Forum explaining the difference between the half-halt type of balance, which is an illusion of balance based on a concept of weight transfer that lacks scientific validity, and authentic balance, which effectively reduces the load on the forelegs and navicular apparatus. The diagram is one of the many illustrations that explain how authentic balance, which is the mastery of multidirectional forces, effectively occurs. Authentic balance is primordial in the rehabilitation of navicular syndrome.
Jean Luc

10/04/2025

Today, I planned to write a post about asking questions on the Navicular Syndrome Forum. Bonny asked an excellent question. Read her question and my response. This is a very difficult problem because the entire literature on Navicular Syndrome has focused on the hoff and totally ignored the most important part of the problem, which is the rider's capacity to reduce the intensity and frequency and correct the direction of the forces loading the navicular apparatus.
I once had an intense discussion in my barn with a veterinarian and a farrier. The vet was there to verify that the farrier had created proper mediolateral balance and a positive palmar angle, taking X-rays. Both wanted to use a pad, and I refused. The conversation was impossible because their mind reasoned at a mechanical level, and my mind reasoned at a dynamic level. The farrier was so angry that he quit shoeing for me. Two months later, the same vet was there for another horse, and I walked back from the training ring riding the horse who was the subject of the dispute. The vet recognized the horse and was surprised to see him sound. She asked me if I had found a better farrier. I told her no; the farrier I use today is as good, but not better, than the one who quit. One day, you will understand that the cure is not just in the hoof capsule that absorbs the forces, but for a greater part in the coordination of the horse's physique that regulates the intensity, frequency, and direction of the forces loading the navicular apparatus from the body down to the leg.
Jean Luc Cornille
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/.../navicular_online...

10/02/2025

You have been conditioned to believe that Navicular syndrome can only be corrected from the hoof. This is good marketing, but partial science. Don’t lock yourself within the limits of the hoof capsule; when navicular syndrome can be rehabilitated, the solution is in the horse's body and in particular the thoracolumbar spine. Join us and ask questions. We will explain how the horse’s physique loads the navicular apparatus and how to apply new knowledge.

Round Table Discussions

In the seventies in France, it was an area in Paris named “Le Quartier Latin” where people entertained friendly, constructive, and intelligent conversations around a table. If the subject of the conversation interested you, you were invited to take a seat, order a drink, and listen or enter the conversation. Fascinating subjects were discussed with pertinent ideas and questions. I’m not sure if the culture is still alive today, as social media has shifted toward aggressive and empty statements, rather than fostering constructive interaction.
I recall having the opportunity to listen to Jean Paul Sartre, a renowned philosopher. I even asked him a question. He was friendly and responded, bringing me up to a level I did not know I was capable of. Betsy and Michelle possess impressive knowledge, but they are also instructors in their respective veterinary schools; they know how to lift a student.
The real cure for navicular syndrome is riding well. The show ring does not teach how to ride well, nor does tradition. They teach how to fit the horse to stereotypes. Riding well is more intelligent, respectful of the horse, and demands upgrading our equitation to actual knowledge. Most of us have the skill to ride well, but our mind is saturated by formulas that don’t evolve with knowledge and hamper our ability to ride at the level we are capable of.
The evidence of soft tissue damage profoundly changes and further the approach to Navicular syndrome. Whatever your aim is to keep your horse sound or restore soundness if your horse’s navicular apparatus is affected, take a seat around the round table and ask questions. Elizabeth and Michelle will introduce you to the new knowledge, and I will explain and demonstrate how to apply it.

https://www.scienceofmotion.com/.../navicular_online...

10/01/2025

The Science of Motion's Navicular Syndrome Forum starts today.

Introduction

Michelle L. Osborn MA, PhD; Jean Luc Cornille, SOM, Uriel Blas-Machado DVM, PhD, DACVP; Elizabeth W. Uhl DVM, PhD, DACVP, demonstrated that in many instances soft tissue damage is the cause of pain and lameness. The evidence of soft tissue damage has profoundly changed and expanded the approach to navicular syndrome.
The course teaches authentic balance. The half-halt type of balance does not reduce the load on the navicular apparatus. The balance leading to soundness is an orchestration of the horse's whole physique. The horses rehabilitated from navicular syndrome went beyond soundness; they exhibited a quality of movement in each gait that they had not previously had.
The Science of Motion's navicular forum is a lot more than recovering from a navicular issue. The body coordination leading to soundness is the body coordination allowing excellence.
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/.../navicular_online...

09/30/2025

The muscles of the thoracic area, the serratus and pectoralis muscles, and the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the forelegs are where the action needs to be. The muscles pull on the tendons, ensuring elastic tension, which helps the structures absorb impact forces, but reducing the intensity, slowing the frequency, and correcting the direction of the forces that stress the navicular apparatus is done by the muscles of the thoracic area, the shoulders, the arms, and the forearms. This education can only be achieved by the rider.
The rider in the picture fails the horse. The horse is heavily loaded on the forehand; the right front limb should be up into the swing phase. The navicular apparatus is overstressed, no matter the hoof work.
https://www.scienceofmotion.com/.../navicular_online...

09/29/2025

09/29/2025

The intensity of the weight loading the navicular apparatus and the speed and frequency have always been the two elements that I had to correct first to restore soundness in naval horses. Jean Luc

09/28/2025

The two cases presented here are likely to develop navicular syndrome, even if the hooves are trimmed correctly. Soundness demands that both the horse’s physique and the hooves are properly balanced.

09/26/2025

When I discussed the kinematic abnormalities that I noticed in navicular horses. Betsy and Michelle utilized their knowledge, expertise, and experience to identify the cause of my feelings. Today, Betsy, Michelle, and I can offer a solution far more effective than focusing on the hoof. The real problem is the intensity, frequency, and direction of the forces exerted by the body and transmitted to the limbs, ultimately loading the navicular apparatus. Alone, the navicular bone, the digital cushion, the frog, the hoof expansion, and the fetlock's dorsiflexion cannot absorb the impact forces. The cranial thoracic area and the muscular system of the forelegs need to absorb a part of the impact forces.
Jean Luc

Click to learn more about the new 3-month course and sign up https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/navicular_online_course.html

09/25/2025

Many functional defects loading the navicular apparatus abnormally require correction through adequate riding and training.
The Science of Motion Navicular Course explains how to prevent abnormal loading and rehabilitate the horse if the intensity, frequency, and direction of the forces loading the front legs have already affected the navicular apparatus. https://www.scienceofmotion.com/documents/navicular_online_course.html