Fig. 1

Loading and unloading patterns of Shetland pony SDFT. a Typical force-time-diagram of repetitive cyclic tensile testing at 4% strain with initial decrease of force and plateau phase., b Stress-time-curves normalized over 1 s, b (I) creep effect in the 1st cycle at 2 and 4% strain, b (II) creep effect in the 1st cycle at 6% strain in untreated SDFT (blue) and with collagenase (orange) during the 60th cycle, b (III) creep effect during the 1st to 60th cycle in untreated SDFT at 6% strain, c Hysteresis curves during “walk” (black) vs. “trot” (red) during the 60th cycle, d Hysteresis curves in untreated SDFT (blue) and with collagenase (orange) during the 60th cycle, e Hysteresis curves at 4% strain (“trot”) during the 1st to 10th cycle and at 6% strain during the 60th to 90th cycle in untreated SDFT