Locomotion studies of horses are useful for the detection of lameness at an early stage and for the selection of the first-class horses for breeding. By using the EquiMoves system with the ProMove-mini wireless IMU sensors, the quality of gaits can be measured in a flexible and objective way.

A study (French version here) was made by a research project based in Switzerland, having the Swiss national stud farm of Agroscope, the Swiss Franches-Montagnes breeding federation and the Universities of Bern, Zurich, and Utrecht, as partners. The Franches-Montagnes horses were equipped with ProMove-mini sensor nodes and reflective markers from a high-speed motion capture camera for kinematic analysis. The aim was to validate the sensor nodes as a measurement alternative to high-speed cameras, which can then be used outside laboratories for field tests.

Reflective markers were positioned over some of the IMU sensors to assess the agreement between the high-speed motion capture system and the IMU system.
Copyright: Ernst A. Kehrli/ VetcomUZH

The HORSE presents a study in which the EquiMoves system was used to track the motion of seven healthy Warmblood horses. The data coming from the sensors was compared with the gold standard high-speed motion tracking cameras, with reflective markers placed on the cannon bones for motion capture. The conclusion was that the data coming from the IMUs, processed by application-tailored algorithms, was consistent with the data from the motion capture system. The research continues with the goal of validating the complete system of 8 IMU sensors.