Inertial sensors are devices used to measure and record the movement and orientation of horses. These sensors typically include accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, which capture data on acceleration, angular velocity, and magnetic field strength, respectively. In equine research, inertial sensors are employed to analyze gait, detect lameness, and monitor performance. By providing objective quantitative data, they offer insights into the biomechanics of horse movement. The data collected can be used to enhance training regimens, improve rehabilitation protocols, and support veterinary assessments. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the application, methodology, and outcomes of using inertial sensors in equine studies.
Forbes B, Ho W, Parkes RSV, Sepulveda Caviedes MF, Pfau T, Martel DR.Racehorses commonly train and race in one direction, which may result in gait asymmetries. This study quantified gait symmetry in two cohorts of Thoroughbreds differing in their predominant exercising direction; we hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the direction of asymmetry between cohorts. Methods: 307 Thoroughbreds (156 from Singapore Turf Club (STC)-anticlockwise; 151 from Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)-clockwise) were assessed during a straight-line, in-hand trot on firm ground with inertial sensors on their head and pelvis quantifying differences between the minim...
Crecan CM, Peștean CP.Objective gait analysis provides valuable information about the locomotion characteristics of sound and lame horses. Due to their high accuracy and sensitivity, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have gained popularity over objective measurement techniques such as force plates and optical motion capture (OMC) systems. IMUs are wearable sensors that measure acceleration forces and angular velocities, providing the possibility of a non-invasive and continuous monitoring of horse gait during walk, trot, or canter during field conditions. The present narrative review aimed to describe the inertial ...
Darbandi H, Munsters C, Parmentier J, Havinga P.Detection of fatigue helps prevent injuries and optimize the performance of horses. Previous studies tried to determine fatigue using physiological parameters. However, measuring the physiological parameters, e.g., plasma lactate, is invasive and can be affected by different factors. In addition, the measurement cannot be done automatically and requires a veterinarian for sample collection. This study investigated the possibility of detecting fatigue non-invasively using a minimum number of body-mounted inertial sensors. Using the inertial sensors, sixty sport horses were measured during walk ...
Crecan CM, Morar IA, Lupsan AF, Repciuc CC, Rus MA, Pestean CP.Both as an aid for less experienced clinicians and to enhance objectivity and sharp clinical skills in professionals, quantitative technologies currently bring the equine lameness diagnostic closer to evidence-based veterinary medicine. The present paper describes an original, inertial sensor-based wireless device system, the Lameness Detector 0.1, used in ten horses with different lameness degrees in one fore- or hind-leg. By recording the impulses on three axes of the incorporated accelerometer in each leg of the assessed horse, and then processing the data using custom-designed software, th...
Baxter J, Hobbs SJ, Alexander J, George LS, Sinclair J, Chohan A, Clayton HM.In equestrian sports the novice rider learns first to follow the movements of the horse's back and then how to influence the horse's performance. One of the rider's challenges is to overcome inherent horse and/or rider asymmetry patterns when riding in straight lines, mirroring the movements on the left, and right sides when turning. This study compares the performance of novice and advanced riders when riding in sitting trot on straight lines and when riding shoulder-in to the left and right sides. Eight novice and eight advanced horse-rider combinations performed sitting trot in a straight l...
Briggs EV, Mazzà C.Detection of hoof-on and -off events are essential to gait classification in horses. Wearable sensors have been endorsed as a convenient alternative to the traditional force plate-based method. The aim of this study was to propose and validate inertial sensor-based methods of gait event detection, reviewing different sensor locations and their performance on different gaits and exercise surfaces. Eleven horses of various breeds and ages were recruited to wear inertial sensors attached to the hooves, pasterns and cannons. Gait events detected by pastern and cannon methods were compared to the r...
Pfau T, Noordwijk K, Sepulveda Caviedes MF, Persson-Sjodin E, Barstow A, Forbes B, Rhodin M.Horses show compensatory head movement in hindlimb lameness and compensatory pelvis movement in forelimb lameness but little is known about the relationship of withers movement symmetry with head and pelvic asymmetry in horses with naturally occurring gait asymmetries. Objective: To document head, withers and pelvic movement asymmetry and timing differences in horses with naturally occurring gait asymmetries. Methods: Retrospective analysis of gait data. Methods: Head, withers and pelvic movement asymmetry and timing of displacement minima and maxima were quantified from inertial sensors in 16...
Lopes MA, Dearo AC, Lee A, Reed SK, Kramer J, Pai PF, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Morgan TL, Wilson DA, Keegan KG.OBJECTIVE To evaluate head, pelvic, and limb movement to detect lameness in galloping horses. ANIMALS 12 Thoroughbreds. PROCEDURES Movement data were collected with inertial sensors mounted on the head, pelvis, and limbs of horses trotting and galloping in a straight line before and after induction of forelimb and hind limb lameness by use of sole pressure. Successful induction of lameness was determined by measurement of asymmetric vertical head and pelvic movement during trotting. Differences in gallop strides before and after induction of lameness were evaluated with paired-sample statistic...
Pfau T, Daly K, Davison J, Bould A, Housby N, Weller R.Military working horses perform a high proportion of work on road surfaces and are shod frequently to deal with high attrition rates. The authors investigate the influence of shoeing on movement symmetry as an indirect indicator of mechanical differences affecting force production between contralateral limbs. In this quantitative observational study, inertial sensor gait analysis was performed in 23 Irish sport type horses (4-21 years, 1.58-1.85 m) in full ceremonial work at the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Changes in two movement symmetry measures (SI: symmetry index; MinDiff: dif...
Lee JN, Lee MW, Byeon YH, Lee WS, Kwak KC.In this study, we classify four horse gaits (walk, sitting trot, rising trot, canter) of three breeds of horse (Jeju, Warmblood, and Thoroughbred) using a neuro-fuzzy classifier (NFC) of the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) type from data information transformed by a wavelet packet (WP). The design of the NFC is accomplished by using a fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm that can solve the problem of dimensionality increase due to the flexible scatter partitioning. For this purpose, we use the rider's hip motion from the sensor information collected by inertial sensors as feature data for the cla...
Pfau T, Stubbs NC, Kaiser LJ, Brown LE, Clayton HM.To determine whether body lean angle could be predicted from circle radius and speed in horses during lunging and whether an increase in that angle would decrease the degree of movement symmetry (MS). Methods: 11 medium- to high-level dressage horses in competition training. Methods: Body lean angle, head MS, and trunk MS were quantified during trotting while horses were instrumented with a 5-sensor global positioning system-enhanced inertial sensor system and lunged on a soft surface. Speed and circle radius were varied and used to calculate predicted body lean angle. Agreement between observ...
Starke SD, Witte TH, May SA, Pfau T.Gait analysis using small sensor units is becoming increasingly popular in the clinical context. In order to segment continuous movement from a defined point of the stride cycle, knowledge about footfall timings is essential. We evaluated the accuracy and precision of foot contact timings of a defined limb determined using an inertial sensor mounted on the pelvis of ten horses during walk and trot at different speeds and in different directions. Foot contact was estimated from vertical velocity events occurring before maximum sensor roll towards the contralateral limb. Foot contact timings mat...
Keegan KG, MacAllister CG, Wilson DA, Gedon CA, Kramer J, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Pai PF.To assess the analytic sensitivity of an inertial sensor system for detection of the more severely affected forelimb in horses with bilateral lameness. Methods: 18 adult horses with forelimb lameness. Methods: Horses were fitted with inertial sensors and evaluated for lameness with a stationary force plate as they were trotted in a straight line. Inertial sensor-derived measurements for vertical head movement asymmetry (HMA) and vector sum (VS) of maximum and minimum head height differences between right and left halves of the stride were used to predict differences in mean peak vertical force...
Keegan KG, Kramer J, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Pai PF, Dent EV, Kellerman TE, Wilson DA, Reed SK.To determine repeatability of a wireless, inertial sensor-based lameness evaluation system in horses. Methods: 236 horses. Methods: Horses were from 2 to 29 years of age and of various breeds and lameness disposition. All horses were instrumented with a wireless, inertial sensor-based motion analysis system on the head (accelerometer), pelvis (midline croup region [accelerometer]), and right forelimb (gyroscope) before evaluation in 2 consecutive trials, approximately 5 minutes apart, as the horse was trotted in a straight line. Signal-processing algorithms generated overall trial asymmetry me...
Keegan KG, Kramer J, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Pai PF, Dent EV, Kellerman TE, Wilson DA, Reed SK.To determine repeatability of a wireless, inertial sensor-based lameness evaluation system in horses. Methods: 236 horses. Methods: Horses were from 2 to 29 years of age and of various breeds and lameness disposition. All horses were instrumented with a wireless, inertial sensor-based motion analysis system on the head (accelerometer), pelvis (midline croup region [accelerometer]), and right forelimb (gyroscope) before evaluation in 2 consecutive trials, approximately 5 minutes apart, as the horse was trotted in a straight line. Signal-processing algorithms generated overall trial asymmetry me...
Keegan KG, MacAllister CG, Wilson DA, Gedon CA, Kramer J, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Pai PF.To assess the analytic sensitivity of an inertial sensor system for detection of the more severely affected forelimb in horses with bilateral lameness. Methods: 18 adult horses with forelimb lameness. Methods: Horses were fitted with inertial sensors and evaluated for lameness with a stationary force plate as they were trotted in a straight line. Inertial sensor-derived measurements for vertical head movement asymmetry (HMA) and vector sum (VS) of maximum and minimum head height differences between right and left halves of the stride were used to predict differences in mean peak vertical force...
Pfau T, Stubbs NC, Kaiser LJ, Brown LE, Clayton HM.To determine whether body lean angle could be predicted from circle radius and speed in horses during lunging and whether an increase in that angle would decrease the degree of movement symmetry (MS). Methods: 11 medium- to high-level dressage horses in competition training. Methods: Body lean angle, head MS, and trunk MS were quantified during trotting while horses were instrumented with a 5-sensor global positioning system-enhanced inertial sensor system and lunged on a soft surface. Speed and circle radius were varied and used to calculate predicted body lean angle. Agreement between observ...
Starke SD, Witte TH, May SA, Pfau T.Gait analysis using small sensor units is becoming increasingly popular in the clinical context. In order to segment continuous movement from a defined point of the stride cycle, knowledge about footfall timings is essential. We evaluated the accuracy and precision of foot contact timings of a defined limb determined using an inertial sensor mounted on the pelvis of ten horses during walk and trot at different speeds and in different directions. Foot contact was estimated from vertical velocity events occurring before maximum sensor roll towards the contralateral limb. Foot contact timings mat...
Pfau T, Noordwijk K, Sepulveda Caviedes MF, Persson-Sjodin E, Barstow A, Forbes B, Rhodin M.Horses show compensatory head movement in hindlimb lameness and compensatory pelvis movement in forelimb lameness but little is known about the relationship of withers movement symmetry with head and pelvic asymmetry in horses with naturally occurring gait asymmetries. Objective: To document head, withers and pelvic movement asymmetry and timing differences in horses with naturally occurring gait asymmetries. Methods: Retrospective analysis of gait data. Methods: Head, withers and pelvic movement asymmetry and timing of displacement minima and maxima were quantified from inertial sensors in 16...
Crecan CM, Peștean CP.Objective gait analysis provides valuable information about the locomotion characteristics of sound and lame horses. Due to their high accuracy and sensitivity, inertial measurement units (IMUs) have gained popularity over objective measurement techniques such as force plates and optical motion capture (OMC) systems. IMUs are wearable sensors that measure acceleration forces and angular velocities, providing the possibility of a non-invasive and continuous monitoring of horse gait during walk, trot, or canter during field conditions. The present narrative review aimed to describe the inertial ...
Briggs EV, Mazzà C.Detection of hoof-on and -off events are essential to gait classification in horses. Wearable sensors have been endorsed as a convenient alternative to the traditional force plate-based method. The aim of this study was to propose and validate inertial sensor-based methods of gait event detection, reviewing different sensor locations and their performance on different gaits and exercise surfaces. Eleven horses of various breeds and ages were recruited to wear inertial sensors attached to the hooves, pasterns and cannons. Gait events detected by pastern and cannon methods were compared to the r...
Lopes MA, Dearo AC, Lee A, Reed SK, Kramer J, Pai PF, Yonezawa Y, Maki H, Morgan TL, Wilson DA, Keegan KG.OBJECTIVE To evaluate head, pelvic, and limb movement to detect lameness in galloping horses. ANIMALS 12 Thoroughbreds. PROCEDURES Movement data were collected with inertial sensors mounted on the head, pelvis, and limbs of horses trotting and galloping in a straight line before and after induction of forelimb and hind limb lameness by use of sole pressure. Successful induction of lameness was determined by measurement of asymmetric vertical head and pelvic movement during trotting. Differences in gallop strides before and after induction of lameness were evaluated with paired-sample statistic...
Pfau T, Daly K, Davison J, Bould A, Housby N, Weller R.Military working horses perform a high proportion of work on road surfaces and are shod frequently to deal with high attrition rates. The authors investigate the influence of shoeing on movement symmetry as an indirect indicator of mechanical differences affecting force production between contralateral limbs. In this quantitative observational study, inertial sensor gait analysis was performed in 23 Irish sport type horses (4-21 years, 1.58-1.85 m) in full ceremonial work at the King's Troop, Royal Horse Artillery. Changes in two movement symmetry measures (SI: symmetry index; MinDiff: dif...
Baxter J, Hobbs SJ, Alexander J, George LS, Sinclair J, Chohan A, Clayton HM.In equestrian sports the novice rider learns first to follow the movements of the horse's back and then how to influence the horse's performance. One of the rider's challenges is to overcome inherent horse and/or rider asymmetry patterns when riding in straight lines, mirroring the movements on the left, and right sides when turning. This study compares the performance of novice and advanced riders when riding in sitting trot on straight lines and when riding shoulder-in to the left and right sides. Eight novice and eight advanced horse-rider combinations performed sitting trot in a straight l...
Crecan CM, Morar IA, Lupsan AF, Repciuc CC, Rus MA, Pestean CP.Both as an aid for less experienced clinicians and to enhance objectivity and sharp clinical skills in professionals, quantitative technologies currently bring the equine lameness diagnostic closer to evidence-based veterinary medicine. The present paper describes an original, inertial sensor-based wireless device system, the Lameness Detector 0.1, used in ten horses with different lameness degrees in one fore- or hind-leg. By recording the impulses on three axes of the incorporated accelerometer in each leg of the assessed horse, and then processing the data using custom-designed software, th...
Lee JN, Lee MW, Byeon YH, Lee WS, Kwak KC.In this study, we classify four horse gaits (walk, sitting trot, rising trot, canter) of three breeds of horse (Jeju, Warmblood, and Thoroughbred) using a neuro-fuzzy classifier (NFC) of the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) type from data information transformed by a wavelet packet (WP). The design of the NFC is accomplished by using a fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm that can solve the problem of dimensionality increase due to the flexible scatter partitioning. For this purpose, we use the rider's hip motion from the sensor information collected by inertial sensors as feature data for the cla...
Darbandi H, Munsters C, Parmentier J, Havinga P.Detection of fatigue helps prevent injuries and optimize the performance of horses. Previous studies tried to determine fatigue using physiological parameters. However, measuring the physiological parameters, e.g., plasma lactate, is invasive and can be affected by different factors. In addition, the measurement cannot be done automatically and requires a veterinarian for sample collection. This study investigated the possibility of detecting fatigue non-invasively using a minimum number of body-mounted inertial sensors. Using the inertial sensors, sixty sport horses were measured during walk ...
Forbes B, Ho W, Parkes RSV, Sepulveda Caviedes MF, Pfau T, Martel DR.Racehorses commonly train and race in one direction, which may result in gait asymmetries. This study quantified gait symmetry in two cohorts of Thoroughbreds differing in their predominant exercising direction; we hypothesized that there would be significant differences in the direction of asymmetry between cohorts. Methods: 307 Thoroughbreds (156 from Singapore Turf Club (STC)-anticlockwise; 151 from Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC)-clockwise) were assessed during a straight-line, in-hand trot on firm ground with inertial sensors on their head and pelvis quantifying differences between the minim...
