Modification of a force plate system for equine gait analysis on hard road surfaces: a technical note.

The research article discusses the modification of a force plate system to enable analysis of horse gaits on hard road surfaces, improving our understanding of how horseshoes interact with these surfaces.

Objective and Purpose of the Study

• The primary objective of the research was to alter a force plate system suited to measure ground reaction forces on a road surface.
• The researchers aimed to obtain preliminary data from this modified system, expanding the traditionally limited studies on horseshoe materials which mainly focused on analysis of kinematic data such as slip times and distances.

Methods and Construction

• A force plate system was modified by adding top plates of varying thickness to mimic road and concrete surfaces.
• These included a steel-reinforced concrete top plate with 18 mm thickness and weight of 23 kg, and a top plate featuring a 6 mm bituminous macadam wear coat (imitating a road surface) which was 12 mm thick and weighted 21 kg.
• The top plates were attached to the force plate using bolts and their resonance frequencies were recorded as 278 Hz for the concrete setup and 218 Hz for the roadway setup.

Testing and Results

• A horse, with steel horseshoes, trotted over the concrete-topped force plate. The researchers obtained simultaneous kinetic and kinematic data until 8 foot placements were recorded.
• The collected data showed that the horse’s foot slip averaged 35 mm with a deviation of 7 mm, happening approximately 29 ms post-impact on average with a deviation of 8 ms.
• Both Fy and Fz forces increased during this foot slip with the Fy/Fz ratio during the slip maintained at about 0.56 (with a deviation of 0.05), indicating that the forces acted consistently in relation to each other throughout the slipping process.

Practical Implications and Conclusion

• The modified top plates showed resilience and durability, withstanding different designs of horseshoes and tungsten-capped stud nails with minimal damage.
• This implies the modified force plate system can potentially allow for more comprehensive studies on different types of horseshoes and their interaction with hard surface types, which could lead to the development of better designs that reduce slipping and injury risk.
• The system also enables measurement of reaction forces on hard surfaces, as well as the calculation of energy lost through foot slippage by integrating the craniocaudal force-foot position data after impact.