Lameness Detection: Symmetrical Accelerometer Alignment Means Your Horse Is Sound

A sensor developed by scientists from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark may soon be able to help detect the earliest and most subtle signs of equine lameness; use of the device is hoped to enable veterinarians and trainers to intervene and remove a horse from training or competition before an injury can become worse, and to treat an injury while it is still in its early stages.

"An objective measure is needed because it's not always obvious visually, and even trained observers of horses can disagree when a horse is going lame," explains Maj Halling Thomsen of the Faculty of Life Sciences in Copenhagen, who has been involved with the research.

Thomsen and her colleagues use miniature accelerometers calculated in three dimensions. The accelerometers were originally developed for use in cellphones, where they are used to orient information displayed on the screen.

Thomsen's accelerometer devices are, according to New Scientist magazine, three piezoelectric cantilevers set at right angles to each other. Each one produces a voltage when it is compressed by forces due to acceleration or gravity, so the three together can detect forces in three dimensions.

"Just like humans, the gait of a horse changes when it starts to hurt. Unlike humans though, a horse's four legs make it hard to detect with the human eye. But when horses are about to go lame they start to move asymmetrically left-right as they trot. An accelerometer, mounted on the animal's back should be able to detect this," Maj Halling Thomsen explained in an article in the University Post.

She and her team have studied healthy horses, and now plan to conduct further tests on lame horses to see if deviations from the "symmetry indices" they have drawn up can help predict the onset of lameness. With the device attached to a surcingle on the horse's back, they will be expecting a change in vertical motion of the horse's body as it moves from left to right.

Sensoring technology is in demand from race and show jump trainers in Europe, with some studies for example trying to optimise the link between stride length and speed. In the United States, accelerometer-based gait technology has been centered at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.

"But there where I see the most value for this sensor is as a support for practicing vets in diagnosing lameness," says Thomsen.

For more information, see "Symmetry indices based on accelerometric data in trotting horses" in
Journal of Biomechanics, by Maj Halling Thomsen, Anders Tolver Jensen, Helle Sørensen, Casper Lindegaard, and Pia Haubro Andersen

18 June 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing 

Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.

Jerry Black DVM Will Leave Pioneer Equine Hospital for Colorado State University Equine Science Program Role

Hoofcare and Lameness has learned that Jerry Black DVM, co-founder of Pioneer Equine Hospital in Oakdale, California, will leave veterinary practice at the end of June to pursue a new role in the horse industry as Equine Science Program Undergraduate Director at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Colorado. Dr. Black founded Pioneer Equine Hospital in 1973 and built it into one of the leading veterinary hospitals in North America.

A statement sent today by Pioneer Equine Hospital on behalf of the hospital "family" read, "We wish him great success and want him to know that he will always be a part of our family here in California. "

Dr. Black brings unique qualities to his new role at CSU. In addition to his experience as a veterinarian who specializes in performance horse lameness, Dr. Black has been a leading breeder and exhibitor of cutting horses, and owner of Valley Oak Ranch, a stallion station and breeding farm in California. He is past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, is currently a member of the board of trustees of the American Horse Council, and has had many horse and veterinary industry roles.

Dr. Black earned his veterinary degree at Colorado State University. The "equine science" program at CSU includes the reproductive and orthopedic research laboratories, among other units, and grants degrees to both undergraduate and graduate students.

14 June 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com 

 © Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. 

Photo: Pioneer Equine Hospital

Medal of Honor: An Almost-Anonymous Farrier Hero

It's the Medal of Honor of the United States of America. Sometimes called the Congressional Medal of Honor, it is the highest honor for valor in action given to a member of the US military. It was the first official medal created for US military heroes, simply because the egalitarian Americans claimed they didn't want all the pomp and ribbonry of the Europeans. Their democratic values meant that heroes of the Revolutionary War, War of 1812, Mexican-American War and other early conflicts received little individual recognition for their heroics.

You might say: they were all heroes.

But along came the Civil War, and the attitude changed. One of the individuals chosen was a somewhat anonymous horseshoer from Maryland named Samuel Porter who was a long, long way from home when he stood on the banks of the Little Wichita River in west Texas in July 1870 and faced 100 Kiowas led by Kicking Bird near what would today be Archer City and Lake Kickapoo.

Samuel Porter's grave is in Los Angeles National Cemetery in Brentwood, California, where it was photographed for Memorial Day. The plaque reads:

"Samuel Porter, Farrier, Company L, 6th U.S. Cavalry, who distinguished himself at Wichita River, Texas, on 12 July 1870 by gallantry in action. His conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity, and selflessness are in the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army."

Farrier Porter was born in Montgomery County, Maryland, and that seems to be about all that the US military (or anyone, presumably) knows about him. But, as of today, a lot more people know that there once was a brave farrier named Samuel Porter.

In all, Hoofcare and Lameness research has been able to document seven farriers who have won the Medal of Honor.

The grave of farrier hero Samuel Porter, originally uploaded by underactive.

The Long-Awaited Comeback of Overdose: Laminitis Recovery for the Hungarian Wonder Horse

"Does he look ready to you, Hoof Blog Friends?" Hungarian Thoroughbred trainer Sandor Ribarszki holds the left front foot of his country's idol racehorse "Overdose" in Neuenhagen near Berlin, Germany, last week. Overdose suffered from laminitis more than a year ago. He seems to have hoof casting tape or a wrap (as suggested by one reader--I assumed it was tape since it is so prevalent these days) on this left front and a glue-on shoe on his right front. The Hoof Blog has had a lot of readers from Hungary in the past year; perhaps they are learning about laminitis treatments used on their national hero. Overdose's folkloric comeback is reported on web updates in all sorts of languages. Photo from fOTOGLIF EPA/TIM BRAKEMEIER

Overdose's return to racing has been pushed back again: the racing press in Europe reported him scratched from a race in Berlin, Germany today, but entered in a race at Royal Ascot in England over Memorial Day weekend. That's a tall order for a horse recovering from laminitis. The five-year-old has a huge following all over the world and over 1,000 Facebook fans. They call him "The Budapest Bullet". He's the winningest racehorse to come out of Hungary in generations. Photo from fOTOGLIF EPA/TIM BRAKEMEIER

This video slide show of images of Overdose has a soundtrack of one-liners from the US film Seabiscuit. There are a lot of parallels between the two horses. Overdose was purchased for 2000 pounds in England and went on to win there and in Germany, Italy, Hungary and France. He is the national hero of Hungary and the Hungarians want to see him run again.

Just watch him run; this race was at the beautiful Baden-Baden spa in Germany. It's fun to watch this clip just to listen to the call.

16 May 2010 | Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

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Favorite Video: New York Racing Association Salutes Racetrack Horseshoers

What makes a racetrack a racetrack? Horses running. And horses won't be running without a legion of horseshoers swinging their toolboxes down the shedrows each day. They squeeze in their hoof duties between a horse's  hotwalking and feeding and vet treatments and gate schooling and all the other important appointments in a Thoroughbred-in-training's day.

But the horseshoer's visit is important. It's the one that aligns the wheels of the runner, fixes the flats, re-balances the imbalances, patches the punctures, checks the valves.

No one knows that better than the shoers at the New York Racing Association tracks. They drive back and forth across the intersection of Long Island and Queens as the meets move between Aqueduct and Belmont. These are suburban blacksmiths, who are more likely to shoe a horse in the shade of a highway overpass instead of a chestnut tree. That is, until July comes and they move to bucolic Saratoga.

What you don't see in this video is the ghosts. The ghosts of horseshoers past. New York has a great tradition of fine horseshoers, solid craftsmen who shod the best racehorses in American history for the best trainers who based themselves at Belmont to be close to their wealthy New York owners. The legends range from John Dern who flew around the country working on horses like the tender-footed Assault with legendary trainer Max Hirsch (who actually lived right on the grounds at Belmont Park), to Elmer Campbell who shod the last winner of Triple Crown, Affirmed, back in 1978. Going back even further would be the ghost of Irishman Andrew McDermott, who shod the horses of August Belmont, including Man o' War. And hundreds more, each a legend in his own way, as horseshoers tend to be.

The nonchalant attitude of the New York shoers in this video belies the high-pressure stakes that are played each day with valuable horses and a year-round racing schedule that is breathing shallow breaths, exhaling toward Albany with a cough now and then.

At the top of the politicians' heap, with the power to influence the fate of hundreds of horses as well as the jobs and livelihoods of many hundreds of people and entire communities, sits Governor David Patterson. If you think New York's first African-American legally-blind governor is out of touch with New York racing and the important role it plays, think again: Patterson is the grandson of a New York racetrack blacksmith. His grandfather's skill and hard work helped him to an advanced degree and a career in politics.

Would he know a Queen's Plate from a Clydesdale shoe? Maybe not, but maybe it's not too late to teach him, either. Wake up some repressed genetic memory code and Governor Patterson could build a new plan for New York racing starting on the backside, with the welfare of the horses and the people who care for and about them at the top of the list. He might feel right at home.

A morning on the backside with the horseshoers might put the whole thing in perspective. It always works for me.

15 May 2010 | © Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

Friends at Work: All in a Day's Sights and Sounds

German farrier Josh Feuerstein is immersed in his craft. The essence of his day is captured by these audio landscapes, and illustrated in high-definition snapshots that could be any farrier's day, anywhere. Nice work by flat36.com; Josh lives in Biesingen in Saarland, Germany. Go ahead and watch it in full-screen view.

Published 28 April 2010 |You're reading Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog at Hoofcare.com

© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. 
Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask.