RACEHORSE RESEARCH

RACEHORSE INJURY PREVENTION

DETERMINING HOW DIFFERENT SURFACES AFFECT HORSE INJURIES

The Challenge:

• Collect field data on how ground surfaces affect potential equine foot and leg injuries
• University of Guelph in Canada needed to measure acceleration and strain on horse hooves
• Instrumentation needed to be small enough to attach to a horse’s hoof in an unobtrusive manner
• Data recorder needed to be standalone and high shock & vibration tolerant
• No cables that could get tangled or alter gate
• Set-up needed to be simple and quick

The Solution:

• Miniature, rugged, ultra-lightweight DTS data acquisition systems
• University of Guelph mounted a SLICE MICRO data recorder directly on the hoof
• Positioning the DAS near the sensors eliminates cables, improves data quality
• Rugged enclosure designed to withstand impact and environmental factors
• Portable, easy set-up in the field and quick to position on horses at the point of interest
• 9-channel Guelph system included a triaxial IEPE accelerometer and six strain gages
• Store in place reliability, data writes directly to flash memory
• Intuitive software for easy set-up, viewing and data export