Smarthorse Lab

Smarthorse Lab is a research project that develops a smart electronic system that will wirelessly measure forces under the horse's hooves. The purpose of the system is to be able to follow the horse's individual movement patterns and detect abnormalities that may indicate lameness at an early stage, thus preventing more extensive damage.

Lameness is one of the biggest problems among horses today and is both difficult to detect in time and diagnose. Since horses are flight animals, they are experts in redistributing their weight if it hurts somewhere, in order to continue running. This often leads to until it is possible to visually detect a change in the movement pattern, the horse has gone with the primary injury too long, causing secondary injuries due to overloading. By measuring the ground reaction forces under the horse's hooves, Smarthorse Lab hopes to be able to detect a deviation in an early stage and thus avoid secondary injuries by taking the horse out of training and treating the primary injury.

With help of printed piezoelectric sensors, which are only a few microns thick, and wireless communication, measurement data is collected and then saved in a cloud-based solution where you should be able to share the results with any parties such as a veterinarian or a farrier. The system is intended to be mounted at regular shoeing and becomes a permanent solution that is replaced/reused at the next shoeing. As a user, no previous technical competence or training should be required to use the system but should be accessible to all.