Impact during equine locomotion: techniques for measurement and analysis

Area of Science:

• Equine Biomechanics
• Musculoskeletal Injury Research
• Impact Dynamics

Background:

• Musculoskeletal injuries in horses are often linked to impact forces during strenuous exercise.
• Accurate measurement and analysis of short-duration, high-magnitude impacts are crucial for understanding injury mechanisms.
• Existing methods face challenges in capturing transient peaks and high frequencies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a novel measurement system and analysis technique for characterizing large impacts on horses' hooves.
• To accurately record and analyze the time and frequency domain characteristics of impact signals.
• To provide insights into the dynamics of impact forces relevant to equine injury.

Main Methods:

• A piezo-electric accelerometer was securely mounted on the dorsal hoof surface.
• Saddle-mounted charge amplifiers and a coaxial cable transmitted data to a PC-based logging system.
• Data were analyzed using wavelet decomposition on a UNIX workstation.

Main Results:

• The measurement system successfully recorded high-frequency impact data.
• Wavelet decomposition revealed that the impact signal's frequency profile changes over time.
• Significant energy was observed in the signal post-impact, primarily below 1250 Hz.

Conclusions:

• Careful selection of sampling rates and frequency response is vital for accurate impact data acquisition.
• Wavelet decomposition is a powerful tool for time-scale analysis and characterization of impact data.
• Contour plots offer a visually intuitive method for localizing impact energy in time and frequency.