HESTEFORSK: Objective gait and lameness detection in Icelandic horses H-17-47-303

The diversity in footfall patterns and the fast stride frequency make subjective lameness evaluation of the five-gaited Icelandic horse extremely challenging. The rapid increase in popularity of this breed in Scandinavia and the rest of Europe signifies increased demand for veterinary expertise in this field. Objective tools for lameness evaluations are available but have to date been limited to assessment of lameness only during trot. An objective sensor-based movement measurement system was used to develop algorithms for gait classification. For all gaits, algorithms were used to detect hoof impact and push-off, validated against force place data, with a resultant gait classification accuracy of 98.8%. Mild lameness was induced in 21 Icelandic horses, in which objective movement symmetry data was collected before and after lameness induction. This dataset, as well as objective movement data from 80 healthy Icelandic horses, was used to further characterize movement asymmetry using the developed gait classification algorithms. Results from this study demonstrate that vertical asymmetry of the head is useful for detection of fore limb movement asymmetry at the walk and trot, but not at the tølt. Movement asymmetry of the pelvis is useful for detection of hind limb movement asymmetry at the trot, but not at the walk and in tølt. In summary, this study demonstrates the ability of automatic gait recognition by an objective sensor-based movement measurement system. However, the asymmetry parameters used for lameness detection at the trot, cannot be used at the tølt. Further analysis of the collected dataset may identify other useful parameters for asymmetry detection at the tølt.

På grunn av sine særegne gangarter og hurtige fot-forflytning er klinisk halthetsundersøkelse av islandshester spesielt utfordrende i klinisk veterinærpraksis. Dette prosjektet har fremforsket objektive bevegelsesdata hos denne rasen, som vil kunne bidra direkte til å bedre halthetsdiagnostikken av Islandshester. Dette er viktig kunnskap siden tidlig og korrekt diagnostikk av halthet er avgjørende for god dyrevelferd. Kombinert med det fakta at Islandshest som rase vokser i popularitet i hele Skandinavia, er økt kunnskap rundt bevegelsesmønster og halthet hos denne rasen en svært relevant problemstilling for eiere, trenere og veterinærer

Icelandic horses are increasingly popular in Sweden and Norway. Their strength lies in their unique gaits, however, in lame horses this trait becomes a weakness. Evaluating not only lameness but also the leg of origin for lameness in any gait other than trot is exceptionally challenging. Today, we lack the most basic knowledge of how Icelandic horses move in the different gaits and how these gaits change in the event of lameness. Biomechanical research on lameness has excelled due to the use of automatic computerized sensor analysis. However, such analysis is currently limited to use during trot.The aim of this project is to study how Icelandic horses move in the different gaits; develop new algorithms for automatic classification and coding of these gaits; as well as identify sensitive symmetry variables to detect not only lameness but also origin of lameness in the different gaits. These findings can also be used to quantify gait traits for genetic studies as well as a breeding tool.