KP AlkIot - Equine welface technologies

KP AlkIoT Equine welfare technologies

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Table of contents

Performance Stable environment Behavior

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Performance 1

Heart rate measurement during training

2

Resting heart rate measurement and heart rate variability

3

Heart rate diagnostic meters

4

Lactate

5

Measuring movement with artificial intelligence

6

Measuring movement with sensors

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1

Performance Heart rate measurement during training

What is being measured?

A horse's heart rate (beats per minute (BPM)) is a measure of how hard the horse is working. For example, heart rates above 150-170 BPM typically begin to build up lactic acid in the horse's muscles.

Why measure?

Heart rate can be used to monitor: ⟶ the workload and intensity of the exercise ⟶ the development and recovery of the horse's condition + to observe if the horse is overloaded in general, or in relation to its normal condition, which may indicate illness.

What is it measured with?

Heart rate can be used to monitor: ⟶ the workload and intensity of the exercise ⟶ the development and recovery of the horse's condition + to observe if the horse is overloaded in general, or in relation to its normal condition, which may indicate illness.

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1

Performance Heart rate measurement during training

What does the information tell us?

The heart rate curve reveals the horse's work efficiency and recovery rate. Roughly speaking, when the same exercise feels lighter later (the heart rate rises less and falls faster), the horse's condition has improved.

Did you know?

According to Aarts et al. (2025), continuous heart rate monitoring provides objective information about the horse's training response and can help tailor training to the individual – just like with human athletes and fitness enthusiasts!

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2

Performance Resting heart rate measurement and heart rate variability

What is being measured?

Resting heart rate, as the name suggests, is the horse's heart rate (beats per minute, BPM) at rest. Heart rate variability (HRV) is the amount of variation between beats. HRV is the balance of the autonomic nervous system (sympathetic/parasympathetic).

In a stressed animal, the sympathetic nervous system tells the heart to pump harder, which makes the heart rate variation steady (the rhythm is stiff), while in a relaxed animal, the heart rate variation is high, as the parasympathetic nervous system does not “command” the heart rhythm with the same force.

How is it measured?

Resting heart rate and HRV measured at rest indicate a horse's stress level, recovery and well-being. A low resting heart rate usually indicates that the horse is able to relax and its circulatory system is not burdened by an incipient (or already present) illness, severe overweight, or excessive physical exertion. HRV, on the other hand, captures prolonged changes in a state of stress: High HRV good recovery, relaxed state Low HRV stress, pain or fatigue During exercise, a horse's HRV naturally decreases as physical exertion increases. A decreasing HRV during light exercise or, for example, during transport can reveal a rising stress level.

→ →

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2

Performance Resting heart rate measurement and heart rate variability

How and with what is it measured?

Resting heart rate and HRV are measured using similar methods as described in Section 1, but instead of training, these are measured while the horse is at rest. Devices such as Polar H10, Garmin Blaze™ and Actiheart 5® work. Maxhorse EquiBeat and Equitime HRM also measure these characteristics, but with them you need to be close to the horse to read the heart rates.

What does the information tell us?

Regularly measured resting heart rate and HRV monitoring can reveal changes related to workload, pain states, or stress levels before they appear in behavior or clinical symptoms.

Did you know?

Aarts et al. (2025) and Kapteijn et al.

(2022) show that high-quality heart rate monitors can produce almost as reliable HRV data as ECG – meaning that field measurement is already completely possible in everyday life!

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3

Performance Heart rate diagnostic meters

When more precise information is needed about heart function, arrhythmias, or stress responses, special diagnostic instruments are used — just like in elite athletes. These methods are used by a knowledgeable professional, for example, when something abnormal is detected in the horse's heart rate or heart sounds.

What is being measured?

Accurate analysis of heart rhythm Cardiac arrhythmia detection and phase localization Clinical assessment before and after loading Monitoring the performance and heart health of sport horses

How is it measured?

An accurate, diagnostic electrocardiogram (ECG) that measures heart function typically requires attaching electrodes to the animal's skin with glue, which also requires shaving the animal's hair. This type of highly accurate, diagnostic-oriented ECG monitoring is offered by, for example, the Televet 100.

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3

Performance Heart rate diagnostic meters

Future?

Smart textiles, where electrodes are integrated into the textile without the need to shave hair or glue electrodes to the skin, are also becoming increasingly common. Examples include Myant Skiin Equine and Smartex large animal monitoring, which can be used for quick, basic ECG measurements in field conditions, somewhat more comprehensively than single-channel field devices such as eKuore®. Diagnostic devices and products are practically always more expensive than devices aimed at the consumer market, and the interpretation of the information they produce usually always requires the help of a professional.

Did you know?

Horses have more resting arrhythmias than any other domestic animal (McCrae et al. 2022)! Some arrhythmias are harmless and not significant in themselves for the health and well-being of the horse, but some can also be a sign of a problem that, in the worst case, can even lead to the sudden death of the horse. Therefore, it is important to utilize veterinary professionals for more detailed heart analysis, although consumer-oriented devices are also available on the market.

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4

Performance Lactate

Lactate tells you how hard a horse is working.

When work becomes strenuous, the muscles of a horse, like those of other animals and humans, begin to produce lactate.

Lactate measurement is an accurate way to assess exercise intensity, fitness, and recovery.

What is being measured?

Lactate = lactic acid = a substance produced by muscles, the amount of which increases when the work becomes anaerobic, i.e. there is not enough oxygen for aerobic energy production. In everyday language, it is often said that the muscles “go to lactic acid”. This is a sign that the body has switched to the so-called reserve fuel and is no longer able to maintain the current level of exertion for a long time.

Why is it measured?

Lactate reveals things that the eye cannot see: When does exercise become anaerobic?

Where a horse's lactate threshold lies (important for condition monitoring) Has the horse's basic condition improved/decreased?

How quickly does a horse recover from hard training?

Possible underlying respiratory and/or heart problems if lactate levels rise abnormally

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4

Performance Lactate

How and with what is it measured?

In everyday use, lactate is measured from a small drop of blood, which is analyzed with handheld meters, such as Lactate Pro 2®, Nova Lactate Plus® and Lactate Scout 4®. The latter allows you to transfer the measurement result to your phone via Bluetooth and maintain monitoring of the measurement results. The measurement method is therefore similar to measuring a person's blood sugar from a drop of blood from the fingertip.

Veterinary clinics can use more complex blood gas analyses (e.g. E-POC, VetScan i-STAT®) to measure lactate and other blood properties, especially to monitor the condition of animals in critical condition.

Did you know?

In the future, blood properties will likely be measured more and more with devices that are implanted in the skin, similar to human glucose sensors. These devices measure blood sugar or lactate levels in real time, for example, and wirelessly transmit the measurement information to a phone. This way, the measurement does not have to be done separately using a small needle, the horse's trainer can monitor changes in real time during training, and the measurement results are stored on the phone for long periods of time.

We'll see when such an option hits the market!

(Tehran, 2022)

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5

Performance Measuring movement with artificial intelligence

What is being measured?

When you want to measure a horse's movement, usually without equipment, video analysis based on artificial intelligence comes to the rescue. In this case, no separate sensors are attached to the horse, but a camera recording and an image-analyzing algorithm, e.g. in the form of a phone application, are sufficient. AI, as it were, turns an ordinary video into a digital "skeleton" and uses it to identify the horse from the video: stride length and frequency symmetry / asymmetry movement of the topline, hips, head and neck early signs of possible lameness

Why measure?

High-quality AI-assisted movement analyses provide objective information about a horse's lameness, symmetry and movement changes. By analyzing movement with AI, it is possible to locate and delimit the area of ​pain more precisely, which means that fewer anesthetic injections are needed to locate the pain point. does not require mounting of devices/sensors quick and easy in stable or clinic conditions repeatability improves — same analysis model every time

Nowadays, many artificial intelligence applications serve as a good initial assessment before the actual diagnostics begin.

Many application algorithms also cope with the horse being ridden, so the analysis can be used to analyze, for example, how the rider affects the horse's symmetry.

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5

Performance Measuring movement with artificial intelligence

How and with what is it measured?

The horse is filmed with the phone's video camera according to the application's instructions. Depending on the application, the video is recorded directly into the application, or the video is uploaded to the application from the phone's gallery after filming. Artificial intelligence scores and analyzes the movement, usually within a few seconds, and provides the analysis provided by the application. A few such applications have been developed for research use, but the most commercially available are Sleip® AI and services that utilize it, such as MotionPro.

Did you know?

In the past, AI-based applications were easily disrupted by, for example, changes in shadows and light. This is still a problem today, but motion analysis systems aim to address these shortcomings by combining information.

If necessary, the application will ask the cameraman to take more video footage if the AI ​cannot gather the necessary information for analysis from the existing video footage.

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6

Performance Measuring movement with sensors

Accurate data with attachable meters

Sometimes, even more precise movement analysis of a horse is needed. Accurate, numerical movement analysis can be achieved using Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors attached to the horse. These sensors include accelerometers, gyroscopes, and magnetometers, which allow for the detection of very subtle changes in all kinds of environments and usage patterns.

What is being measured?

In addition to the information on the previous page, IMU technology can be used to measure: step kinematics (e.g. duration of the landing phase) body rotation and tilt Jumping forces and jump trajectory on an obstacle course

Why measure?

More accurate than just video, as the technology “sees” the horse at all times, regardless of the conditions, using sensors, for example in the terrain. Therefore, IMU technology can be used, for example, to analyze movements and balance in different environments and exercises. Thus, IMU technology can help, for example: in planning and monitoring training detecting wearing posture errors or training inadequacies in sport horses before they become a bigger problem in horse rehabilitation and assessing its suitability

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6

Performance Measuring movement with sensors

How and with what is it measured?

The sensors supplied by the manufacturer are attached to the horse according to the manufacturer's instructions (usually on the head, chest/around the body, legs). The information from the sensors is transmitted wirelessly to, for example, a phone or laptop, from where the observations can be read according to the information produced by the device's application.

Devices suitable for horse owners and, for example, trainers include EquiMoves and Alogo Move Pro (for obstacles).

QHorse and Equinosis Lameness Locator® are better suited for clinical use, as their sensors do not fit comfortably on the horse with the equipment.

Did you know?

The size of sensors is getting smaller and the amount of data they collect is increasing. It is possible that in the near future it will be increasingly possible to integrate sensors into conventional equipment that will tell us about the horse's movement in real time while we move with the horse.

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Stable environment

7

Horse escape: Pasture keeper

8

Stable air quality

9

Stable air quality: Ammonia

10

Horse's voluntary movement

11

Drinking water, temperature and water level

12

Drinking water, water flow

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7 Stable environment Horse escape: pasture keeper

What, how and why?

Animals can be monitored within a fence or a specific area using various tracking technologies. When an animal moves outside the marked area, the app can send an alert to the phone. This feature is especially useful during the grazing season, when pastures are not necessarily located right next to the owner. Sensors that work with the apps are often attached to a collar, but they can also be placed on a halter.

Services that offer such solutions include, for example, Finnish laidunnna.fi and British DigitAnimal Tracking.

Did you know?

According to Janicka et al. (2022), a sound-based “virtual fence” alone can prevent a horse from moving forward up to about 80% of the time when the horse is on its way to a food reward – but only about 20% of the time when the motivation is to get to other horses.

Article available in English https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9686701/

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8 Stable environment Stable air quality

What is being measured?

Stable air quality has a significant impact on the well-being of horses. The longer the time spent in the stable, the more important the air quality becomes. In this section we will look at measuring air humidity and temperature, and in the next section we will look at air gases in more detail.

Why measure?

Many stables close their doors at night and horses stay inside overnight, so morning is often the time when it would be a good idea to monitor air quality using measurement technology.

The temperature in the stable may be too high or too low for the horses.

When it's too cold, horses become restless, don't rest properly, and lose energy warming themselves.

When it is too hot, the horse's body has to work extra hard to cool itself and normal metabolic functions can be compromised.

In both cases, the amount of stress hormones in the horse's body increases, which can weaken the horse's immune system, among other things.

High humidity makes it especially difficult for a horse to cool itself, as heat is not transferred from the horse's surface to the air with the evaporating moisture, as the air is already saturated with water vapor.

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8 Stable environment Stable air quality

How and with what is it measured?

Air temperature and humidity are measured with sensors that are attached to the wall of the building or placed on platforms. They are sold in ordinary hardware and general stores. Before purchasing, make sure that the meter is resistant to splashes (at least IP4 rating), fluctuating temperatures, and other possible characteristics of the stable environment. It is recommended to install the meter at about head height in the space where the animals are, so that the reading information is useful. The meter's convenience is increased by smart features that allow, for example, checking the readings via phone from a distance (e.g. terms: Bluetooth supported, application tracking). Many meters also have a given operating range. For example, in some cases, one meter can cover an area of ​up to 100 square meters, so sometimes several meters are needed in different parts of the stable to get the final truth. It is very typical that the air quality varies greatly in different parts of the building!

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9 Stable environment Stable air quality: ammonia

What is being measured?

Ammonia is a gas that is formed from urine and manure, and its increased concentration in the air of stables impairs the well-being of both humans and animals in many ways. People do not always notice the increase in ammonia concentration, as the nose can get used to its smell, and on the other hand, ammonia concentration is often highest at night, when the stable doors are rarely opened. With good ventilation and sufficient drying, ammonia should not rise near harmful levels of 10 ppm (parts per million) and above.

Why measure?

Ammonia is a respiratory irritant gas that causes: -respiratory tract irritation and damage -causes and maintains an inflammatory state in the respiratory tract -weakens the respiratory system's ability to eliminate pathogens by affecting the normal function of the mucous membranes

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9 Stable environment Stable air quality: ammonia

What is it measured with?

Ammonia sensors are available on the market that can be attached to the wall of the stable or lowered to a level. The installation height is approximately at the height of a person's head, in order to obtain an accurate reading of the air at breathing level. It is worth avoiding the immediate vicinity of the washing pen, as high humidity can interfere with the sensor. Some devices measure values ​continuously, some only when requested. Some devices can be connected to a phone, so that the sensor reading can be checked at any time and the sensor can also be installed to give an alarm on the phone. Note! Some ammonia meters on the market are designed for industrial use to alert you of an increase in gas concentration with a loud alarm sound, which you probably don't want to happen in the stable at night...

Device examples On-site measurement

HCHO/TVOC Meter BQ16, Wingman F1 Gas Detector, AR8500 Ammonia Detector, Fruugo Portable Ammonia Gas Detector Remote reading, continuous measurement

GaoTek Wireless Ammonia detectors, MacView Ammonia Sensor, EURO-GAS Ammonia Gas Detection Device

Did you know?

Especially in America, ammonia is used to repel raccoons from garbage cans. Studies have shown that domestic animals also avoid areas with high ammonia levels, so in addition to health hazards, it also causes them discomfort.

(Wathes, et al. 2002)

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10 Stable environment Horse's voluntary movement

What is being measured?

The horse's voluntary movement in a paddock or pasture area. For example, the distance and speed traveled, the time spent in different places, and the horse's time budget, i.e. what the horse spends its time on during the day, can be measured.

Why measure?

We know from research that horses are better off if their outdoor area encourages them to move around as much as possible, in a calm manner. But how do I know how much my horse is moving during the day and what changes in the enclosure area increase or decrease their movement?

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10 Stable environment Horse's voluntary movement

How is it measured?

In practice, a horse's movement can be measured either using GPS or radio frequency positioning. At its simplest, a sensor attached to the horse tells you, based on GPS, how many kilometers the horse has moved and at what speed. The information can be combined with a phone application that includes a map service, for example, so you can also see on a map where the horse has moved and how much.

In small, feature-rich areas, radio frequency tracking may be a better choice than GPS. For example, the Harju Learning Center's active yard uses UWB radio technology to track where horses spend time in the active yard, as well as measure the distance they travel. This system requires base stations in the yard area that receive data from the identification tag on each horse and a program that analyzes the data.

Device examples GPS MiniFinder Atto GPS Tracker, Tractive GPS sensors and UBEEQUEE GPS Tarcker.

UWB and analysis Pozyx, Fidera

Did you know?

Many GPS sensors can also collect information such as an animal's heart rate. Unfortunately, this often requires the sensor to be attached very tightly, for example around the neck, so sometimes you may not be able to use all the features of the device while trying to maintain comfort.

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11 Stable environment Drinking water, water temperature and altitude

What is being measured?

Water temperature and surface height with a sensor placed in the water container.

Why measure?

Measuring the water level tells you when the water point is nearing its bottom. This is a handy feature, especially when using larger drinking bowls and containers, as it alerts the animal owner to fill the water points before the water runs out completely. The same sensors also measure the water temperature. This way you know if the water starts to get so warm in the heat that bacteria start to enjoy themselves too much. On the other hand, although the grazing season may seem distant in these cool and dark weather, a thermometer can also help you notice if the water is about to freeze.

How and with what is it measured?

Water temperature and water level can be measured with sensors that float in the water or are attached to a water tank.

The choice of sensor is of course influenced by the shape, model and possible cover structures of the water tank. It is just worth making sure that the device will not break in the cold. It is also good to note that many water level sensors use ultrasound to determine the surface level. Many animals, including horses, hear ultrasound differently than we humans, and the sensor may therefore require some getting used to at first. The sensor sends real-time information about the water properties, typically to a phone application. Such sensors are offered by the laydunna.fi service, the ME201R Ultrasonic Level Sensor Water Tank Monitor and the ifm LI5131 sensor.

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12 Stable environment Drinking water, water flow

What is being measured?

By measuring the water flow in a drinking cup, information can be obtained about the amount of water a horse drinks, the number of times it drinks, and the duration of individual times.

Why measure?

The amount of water consumed by horses varies greatly depending on the season, usage, health, pregnancy and composition of the diet. Changes in water consumption can also indicate stress, pain and the onset of illness. On the other hand, changes can also be a sign that the taste or smell of the water or water container has changed, or that the temperature of the water has changed. Technology is needed to monitor drinking amounts.

How and with what is it measured?

Most industrial flow meters are not suitable for monitoring horse drinking in stables. The best solutions are based on pressure sensors that measure changes in the amount of water in both the pipe and the drinking cup. In addition, the system would be good to identify an animal drinking if there are several animals in the space at the same time. Such a method has been developed, for example, in the HAMK Smart Drinking Machine project in 2022.

Did you know?

Horses, like many other animals, have a much more sensitive sense of smell than humans. They can also sense very low electrical currents, which can be transmitted over long distances through water and metal. So it's usually worth believing a horse if it suddenly starts to be suspicious of its water source, even if we humans don't notice any change!

The KP AlkIoT project will test HAMK's smart drink vending machines in a horse stable environment in 2026!

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Behavior 13

Pain expression

14

Infrared measurement of behavior in the study

15

Measuring social behavior: distance measurement

16

Activity level measurement

17

Sleep monitoring: video camera monitoring and ECG

18

Changes in behavior: foaling, colic, etc

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Behavior 19

Smart equipment, blankets

20

Smart equipment: saddle pads

21

Artificial intelligence can detect intestinal problems?

22

Temperature via chip?

23

Red light for injuries?

24

Most important intellectual trait: equine-savvy person

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13

Behavior Pain expression What is being measured?

Many animals have a widely documented “pain expression”. It is an involuntary tension of the muscles in the head area caused by pain. In studies, the expression has been linked to pain, for example, in such a way that the pain expression has been observed to disappear, or be alleviated, with pain medication.

You can practice recognizing the signs of pain expression by using, for example, the well-being assessment manual created in the “Measures for assessing horse well-being” project (available for free at www.hevostenhyvinvointi.fi).

Why measure?

Pain in horses, like other prey animals, can be difficult to recognize because they tend to hide their pain. It is important to learn to recognize the signs of a horse in pain so that the problem can be addressed as early as possible. This will help prevent the problem from getting worse and the horse's pain from becoming prolonged.

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13

Behavior Pain expression

How and with what is it measured?

It is also worth getting to know the horse's pain signals without technology, but there are ways to help. A research group that has comprehensively studied the horse's pain expression has published an application called the Horse Grimace Scale (AWIN project). The application contains information about horse pain in English and allows you to describe the horse's head according to the application's instructions, in which case the application scores the horse's pain expression based on the image. The Dutch EPWA is also a similar type of service. A similar service in Finnish can be found, for example, in the Pain Meter section of the Equine Pain Finder service. This summer, an extensive research project on the wider use of artificial intelligence in identifying horse pain and discomfort has also been launched at Aalborg University in Denmark.

It is good to remember that a horse can be in pain, even if the applications do not recognize it, and on the other hand, it may be that the horse is not in pain despite the pain points. However, by photographing and observing the horse, you will learn to detect problems better! Pain, especially mild pain, is usually easiest to detect when the horse is not doing anything else, for example, passively in the pen.

Did you know?

There have been efforts to bring pain expression to equine hospitals using artificial intelligence. In a clinical setting, pain expression analysis would work in the same way as asking human patients “how is your pain on a scale of 1-10?”. It could therefore help to notice if the effect of pain medication is starting to wear off and thus help staff to treat pain related to various procedures more effectively!

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14

Behavior Infrared measurement in behavioral research

What is being measured?

Infrared imaging (IRT) can be used to detect, for example, areas with a different temperature than the rest of the body, which can be used to find the location of an inflammation. An infrared camera detects infrared radiation emitted by the object being imaged, which it converts into an electrical signal inside the device and through it into a temperature reading. In behavioral research, IRT is used to image, for example, the head area of ​an animal, because a momentary stress reaction causes the eyes and nose area in particular to cool down as the fight-flight-freeze response constricts the blood vessels.

Why measure?

The use of IRT in animal health has a long history. For example, an increase in temperature detected with IRT can reveal mastitis, joint inflammation and respiratory disease in a cow (Wang et al. 2023). In the field of behavioral science, IRT helps to identify, for example, situations, places and equipment that are momentarily particularly frightening or exciting for an animal. Identifying them quickly with IRT can reduce the risk of accidents, as the reaction is detected slightly before the animal's possible physical reaction. It can also help to adapt the training situation. Fear significantly impairs learning ability, but especially in "paralyzed" animals, recognizing the fear reaction and understanding its intensity can be very difficult.

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14

Behavior Infrared measurement in behavioral research

How and with what is it measured?

IRT is still sensitive to environmental disturbances, although it has been successfully used to measure, for example, the stress experienced by reindeer during handling (Liehrmann et al. 2024). The location for imaging should be almost windless and protected from the sun, and the imaging distance should generally be a maximum of 80 cm. For example, cameras from FLIR and Hikmicro brands are already actively used in animal health-related IR imaging, and courses are also organized in Finland for their use. The cameras themselves are expensive, so bundled purchases and rentals are popular options!

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15

Behavior Measuring social behavior: distance

What is being measured?

The location of horses in relation to each other can be measured using UWB technology, among other things. It is more accurate than, for example, GPS location data, allowing for a deeper understanding of the horses' activities during the day.

Why measure?

Bringing horses into a herd can be a bit of a nerve-wracking experience. Once the initial familiarization rituals have settled down, the horse owner may wonder whether the horse will have company or will it remain outside the herd. Horses often form smaller groups within a large herd. Identifying the group can help determine, for example, who will be next door to the stall, as horses are often more relaxed and sleep better indoors.

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15

Behavior Measuring social behavior: distance

How and with what is it measured?

Each horse should have a UWB tag, for example, braided into the mane. The area inhabited by the horses should also have base stations that receive information from the tag on each horse. The data from the base stations is processed in software that can be used to analyze the horses' movements and behavior in relation to other horses and different locations in the area. UWB technology combined with heart rate monitoring, for example, can reveal to us whether close contact was relaxing or arousing for the horses. If we also wanted to know, for example, what happened between the horses, such as scratching or kicking, we would need to attach IMU sensors to the horse, which we introduced in section 6, or utilize artificial intelligence-assisted camera surveillance.

Did you know?

Article available in English: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11063072/

According to Borda et al. (2024), horses choose their best buddy — and stay close to it for up to a fifth of their day! In Borda et al.'s study, horses spent about 20% of their time within 3 meters of their favorite buddy — and this "best buddy" was identified with technology as reliably as with traditional video tracking

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16

Behavior Activity level measurement

What is being measured?

The horse's activity, i.e. the amount of movement and the chosen gait type, time spent lying down and other activities such as wallowing, playing and running.

Why measure?

A horse's daily activities tell us a lot about its overall wellbeing. It is beneficial for a horse's well-being that it moves more than 10 km per day on its own, rests and sleeps, and eats frequently and regularly. Changes in activity can tell us about a variety of problems, such as an inability to relax, or even apathy due to illness or boredom.

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16

Behavior Activity level measurement

How and with what is it measured?

Activity and posture are usually measured with accelerometers, which are used to determine the animal's posture, speed and amount of movement. There are many types of devices, and some, such as Equimetre, do not measure rest at all, for example, but are designed mainly to monitor the intensity of training. Horse studies have used the ActiGraph GT9X, designed for humans and manufactured by the Finnish company Timik, which allows easy-to-read changes to be monitored, but the device's alarm limits and recommendations are designed for humans. In addition, the MSR145 Mini Data Logger sensor (Williams & Hatto, 2023) has been successfully used in horse studies, but help from researchers is still needed to analyze the information it produces. The problem with many devices is that the device produces the necessary information, but the information is not presented in an easily readable form on a phone or computer screen. The Swedish Equimetrics V-Pro, which is originally designed for use in horse clinics, is probably the most advanced in this work.

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17

Behavior Sleep monitoring: video monitoring and ECG

What is being measured?

The horse's rest and sleep are determined using a video camera or sensor technology.

Why measure?

Adequate rest for a horse is critically important for its health, learning ability and recovery, among other things. A horse can only enter deeper stages of sleep by relaxing its neck muscles, either lying on its side with its head on the ground, or lying on the ground with its chin supported on the ground.

In prey animals, these periods are often short, but they are nevertheless of great importance for the animal's well-being.

Environmental factors affecting horse sleep and sleep disorders in horses have been studied in Finland, among other things, as part of the Unihepo project.

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17

Behavior Sleep monitoring: video monitoring and ECG

How is it measured?

When studying horse sleep, electroencephalography (EEG), a measurement technique that measures the electrical activity of the brain, is usually used. EEG is mostly the preserve of university veterinary hospitals, but a horse's resting behavior can also be determined at home using methods that, when of high quality, rely on the results obtained in EEG studies. In practice, there are currently services on the market based on artificial intelligence-assisted video camera images, such as the English-language Stable 1, Novostable solution and The horse protector. A similar service in Finnish is available through KoGo Vision's horse sleep measurement service.

Video camera measurement is limited by, well, a video camera, i.e. a camera that is installed in place. Thus, a horse can usually only be monitored while it is in the pen, and the number of horses to be monitored around the clock and the number of cameras needed does not also determine the number of cameras needed. In herds, video camera monitoring still has challenges, for example in identifying horses. Therefore, sleep monitoring tools based on video camera analysis are best suited when it is suspected that a particular horse has some challenges with rest, or for example in connection with recovery that requires pen rest.

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18

Behavior Changes in behavior: foaling, colic, etc.

What is being measured?

Unusual changes in activity or movement, which may indicate, for example, that calving is approaching or health problems.

Why measure?

Sometimes, things don't go as they should during foaling. For example, the foal may be in the wrong position, the placenta may not come out normally, or it may rupture during foaling.

Early intervention in problems that occur during foaling is often crucial to the survival of both the mother and the foal, which is why waiting for foaling is a nerve-wracking time for many.

On the other hand, concerns other than foaling can also keep a horse owner awake at night. Periods that are prone to rickets and other health problems, such as transitioning from pasture to indoor feeding and changes in training intensity, may require more sensitive monitoring from the owner.

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Behavior Changes in behavior: foaling, colic, etc.

How is it measured?

Foaling monitoring includes, for example, the artificial intelligence-assisted video camera monitoring services mentioned in connection with sleep monitoring, which, when connected to a phone application, provide real-time information on the owner's phone screen, also outside the stable. These services can also detect other abnormal behavior, such as incipient health problems. Such services are offered by, for example, ACARiS Horse protector, Foaling alarm and the previously mentioned Novostable. In addition to video cameras, there are devices on the market that can be attached to the mare, such as the EasyFoal foaling alarm, FoalAlert alarm and SafeMate foal alarm, which send information from the mare to a receiver installed in the stable, which in turn can be connected to the owner's phone. Studies have also developed a foaling alarm based on an accelerometer, the reliability of which has been found to be 94 percent as accurate as devices attached to the mare (Jung et al. 2022).

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Behavior Smart equipment: blankets

Horse warping and sensors Horse blanketing is a topic that divides opinions. Various studies have shown that horses thrive in cooler temperatures than we humans often think. On the other hand, factors such as breed, age, clipping, draft, feeding practices and training affect a horse's ability to regulate its temperature, so the need for blanketing can vary greatly at different times. It would be handy if a temperature sensor could tell us when blanketing is causing problems for the horse in terms of thermal comfort!

There are a few devices on the market, such as HorsePal, where a small sensor attached to the blanket sends information about the horse's temperature to your phone and detects, for example, the horse's sweating before a human hand can do it. Horsano offers a similar service in the field of wearable technology, and will soon also be releasing a blanket with a sensor already attached.

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Behavior Smart equipment: blankets

Smart textile solutions Blankets are also made with smart textiles that aim to keep the horse's surface temperature constant by varying their heat transfer and insulation properties. Examples include EquiKool and Winderen's Outlast blankets. The advantage of these is that people do not have to remove or add blankets when the temperature varies, but the blanket buffers the horse's surface temperature. This sounds good, but it is worth checking that the blanket's "set temperature", i.e. the temperature at which the blanket strives to maintain the horse's surface temperature, is below 30 degrees and that it also works in direct sunlight. Basically, a horse will seek shelter from the weather, whether it has a blanket or not, so in normal everyday life, it is worth placing smart blanket purchases on the purchase list after weather protection. The benefits of smart blankets are certainly emphasized, for example, during transport and in pen environments where, for one reason or another, the horse wants to be sheltered.

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Behavior Smart equipment: saddle pads

Smart saddle pads There are some saddle pads on the market that are equipped with pressure sensors. Previously, there were only pressure mats on the market that were placed under the horse's saddle, for example during saddle fitting. They are still useful aids in fitting equipment, as long as the user can read the information generated by the sensors on the phone screen and can place the saddle in the correct position on the horse's back.

Nowadays, these pressure sensors are also integrated into saddle pads designed for everyday use. They can therefore be used to monitor more frequently the effect of the rider's weight and position on the pressure exerted on the horse.

Such sensors are usually equipped with wireless data transmission, allowing pressure fluctuations under the saddle to be monitored almost in real time.

Equipment manufacturers

Estride Harmony ja Tactilus Equestrics Note!

These services alone are not suitable for selffitting a saddle, and it is always a good idea to use a professional for help when fitting!

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Behavior Artificial intelligence can detect intestinal problems?

Can you use sounds to catch a colic?

The EIB project Artificial Intelligence for Stables, by the Horse Information Centre and Savonia, investigates an interesting use case for artificial intelligence: can artificial intelligence hear sand deposits in a horse's intestines? The project uses digital stethoscopes to collect sound samples from the intestines of horses that have eaten sand and clean horses. The sound samples are used to train artificial intelligence to recognize the differences in sounds. Finally, a mobile application called Horse Guard will be built, with trained artificial intelligence in the background to help identify sand sounds.

The project also aims to teach artificial intelligence to recognize possible abnormal situations in the soundscape of a stable. Thus, the artificial intelligence could alert the owner via a phone application if something unusual happens in the soundscape of the stable. To this end, the project is currently collecting 10-60 second sound samples from horse owners to train the artificial intelligence. The project hopes to receive sound samples of the following behaviors, for example: bucking, neighing, kicking the wall, wallowing, coughing, gasping for breath, pacing in the pen and whinnying.

Read More! https://hevostietokeskus.fi/i/hankkeet/meneillaanolevat/tekoalya-talleille/ajankohtaistahankkeesta/7102025-hevosista-taltioidut-tallenteet

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Behavior Temperature via chip

Smart chip for efficient heat measurement?

The joint project of Kaustinen Region and Kpedu, KP AlkIoT, will carry out the second pilot test of the project in early 2026.

In Finland, thermal chips were also placed on foals at least as early as 2019. A thermal chip is a horse identification chip that also has a temperature sensor. With the right chip reader, it is therefore possible to read the horse's body temperature in addition to the identification and even transfer that information directly to the phone. The KPAlkiot project is investigating how much working time reading the temperature from the chip saves at a stable, where the temperature of foals in training is monitored almost daily, traditionally by means of a rectal measurement. At the same time, the effects on occupational safety and temperature recording practices are being investigated.

The smart features of the chips would be very useful and would increase the pet owner's access to information. Various players in the industry should actively cooperate with the authorities so that the list of approved chips will also include smart chips, such as thermochips, in the future!

Read More! https://hevostenhyvinvointi.fi/hyvinvointiteknologiat

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Behavior Red light for injuries

Faster recovery with light?

There are several products on the market for horse owners that apply visible red LED light, or NIR (near-infrared) light, to the horse's skin, usually the legs. These have shown positive results in laboratory studies of cell types that affect wound healing, which is why the products are marketed as reducing inflammation and fluid accumulation and promoting wound healing. However, experiments on live animals have yielded very conflicting results on the subject, and for example, in a study published by Michanek et al. 2020, these light treatments had no effect on the healing rate of horses' wounds. Low-intensity laser treatment has also not been found to have a statistically significant effect on the healing of horses' wounds. High-intensity laser treatment, on the other hand, has been found to have a positive effect in studies on the management of fluid edema and pain, as well as on the reduction of the size of tissue damage in horses diagnosed with tendon injuries (Zielinska et al. 2020). High-intensity laser therapy can be used, for example, by a physiotherapist, equine masseur or veterinarian with portable devices in a stable environment, as part of other treatment.

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Behavior Equine-savvy individual

The most important smart feature In this way, we can finally calm down from the dizzying flow of technological development and recognize one more important intelligence: humans. A person who knows their horse, who follows its behavior with curiosity and openness, and who is interested in it, often recognizes things that are difficult for artificial intelligence and sensors to train comprehensively. Therefore, although various devices are good servants for both animal owners and professionals such as veterinarians, trainers and groomers, they do not yet replace our complex brains in assessing animal welfare. That does not mean that technology could not help us in many situations: provide a more consistent night's sleep when foaling is approaching, help identify an incipient illness and help detect dirt in traffic faster than our own eyes. However, our brain is ultimately the intelligent computer that combines different observations and events to understand the whole situation and makes decisions based on the information.

Sources Aarts RM, Siegers EW, Serra Braganca FM, vanWeeren PR. Technologies for equine welfare and performance monitoring under field conditions – Where do we stand?Equine Vet J. 2025. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.70092 Janicka W, Wilk I, Próchniak T, Janczarek I. Can Sound Alone Act as a Virtual Barrier for Horses? A Preliminary Study. Animals (Basel). 2022 Nov 15;12(22):3151. doi: 10.3390/ani12223151. PMID: 36428379; PMCID: PMC9686701 Jung Y, Chang H, Yoon M. Development of a foaling alarm system using an accelerometer. J Anim Sci Technol. 2022 Nov;64(6):1237-1244. doi: 10.5187/jast.2022.e75. Epub 2022 Nov 30. PMID: 36811996; PMCID: PMC9890331.

Kapteijn CM, Frippiat T, van Beckhoven C, van Lith HA, Endenburg N, Vermetten E and Rodenburg TB (2022) Measuring heart rate variability using a heart rate monitor in horses (Equus caballus) during groundwork. Front. Vet. Sci. 9:939534. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2022.939534 Liehrmann, Océane & Ollila, Anne & Lummaa, Virpi & Lansade, Lea & Seltmann, Martin. (2024). Enhancing Stress Assessment in Sledge Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus): A Pilot Study on Infrared Thermal Imaging and its Opportunities for Advancement as a Welfare Assessment Tool. Animal Behavior and Cognition. 11. 293-304. 10.26451/abc.11.03.04.2024.

McCrae, P.; Spong, H.; Rutherford, A.-A.; Osborne, V.; Mahnam, A.; Pearson, W. A Smart Textile Band Achieves High-Quality Electrocardiograms in Unrestrained Horses. Animals 2022, 12, 3254. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12233254 Michanek P, Toth T, Bergström E, Treffenberg-Pettersson H, Bergh A. Effect of infrared and red monochromatic light on equine wound healing. Equine Vet J. 2021;53:143–148. https://doi.org/10.1111/evj.13266 Tehrani, F., Teymourian, H., Wuerstle, B. et al. An integrated wearable microneedle array for the continuous monitoring of multiple biomarkers in interstitial fluid. Nat. Biomed. Eng 6, 1214–1224 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41551-022-00887-1 Torres Borda L, Roth P, Lumetzberger J, Auer U, Jenner F. Proximity tracking using ultra-wideband technology for equine social behaviour research. Sci Rep. 2024 Apr 30;14(1):9971. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-60805-0. PMID: 38693325; PMCID: PMC11063072.

Wang, Yanchao & Li, Qian & Chu, Mengyuan & Kang, Xi & Liu, Gang. (2023). Application of infrared thermography and machine learning techniques in cattle health assessments: A review.

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Trans. ASAE. 2002;45:1605–1610. doi: 10.13031/2013.11067 Williams, Manod & Hatto, Sydney. (2023). Evaluation of accelerometer fitting position, sampling intervals and data editing techniques for measuring equine lying postures.

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Zielińska P, Nicpoń J, Kiełbowicz Z, Soroko M, Dudek K, Zaborski D. Effects of High Intensity Laser Therapy in the Treatment of Tendon and Ligament Injuries in Performance Horses. Animals (Basel). 2020 Jul 31;10(8):1327. doi: 10.3390/ani10081327. PMID: 32751968; PMCID: PMC7459490.

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KP AlkIoT project

Contact information +35840 5622512 jarno.peltola@kaustisenseutukunta.fi +35845 3486004 essi.wallenius@kpedu.fi www.hevostenhyvinvointi.fi/hyvinvointiteknologiat