Sports science and sports medicine are well-established areas within human medicine. Professional athletes in many disciplines apply a multitude of sports enhancing techniques to attain a higher level of performance and move ahead of their competitors. In addition, an ever-increasing array of technologies and treatments are available to aid diagnosis, accelerate rehabilitation and ultimately enhance performance.

A similar trend is emerging within equine sport. Individual sports organisations are looking for ways to improve competitiveness and professional bodies, such as the British Equine Veterinary Association (BEVA), are actively promoting the application of Evidenced Based Veterinary Medicine (EVBM). In addition the number of competition horses continues to grow along with the competition for the top prizes. This trend is likely to accelerate with the announcement that the UK will host the 2012 Olympics.

Equinalysis is focused on bringing established human and equine sports products to the wider equine industry to aid diagnosis, promote health and enhance performance. Further focus will be on products and services that are non-invasive (and therefore easy-to-use and can be applied "in the field") and support EBVM.

Currently the assessment of equine locomotion and lameness is carried out visually and cannot be reliably or consistently quantified. Equine practitioners often disagree on the extent of lameness. In addition the assessment cannot easily be communicated and has very little or no historic value. The objective measurement of lameness and changes in locomotion are the missing pieces of critical information needed to make key decisions related to equine health and performance.

For the last five years Equinalysis has been developing a video based equine gait analysis system in partnership with leading human ad equine biomechanics specialists. The system has been developed to address the need for lameness diagnosis, treatment monitoring and performance enhancement. It is currently being utilised within the elite sport of dressage, eventing, vaulting and para dressage as a method of objectively analysing equine gait as a performance enhancing technique. The application of the system is not limited to elite horses, providing similar benefits for horses in general.

Equinalysis' first marketable product is a unique system, specifically designed and developed to automatically track, measure, quantify and display accurate biomechanical data. It is currently the only equine dedicated biomechanical system available which can be used in the filed. System development occurred over 24 months in consultation with leading practitioners from the veterinary, farriery and biomechanics disciplines. The system is already in daily use with equine specialists across the UK, USA and Nordic regions.

The Equinalysis organisation and extended network is made up of:

• People
  • Leading Professionals with a track record of achievement
  • Regional Business Partners
  • Referral Partners - Vets, Farriers, Biomechanists etc
  • Leading Academics
  • Leading Equine Sportsmen and women

• Process
  • Veterinary approved procedures for evidence gathering
  • Insurance company procedures for premium setting
  • Analysis procedures for objective measurement
  • Communication procedures for rapid and secure access to field data

• Technology
  • Leading technology for Video capture and analysis
  • Proven technology from human sports science transferable for use within the equine industry

• Epidemiology
  • Application of established statistical techniques for research on the volume of field data gathered for each Equinalysis product - promoting Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine
  • Integration with leading veterinary organisations to share knowledge and experience

• What we do
• Biography of the directors
• The benefits of the Equinalysis system