THE College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) and the British Horse Society Ireland are hosting a biomechanics day on Monday, September 5th from 9.30am – 3.30pm at Laurel View Equestrian Centre, Templepatrick.

The course will highlight methods to identify horse and rider issues and suggest options for improvement.

With the use of high speed video cameras (capturing 20 x faster than the human eye), visualise training jackets and Quintic software, the rider’s position and horse’s way of going will be constructively analysed.

Equine gait analysis is a field which has grown considerably in recent years, whether as a tool for use when looking at the performance horse, investigating lameness or as a method for research. Since Edweard Muybridge set up a series of cameras in the 1880’s capturing the exact footfalls of a racehorse there has been an increased interest in looking at equine movement.

This is a one day event looking at horse and rider performance.

The event is aimed at all participants who ride horses at any level as well as instructors and coaches.

This is also a CPD Event for BHS Registered Instructors.

The event costs £40 which includes lunch.

Pre-booking is essential.

For further information and to register, please contact Susan Spratt at susan.spratt@bhs.org.uk

Laura Smith, Equine Lecturer at CAFRE Enniskillen campus recently wrote an article in Horse Sense explaining the use of gait analysis in equine management practices and its relevance to horses’ racing and equestrian performance. This article is available to read online at theirishfield.ie.