Thanks to their adaptability, today the role of horses involves different type of activities such as sport and leisure riding, animal assisted intervention and companionship, giving rise to increasing concern regarding how we can monitor their health and welfare. Livestock farming technologies, like wearable and environmental sensors or computer vision techniques, are increasingly adopted for monitoring and managing of welfare and health of domestic animals, horses included. The application of technology systems gives the possibility not only to monitor, but also to early detect anomalies linked with diseases, all this being very useful not only for research purposes but also for horse owners and the vet clinicians.
Several technologies, such as accelerometers, pressure and temperature sensors, cameras, can be applied for improving the continuous monitoring of horse health and welfare, however most of them were only applied in a research context. Moving from a research environment to the practical application on field is not always easy: several challenges currently need to be solved before the technological tools offer the desired information in a reliable and consistent way. This pivotal step is needed to ensure that these technological tools can be reliably applied not only by researchers, but also by veterinarians and horse owners. This Research Topic will focus exploring the current level of development, validation, and practical application of technologies for monitoring and managing horse welfare and health.
This Research Topic will encourage original research and reviews reporting robust scientific results and providing information and criteria for the on-field application of available technologies and numerical approaches for a more robust and reliable monitoring of horse health and welfare. Research and review papers covering the following topics, but not limited to, are welcome: -PLF devices and techniques; -health and welfare (including pain) monitoring systems; -numerical methods and forecasting model; -use of technology in relations with horse housing systems; -assessment of impacts of management methods on health and welfare.
Keywords:
horse, welfare, health, PLF, computer vision, IOT, sensors, technology
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
Thanks to their adaptability, today the role of horses involves different type of activities such as sport and leisure riding, animal assisted intervention and companionship, giving rise to increasing concern regarding how we can monitor their health and welfare. Livestock farming technologies, like wearable and environmental sensors or computer vision techniques, are increasingly adopted for monitoring and managing of welfare and health of domestic animals, horses included. The application of technology systems gives the possibility not only to monitor, but also to early detect anomalies linked with diseases, all this being very useful not only for research purposes but also for horse owners and the vet clinicians.
Several technologies, such as accelerometers, pressure and temperature sensors, cameras, can be applied for improving the continuous monitoring of horse health and welfare, however most of them were only applied in a research context. Moving from a research environment to the practical application on field is not always easy: several challenges currently need to be solved before the technological tools offer the desired information in a reliable and consistent way. This pivotal step is needed to ensure that these technological tools can be reliably applied not only by researchers, but also by veterinarians and horse owners. This Research Topic will focus exploring the current level of development, validation, and practical application of technologies for monitoring and managing horse welfare and health.
This Research Topic will encourage original research and reviews reporting robust scientific results and providing information and criteria for the on-field application of available technologies and numerical approaches for a more robust and reliable monitoring of horse health and welfare. Research and review papers covering the following topics, but not limited to, are welcome: -PLF devices and techniques; -health and welfare (including pain) monitoring systems; -numerical methods and forecasting model; -use of technology in relations with horse housing systems; -assessment of impacts of management methods on health and welfare.
Keywords:
horse, welfare, health, PLF, computer vision, IOT, sensors, technology
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.