App data to aid equine disease research
The data will be used to identify infection hot spots.
Horse owners in the UK are being encouraged to share their riding and journey data through a smartphone app to help scientists improve their understanding of infectious equine diseases and manage their spread.
Researchers at the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) plan to use the data to trace contact between horses across the UK, giving them valuable information which can be used in the fight against diseases such as equine influenza, strangles, and equine herpesviruses.
Owners and riders of competition and leisure horses can share their data with the research team through the free Digital Stable app.
Developed by Equine Register, the app already gave owners access to their horses’ digital passport records and allowed them to make sure that details held on the Central Equine Database were up to date.
Digital Stable now has two new features: ‘Record My Ride’ and ‘Record My Journey’.
‘Record My Ride’ works like an exercise app and allow riders to record and share data about the route and duration of each ride while out on a horse. The ‘Record My Journey’ feature will track the movement of horses being transported, whether to events, competitions, riding schools, or any other destination.
The researchers will use anonymised data from the app to identify locations where the risk of infection is highest. This information will be used to manage the risk, minimise the spread of infections, prevent outbreaks, and reduce disruption when outbreaks do occur.
Dr Jackie Cardwell, associate professor in epidemiology at the RVC, said: “Owners and riders will play a crucial role in this research by sharing their horse or pony’s movement data. Whether going on the occasional hack, attending a lesson or clinic, or competing in any level of competition, all movement data will make a valuable contribution.”
With Strangles Awareness Week just around the corner (5-11 May), vets are being encouraged to share a survey about the disease with their horse-owning clients.
