Monitoring distances travelled by horses using GPS tracking collars

Hampson, Brian; Morton, J. M.; Mills, P. C.; Trotter, MG; Lamb, David; Pollitt, C. C.

doi:10.1111/j.1751-0813.2010.00564.x

Cited by 68 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…These results, along with other GPS collar based studies of horse behavior in Canada [36] and Australia [28] and other wide-ranging ungulates [11]–[13], [19]–[20], demonstrate the effectiveness and utility of the data generated by collars in the study of wild and free-roaming horses.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Testing VHF/GPS Collar Design and Safety in the Study of Free-Roaming Horses

et al. 2014

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Effective and safe monitoring techniques are needed by U.S. land managers to understand free-roaming horse behavior and habitat use and to aid in making informed management decisions. Global positioning system (GPS) and very high frequency (VHF) radio collars can be used to provide high spatial and temporal resolution information for detecting free-roaming horse movement. GPS and VHF collars are a common tool used in wildlife management, but have rarely been used for free-roaming horse research and monitoring in the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the design, safety, and detachment device on GPS/VHF collars used to collect free-roaming horse location and movement data. Between 2009 and 2010, 28 domestic and feral horses were marked with commercial and custom designed VHF/GPS collars. Individual horses were evaluated for damage caused by the collar placement, and following initial observations, collar design was modified to reduce the potential for injury. After collar modifications, which included the addition of collar length adjustments to both sides of the collar allowing for better alignment of collar and neck shapes, adding foam padding to the custom collars to replicate the commercial collar foam padding, and repositioning the detachment device to reduce wear along the jowl, we observed little to no evidence of collar wear on horses. Neither custom-built nor commercial collars caused injury to study horses, however, most of the custom-built collars failed to collect data. During the evaluation of collar detachment devices, we had an 89% success rate of collar devices detaching correctly. This study showed that free-roaming horses can be safely marked with GPS and/or VHF collars with minimal risk of injury, and that these collars can be a useful tool for monitoring horses without creating a risk to horse health and wellness.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 60%

Testing VHF/GPS Collar Design and Safety in the Study of Free-Roaming Horses

et al. 2014

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“…Confinement has a dramatic effect on daily exercise, and it is estimated that a horse in a 6 ! 6 m yard will move only 1.1 km/d (Hampson et al, 2010b). This restriction of exercise with modern management systems has been highlighted as a welfare issue by a number of authors (Cooper and Albentosa, 2005;Werhahn et al, 2011).…”

Section: Exercise and The Horsementioning

confidence: 97%

“…In the feral environment, Brumbies in Queensland, Australia, have been reported to cover 15.9 6 1.9 km/d and up to 55 km migrating between water and preferred grazing sites (Hampson et al, 2010a). The covering of large distances in a feral environment is not restricted to only mature horses, but also includes young foals with their dams, with foals less than 1 week old covering 7.3 km/d (Hampson et al, 2010b). In stark contrast to the feral environment, modern management systems constrain, rather than encourage, exercise, with many horses kept individually in stalls or small paddocks (McGreevy et al, 1995;Williamson et al, 2007;Bolwell et al, 2010a;Werhahn et al, 2011).…”

Section: Exercise and The Horsementioning

confidence: 98%

Early exercise in the horse

Rogers

Bolwell

Tanner

et al. 2012

Journal of Veterinary Behavior

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“…Though other data loggers such as global positioning systems have been used on horses (e.g. travelling distance, see Hampson et al, 2010), this is the first study to validate this model of triaxial accelerometer for equine use. A simple electronic device that can calculate the length and number of lying bouts in horses would remove the requirement for human observation either by live observation or from video footage.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validation of triaxial accelerometers to measure the lying behaviour of adult domestic horses

Dubois

Zakrajsek

Haley

et al. 2015

Animal

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Examining the characteristics of an animal's lying behaviour, such as frequency and duration of lying bouts, has become increasingly relevant for animal welfare research. Triaxial accelerometers have the advantage of being able to continuously monitor an animal's standing and lying behaviour without relying on live observations or video recordings. Multiple models of accelerometers have been validated for use in monitoring dairy cattle; however, no units have been validated for use in equines. This study tested Onset Pendant G data loggers attached to the hind limb of each of two mature Standardbred horses for a period of 5 days. Data loggers were set to record their position every 20 s. Horses were monitored via live observations during the day and by video recordings during the night to compare activity against accelerometer data. All lying events occurred overnight (three to five lying bouts per horse per night). Data collected from the loggers was converted and edited using a macro program to calculate the number of bouts and the length of time each animal spent lying down by hour and by day. A paired t-test showed no significant difference between the video observations and the output from the data loggers (P = 0.301). The data loggers did not distinguish standing hipshot from standing square. Predictability, sensitivity, and specificity were all >99%. This study has validated the use of Onset Pendant G data loggers to determine the frequency and duration of standing and lying bouts in adult horses when set to sample and register readings at 20 s intervals.

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Monitoring distances travelled by horses using GPS tracking collars

Abstract: Horses kept in stables or small yards and paddocks are quite sedentary in comparison with their feral relatives. For a given paddock area, most designs did not significantly affect mean daily distance travelled.

Cited by 68 publications

References 10 publications

Testing VHF/GPS Collar Design and Safety in the Study of Free-Roaming Horses

Testing VHF/GPS Collar Design and Safety in the Study of Free-Roaming Horses

Early exercise in the horse

Validation of triaxial accelerometers to measure the lying behaviour of adult domestic horses

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