Data Data Data

I was originally going to sit on this for longer until I had a larger data set, but I couldn't stand myself. While my saddle was gone I got an equisense.  I have wanted one ever since I first learned about them last year, but struggled to justify the price.  Some how being sad because I couldn't ride made it a lot easier to justify #tackhopro

The app gives you a lot of information.  It breaks down your ride time into walk, trot, canter, and halt.  Records the number of transitions and jumps that you do.  Shows how long you spend going each direction and then breaks that down by gait.  Records the symmetry, which analyzes the half strides in the trot to identify abnormalities.  For example a weaker hind leg will alter the symmetry score (graded out of 10).  The frequency of strides per minute in each gait plus the regularity of them (hint jigging drops the regularity).  The elevation in all the gaits is also measured.

The app gives a lot of cool graphs, but I got side tracked by comparing lunging, long lining, riding, and my last lesson to see if there are differences.  I was expecting to see large differences between the ground work and the riding, because he still carries more tension with a rider.

First up, the differences in symmetry between riding and hand jogging him.  Because I suck at long lining and the programs requires trotting in a straight line I hand jog him on the non riding days.  He averages around a 7 which shows up in green so I am assuming that is pretty good.  It doesn't surprise me that the riding is lower (between 5-6), because I struggle keeping him working correctly on straight lines.

I am not sure what the elevation really tells me.  I did notice there is a drop in elevation when I am riding compared to ground work.  That doesn't surprise me because I am intentionally keeping him in a smaller trot to help his balance when I am riding.

The only other interesting trend I noticed was the frequency of the walk increases when I am riding (not surprising), but there is also an increase in the regularity (surprising).  Based on my understanding if your horse gets a 10 for regularity it is like a metronome.  So while his walk is a little hurried it is more consistent when I am riding.

I am loving having the equisense and I am (clearly) really excited to have all the data.  I also think it will be really interesting to see how the trends change over time.  Hopefully as he gets stronger and we make progress it will be reflected in the numbers.