Can wearables make horseracing safer?
Can wearables make horseracing safer?
While horseracing is a lucrative industry for gamblers, it is also a high fatality one, with hundreds of horses dying every year.
To lower the amount of deaths, French startup Arioneo plans to launch the Equimètre, a wearable that can track the horse’s heart-rate, respiratory rate, and temperature, alongside speed and acceleration. It will also provide humidity and other environmental conditions, which may factor into the horse’s behavior and performance.
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Once the wearable has compiled enough information, it will send it to a connected smartphone or tablet. Arioneo creates reports for jockeys and horse owners to evaluate the horse, if it’s race ready, and any issues that could turn up in the future.
Providing more information to the team should prevent a lot of the unnecessary deaths on the racetrack, but a lot of the responsibility will be on event organizers and horse owners to ensure that the horse can only race if it’s ready.
That will be difficult, considering the amount of money involved in every horse race and the lack of interest from owners and organizers in the past, in regards to horse’s welfare.
Arioneo plans to launch the wearable in 2017, though there’s no details on the price or availability.
Horseracing may still not be the horse’s favorite thing to do
While the wearable looks at the physical side of horseracing, several activists against the sport have raised issues with horse’s mental health, if it is over-raced or has been in an accident before.
Again, this issue has not been looked into by organizers or owners, which has led to horses that refuse to race or have psychological problems that rapidly change the horse’s behavior. Once that happens, the horse quickly becomes disposable for owners.
The severe lack of consideration for horse’s health or welfare continues to be a black mark on horseracing in general for many people, but we doubt organizers are that concerned, considering horserace gambling continues to grow worldwide.
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