Last spring, a dozen horses died on the track at Churchill Downs, including two during the world’s most famous horseracing event, the Kentucky Derby. A report later released by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority found no single cause for the deaths but made several recommendations, including expanding the use of wearable technology to detect potentially fatal injuries. 

Washington State University has been at the forefront to refine this technology through its partnership for the past four years with a company that makes a wearable sensor for horses that weighs less than a deck of cards. A team of WSU researchers recently published the results of a study that tested how that sensor performed while analyzing the strides of hundreds of horses competing at Churchill Downs and another track in Kentucky last year. Abnormal stride movements revealed bone and muscle damage hidden to the naked eye that had a high risk of developing into a fatal injury. Denise McSweeney, the lead author of the study and an equine surgery resident at Washington State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine, joins us to share her findings.