Werkman Black is the latest technology we have acquired, and arguably one of the most useful.
The Werkman Black system includes IMU's that are attached to both the front and hind feet. The horse is then walked and trotted over a soft and/or hard surface with the IMU's gathering data of all phases of the stride, including the landing, mid stance, breakover and swing phase.
The data gathered by the Werkman Black is directly related to what we are trying to see as hoof care providers with every horse, but it is much more accurate and objective.
The IMU's gather information at 1140Hz, which means we get much more data than the human eye alone, which is not good at seeing fast moving objects. As an example, humans start missing important pieces of information once movement is faster than 30Hz.
Along with the advantages of baseline evaluations, the Werkman Black system can be used to gather data both pre and post trimming/shoeing, which accurately and objectively quantifies the impact our work had upon the horse.
The Werkman Black system has been developed for 'in the field assessments' and is non invasive and very time efficient to use, with the information being readily available within a few minutes of finishing the walk/trot outs.
Below are examples of the report style data generated by the Werkman Black system
Landing phase of the stride
Swing phase from above
Breakover phase of the stride
Swing phase from the side
Stride phase timings