Nonlinear Analysis of Horses Trotting with and without Sedation

Abstract

It is common to use sedatives in equine practice for surgical procedures, standing or recumbent, and for control of unruly patients. In recent years, there have been many investigations concerning the effect sedation might have on gait during lameness examination. The aim of this research is to develop an application of the largest Lyapunov exponents to study the effects of sedation on the gait of horses with lameness. The purpose of this study is to quantify movements of the horses using the largest Lyapunov exponents. The research was also conducted by the IACUC of the College of Veterinary Medicine at Auburn University, as well as the Samuel Ginn College of Engineering at Auburn University. Data examples were recorded from nine horses with sedation or untreated during trotting. Within each group, data was generated from different time. In conclusion, the largest Lyapunov exponents were applied successfully to study the horses’ motion during trotting for each time period. It is obvious that the maximal Lyapunov exponents of horses with sedation (detomidine) were smaller and more stable than untreated horses for each time period. This means that sedation drugs had a distinct effect on lame horses’ motion stability. Generally, the maximal Lyapunov exponents of horses decreased with increasing trotting time. Future studies are needed to get more meaningful data based on horses. For further analysis, more Nonlinear Methods should be used to analyze the data, so that the examination procedure can be applied to a larger population of subjects more widely.