Equine Biomechanics

[btswass]

IPEsq one of my goals is to get people to have analyses done every so often. This is what tracks progress and also how an oncoming injury can be discovered and prevented. In order to encourage this, I offer a discount on the price of a gait analysis if one is done within 12 months of the previous analysis.

netg I fully realize that engineering doesn’t tell my jack about the way a horse works. 18 years of riding (not backyard riding either) and studying the anatomy, training, movement, and different types of lameness on my own time as well as 4 years of engineering school at a top university provides me with enough knowledge to know more than jack does.

GoodTimes I completely understand that every living being on the planet is asymmetric. No one and nothing is perfect. I’m not trying to show every little tiny detail. I’m picking out major asymmetries that were perhaps past injuries that could cause future problems. My goal would be to work with a vet for a PPE. I believe that the information I provide is more accurate than a flex test which is the only other option. By pinpointing problem areas, a vet can then do further tests such as X-Rays to the problem areas.

Abbie.S there is no way to determine there is a market for my business until I try it. I won the money to buy the software and equipment I needed in a business competition so I haven’t lost anything. Additionally, the is a company called Centaur Biomechanics located in England that is doing exactly this (using the same program I do) very successfully. Unfortunately, the US is behind the times which is why I’m bringing this technology to the US in hopes we can improve. Just look at the 2012 Olympics. England won 5 medals (gold in both team and individual dressage) and the US won 0. Team GB is using this technology and is proving that it works. I just hope people here will realize that. One of the purposes of my business is to not only provide the data and graphs but also create a report that includes suggestions for treatment (remedial shoeing, chiro, etc), tack changes (primarily saddles), and training exercises. I want to find the problems then bring other professionals in as needed. I think its an absolute shame that my horse’s chiropractor, farrier, and vet don’t all work together and communicate. I want to be that mediator for everyone to work together towards the health of the horse. Its time we start treating the horse as a whole.

poltroon I agree regarding the dressage riders. They are the majority of the clients for the company doing this in England as well. I also agree with working with a vet. I absolutely know that what I provide can not be achieved with any number of tests that a vet would perform. And when this comes to a “mystery” injury it means less time doing tests which means less money and a faster recovery.

[Carol_Ames]

Thank you, dags; I have a friend who, excitedly tells others that she “does dressage” and I wince :eek:when I hear that!She has spent good :winkgrin:money for yeara of dressage lessons; yet, is still learning leads and diagonals!:mad:

[EventerAJ]

Gait analysis and studying equine biomechanics is not uncommon in the racing industry. At the big sales, agents and prospective buyers may employ a biomechanics expert to evaluate the yearling or two year old for its racing potential. They place markers over all important joints, take measurements, video the walk and workouts for older horses. They’ve charted this information and have many years’ worth of data to help draw conclusions.

I could see where this service could be useful for sport horses, but it’s a different market. In the TB industry, the experts are usually only employed for high-dollar purchases, and then only by those owners/trainers who believe in it. It’s a niche market, as it would be in sport horses. I do believe it would be useful, but you must have proven results or at least be affordable enough for owners to try your service.

[DMK]

When you first posted, I thought (grammar aside) you were doing something similar to Centaur. So on that note, from a business/marketing perspective, take a look at what they are doing well. Most of us know Centaur because if the AMAZING footage they produced off the 2012 games. They grab your attention with that and then they tell the viewer what product they are delivering and what is the WIFM (what’s in it for me).

Most of the suggestions referenced in this thread are encapsulated in their website. So from a business perspective the bad/good news is you are not going to be first to market (bad, but hey, even Centaur was well after James Rooney). The good news is they have started explaining the field and how it translates to the WIFM to the potential market. Now what you need to do is do it better, or do it where they are not (alternative, not competing markets).

If you can find somebody whose talent lies in communication strategies or marketing, that may be useful. Unfortunately just being awesome in a highly technical field is no guarantee of success. Marketing/product development types may look like they do not do much, but we do actually have some mad skilz.

[Chapstickglue]

OP- pm me… I have zillions of connections and lots of help for you.

Let’s chat

[SnicklefritzG]

There’s a guy in my area who does something similar. I signed up for a session with my horse after attending a clinic at a local tack shop.

My initial interest in the service was to use it as a development tool to study my horse over time in our training program. I do take lessons and have trainers that can comment on what they see over time, but I thoguht the high speed video would also be very cool.

Unfortunately, the guy was running this as a side business and it took over a year to get the data back. When I did finally get my DVD, I couldn’t do much with the program because it kept crashing on my computer. As much as I liked the concept, this guy’s customer service was so bad I decided it was not worth the headache. I haven’t pursued it further with my new horse.

Here are a couple of things I would recommend if you want to get this business off the ground:

1. Find a serious rider to use as a demo. Perferably with someone who is doing a singificant about of development work with their horse, perhaps a youngster. Do a high speed video or whatever you do with your program. Return a few months later and do another one. Hopefully there will be changes that will show up on video to give people an idea what you can do with your program.

2. Use your test subject in (1) or perhaps an additional rider or two to test the software. Make sure the bugs are worked out before people start paying for your services.

3. See if local tack shops can arrange for you to do an evening or weekend clinic. Offer coupons for X% off your services to the folks who attend. If they try out your services and like what you offer, there’s a good chance they will spread the word and you’ll get new clients that way.

4. Make sure you can return data promptly. Make an effort to turn things around in 1-2 weeks. Longer than that and people get restless waiting for their data. Consider telling people a bit longer than you think it will take so they will be pleasantly surprised if they get their data early. That way if you need extra time you won’t have to tell them you’re going to be late, etc.

5. Good customer service is critical!!! Especially in the beginning.

[btswass]

Carol Ames I went to Syracuse University. Great engineering program but also a great entrepreneurship program. One of the best in the country. I went to school with no intention of starting a business so it ended up being very helpful.

EventerAJ I definitely want to get into the racing industry and believe it could be very helpful for the big sales but as I am not familiar with the racing industry I wasn’t sure how or if it would work. Its encouraging to know others are already doing it. A girl at my barns father used to be a big time jockey. I’m hoping to talk to him to understand the racing industry and the best place for my business within it.

DKM I have been studying what centaur does from the beginning. Russell is the one I bought the software from. While he does come to the US to do clinics he focuses on doing analyses in England so I wouldn’t be directly competing with him. My Dad does have his own business in marketing and advertising so helps me out with brochures, business card, website, etc. Trust me I know you guys are really good at what you do!

SnicklefritzG I’m surviving off of a part time salary (and lots of help from my bf) so that I can focus on putting as much time and energy as I can into this business. Fortunately, my own horse just turned 4 so he has been a great demo horse. I have done a couple other practice analyses but I would like to find a top rider to work with. As I have already done practice analyses I have fixed the few bugs I had. I am actually doing a clinic at my barn (we have a classroom). I wanted to do it at my barn as I want to also have some hands on demonstrations and so people can see how I do an analysis. I’m providing a 20% off coupon just for attending. I’m hoping this will be a big business starter. I actually work at the local tack shop and was able to put up an ad for my clinic so hopefully lots of people come. In terms of return data/report I guarantee it within a week, unless it is an injury analysis or a pre purchase analysis in which I guarantee it within 48 hours as they are more time sensitive cases. Thanks for all your advice! Its lining up pretty well with what I have been doing.

[EventerAJ]

I suggest you stick to the sport horse world with which you are familiar.

You might have a very hard time getting a foothold in the racing sales world. There are already several established agencies who study biomechanics, and it will be tough for you to compete with them. They have 30 years of specific data and experience; you only have technology (which they have too).

I would recommend that you develop your own experience and data concerning sport horses, and be very clear in what your service does for your clients. Marketing is very important, but you’ve got to have the results to back it up. I personally find the field of study quite interesting, but you have to connect “what it is” with “what it means.” The racing experts have this down to a science (ie, “This limb deviation produces a wobble in the knee seen at speed, our data show horses with such movement have 30% higher risk of knee injury”).

[alterhorse]

[QUOTE=btswass;7608706]
If you were buying a new horse would you be more interested in gait abnormalities? I believe pre-purchase analyses will be a big seller. Pricing depends on the service being performed. I don’t want to talk about pricing as I am not trying to advertise my business but just getting help on the best way to approach potential clients. If you want you can go to my website www.vuelobiomechanics.com. And yes I do need to speak in more professional terms. “Performing biomechanics” is much better than saying “doing biomechanics”. I graduated as a mechanical engineer so I have lots of training in this field. And while my software does give me data about the horse’s gait I am the one actually manipulating the data, creating graphs, and then creating a report of what all these numbers and graphs actually mean. I am not offended at all by anyone’s critics. The only way to improve is to listen to an act upon the critics of others! (If I couldn’t I wouldn’t still be in the horse industry!) Thank you for everyone’s suggestions so far. I agree that word of mouth is the best form of promotion. In fact 53% of information sources comes from word of mouth. I think it’s a matter of getting my first client and things will take off from there (I hope).[/QUOTE]

How do you account for the physiological asymmetry that typically exists in varying degrees in most horses?

Unless you have a baseline to compare with for a particular horse, how can one be sure that ones current observations are an actual issue, and not just a sound horse functioning within a normal scope of imperfection?

I agree with the poster who suggested partnering with a vet. This technology might be useful for monitoring the rehabilitative progress for horses recovering from injury.

If you applied it to rider biomechanics, and were able to use these tools to help riders understand their areas of weakness, perhaps team up with a trainer or trainers, and find a way to incorporate your service into their rider training programs.

Some riders might think it would be cool just to have a very high quality slow motion video of them jumping, so they can do their own self critiquing.

If you have a videographers artistic eye and editing talents. You might also offer a slow motion video service. A mixed HD slow motion video/ standard HD video “photo shoot” done with artistic flair, might raise some interest.

Who wouldn’t want to have a well produced video keepsake of them and their horse done in a cinematography style? I think that would be cool, anyway.

Good luck with your business!

[Abbie.S]

[QUOTE=btswass;7609157]

Abbie.S there is no way to determine there is a market for my business until I try it. I won the money to buy the software and equipment I needed in a business competition so I haven’t lost anything. Additionally, the is a company called Centaur Biomechanics located in England that is doing exactly this (using the same program I do) very successfully. Unfortunately, the US is behind the times which is why I’m bringing this technology to the US in hopes we can improve. Just look at the 2012 Olympics. England won 5 medals (gold in both team and individual dressage) and the US won 0. Team GB is using this technology and is proving that it works. I just hope people here will realize that. One of the purposes of my business is to not only provide the data and graphs but also create a report that includes suggestions for treatment (remedial shoeing, chiro, etc), tack changes (primarily saddles), and training exercises. I want to find the problems then bring other professionals in as needed. I think its an absolute shame that my horse’s chiropractor, farrier, and vet don’t all work together and communicate. I want to be that mediator for everyone to work together towards the health of the horse. Its time we start treating the horse as a whole. [/QUOTE]

Sorry, but this is Business 101. When putting together your business plan, one of the first things you do is identify IF and WHERE there is a need for your service, your target market(s) and how you will penetrate those target markets. In your posts, it appears you have skipped this step and gone straight to the fun part, which is getting the equipment, creating promo material, etc. You are here asking for help as to how to get the word out, when it appears you never actually identified target groups to appeal to in the first place.

This is what I meant when I said you put the cart way before the horse.

I agree, all riders and horse owners should look at and treat the horse as a whole. You are preaching to the choir Preventative care is not as popular in the U.S, in either human or animal medical care, and it should be. But look at your comments to me: you discuss international competitors, riders and owners who have beaucoup bucks to spend on these types of services. Riders and owners whose horses are competing at the highest levels there are, and who need to be tracking their horses to catch subtle changes before they manifest. For your average pleasure horse owner, or low-level competitor, this isn’t nearly as feasible.

I admire your tenacity, but you need to do your homework first. I agree with whomever mentioned identifying the most popular discipline in your area, or the one you are most familiar with. I also agree that you will need to fine tune your data and “sales approach” so it is easy to deliver, simple to understand and identifies for the owner exactly what benefits they will get from your service.

[mbv]

I would recommend being very careful about the language you use in advertising your services, especially as it pertains to lameness diagnosis. You don’t want to get in trouble for practicing veterinary medicine without a license.

[independentlyawesome]

[QUOTE=mbv;7610303]
I would recommend being very careful about the language you use in advertising your services, especially as it pertains to lameness diagnosis. You don’t want to get in trouble for practicing veterinary medicine without a license.[/QUOTE]

And liability, since the OP said at one point that what she notes in a PPE could be from a past injury… which I feel could come back to bite her if she isn’t careful with wording.

I do agree with all of the posters that you need to figure out how to explain this business concisely in a way that piques interest. It took you 10+ sentences to get to WHY anyone would be interested in purchasing the service. I only made it to your second post bc I’m bored and reading many threads. Your OP was tough to get through.

And yes, I cringe everytime you say that you “perform biomechanics” or “do biomechanics.”

[arlosmine]

You need a catchy name and bullet points. And correct grammar. People obviously notice
Sample:

(fun name here) is a SYSTEM which records the biomechanics of the horse, providing useful data for equine professionals wanting a detailed analysis. This system assists in the areas of:

• measuring the healing of injury/range of motion
• tracking the development of a horse in training
• determining relative symmetry in the equine athlete
• think of a few more…

The product may be great, but you need a concise way to describe its usefulness.