Would love feedback on an app idea for improving hoof health

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Tom.H

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I've been working on a new idea for performing a quick check on hoof health and would love some feedback from the community.

At this stage it's just a basic phone application that uses your smartphone camera to capture an image of your horses hoof, we then process this information, and provide you with visual feedback on key hoof parameters.

The idea being that you have an immediate snapshot of your horses hoof health (try saying that 10 times really quickly!), and can then use this information as an indicator of any current or potential up coming problems. We also provide trends over time so that we can alert you when the hoof health is declining.

On the flip side we'd love to provide this as a tool for farriers to be able to achieve a higher quality and more consistent trim. It would also allow the farrier to quickly and easily communicate what they've done on the hoof and why.

Feedback on the idea would be much appreciated either here, or if you're super interested in having a go for yourself we're looking for a small group of early users to give to work with in building out the app-[url]http://cavaltech.co.nz/alpha-signup/[/URL]

Thanks in advance!
 
Good idea but my concern would be that you can make the foot look different depending on the angle from which you take the lateral shots so that could be deceptive. Or will you be measuring it in another way?
 
A very valid concern - Within the app we provide an overlay over the camera screen demonstrating exactly which angle the picture should be taken from.

While this isn't a guaranteed fix, it will hopefully allow for some kind of consistency between pictures. Very open to suggestions for other methods for doing this though?
 
I know the world is going this way but I have big concerns about diagnostic apps. I feel very strongly that improving communication between professionals and owners on the ground and improving the holistic advice that is given in those individual circumstances is the way to go. Yes there are overt signs of problems that are reasons for concern but the professionals involved are the ones to flag these up and follow things through.
There is not one perfect hoof to measure against!

ps. Nor is there one, consistent trim for all horses.
 
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I think it is a really bad idea. No doubt lots of people will subscribe to it and it will make money but if someone looks at a foot and cannot tell what it is showing then that person needs a farrier or trimmer to explain to them in detail. You can tell them, based on an app picture, that the heels look high. What happens then? There is the risk your amateur could take a rasp and lower them. That may be a good idea or it may produce a seriously lame horse. How are you going to feel the feet through an app, watch the horse move, see how it lands?

What may look like a problem from a picture in reality may not be or vice versa. Alternatively it may be a problem that has ended up in the feet but the real problem is far away and the horse doesn't need a trim he needs a pysio, vet or whatever to deal with the cause of the problem.

It is as bad as giving trimming advice online from pictures without seeing the actual horse. In fact it is worse as most people realise online you have a lot of amateurs making comments that need to be taken with a pinch of salt but may give an idea. In this case it will seem to clients that it is a professional giving a view and therefore it must be correrc. However you set it up it is very easy to produce pictures showing one thing from the angle they are taken when in reality they show something very different. You need to feel the caudal foot to assess it. How are you going to do that? rely on an owner who has nothing to compare it with.

As for farriers I am sure they will be delighted to know someone is going to teach them how to improve their trim on a horse. Another alternative would be if the farrier cannot produce a high quality trim, or if he cannot communicate with you, then sack him and find one who can.

What trim model Amanda? My guess would be a KC based one but that's just a guess!!.
 
paddy555 said:
What may look like a problem from a picture in reality may not be or vice versa. Alternatively it may be a problem that has ended up in the feet but the real problem is far away and the horse doesn't need a trim he needs a pysio, vet or whatever to deal with the cause of the problem.
Click to expand...

As a complete amature I agree with this, without seeing the whole horse and how it moves the advice given from purely a hoof shot could easily be detrimental to the horse.

There's a good picture on the Rockley blog of a hoof that is the result of a shoulder injury. If the hoof is left alone the horse is sound, when trimmed to a conventional shape the horse is lame.

How would the app account for situations like this?
 
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In an ideal world farriers would be able to freely communicate with their clients, however the reality we face is that many horse owners we've spoken too have identified this as one of the most difficult parts of the process in having their horse shod.

What we're hoping to achieve is a tool that facilitates this communication, while providing objective information on a few key hoof parameters to get the conversation flowing. I absolutely agree that the perfect trim is somewhat of a myth, which is exactly why we're working very closely with a number of farriers to ensure that we build it as a tool that is usable by both parties.

Thanks for the comment!
 
Wow, ok a tonne of great feedback there.

I would like to start out by making it very clear that we will not be releasing this app to the wider public until we've had a chance to work through several of the issue you've highlighted here. We are also working in close contact with a large number of farriers to achieve a balanced and educated view on the information that we provide.

The intention of the app is not to replace good information or a thorougher inspection of the hoof but to provide supplementary information in an objective way. As I said above, we're looking to facilitate communication in a constructive way.

If you're truly concerned by what we might come up with then I invite you to join in the conversation and be a part of the early tester program. We need well balanced opinions and already you have provided plenty.

In terms of the trim model applied - we're exploring the ability for people to choose from a selection (ideally ask your farrier and then choose that one).

Thanks for the comment!
 
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