Horses are big, sturdy animals capable of carrying hundreds of pounds of weight. They’ve hauled us around for centuries, across battlefields, farmland, and show rings. But just how do the forces applied by saddle and rider affect a horse’s performance and welfare? With advent of electronic pressure-measuring devices, researchers are now able to answer that question.

At the 9th Annual International Society for Equitation Science, held July 18-20, at the University of Delaware, in Newark, Hilary Clayton, BVMS, PhD, Dipl. ACVSMR, MRCVS, Mary Anne McPhail Dressage Chair in Equine Sports Medicine at Michigan State University, reviewed recent research findings on what she calls the rider-saddle-horse interface.

Clayton first introduced the cutting-edge equipment researchers use to measure force and pressure distribution on a horse’s back: a wireless, electronic saddle pressure mat with Bluetooth transmitter. Each of this device’s 256 sensors is capable of 60 readings a second—that adds up to a whopping 15,360 force and pressure measurements per second