From starting and stopping to turning and galloping, the repetitive movements of polo ponies place demands on their muscoluskeletal system that could predispose them to injury and lameness. Researchers recently determined that, compared with performance horses in other disciplines, polo ponies display a high degree of movement asymmetry, though this doesn’t always mean the animal is lame or in pain.

To take a closer look at this movement asymmetry, Thilo Pfau, PhD, a senior lecturer in bio-engineering at The Royal Veterinary College in the United Kingdom, evaluated 60 polo horses using inertial measurement units (IMUs) and compared the results to two established thresholds for movement symmetry. The current thresholds are based on slightly different approaches.

“One commonly used and cited threshold is 3 mm asymmetry for pelvic movement and 6 mm asymmetry for head movement,” he explained.

The other system, which Pfau used in his study, results in slightly higher asymmetry values. “The threshold for pelvic movement in our system is more like a 4 to 5 mm threshold and for head movement it’s more like 8 to 9 mm, but we accounted for the difference,” he said