Abstract

 Digital infrared thermography has the potential for use as a diagnostic tool to assess the health and welfare of horses in many different ways such as lameness, joint inflammation and pain evaluation. However, many factors affect the surface temperature of horses that are poorly quantified when we use this technology. Unless we quantify these variations and account for these variations while assessments are performed, the reliability of this technology will remain low. In this study, surface temperatures of four different Regions of Interest (head, trunk, front limb and gluteus) of 8 horses were studied in indoor (range 20ºC to 24ºC) and outdoor conditions (range 19ºC to 22ºC). Both the left and right sides of the trunk and gluteal region surface temperatures of horses were measured to determine thermal symmetry. The surface temperature of horses varied significantly depending on the Region of Interest when animals were in outdoor conditions, whereas it remained similar under indoor conditions. Stability of skin temperatures was observed between the left and right side of regions (thermal symmetry) even under outdoor conditions. Moreover, digital infrared thermography performed in a controlled environment provides more reliable estimates of surface temperature. If animals are exposed to the outdoor environment before thermography, adequate equilibration time should be provided for the surface temperature to revert to normal surface temperatures.

Keywords: Horse; Infrared; Thermography; Skin Surface; Temperature

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Citation

Citation: Roy RC., et al. “Factors Affecting the Measurement of Skin Temperature of Horses Using Digital Infrared Thermography". Acta Scientific Veterinary Sciences 3.8 (2020): 09-16.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Roy RC., et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.