In this article we’re going to have a look at Artificial Intelligence and how this technological phenomenon will impact the equestrian industry, or whether, in fact, it is already…
What is AI – Artificial Intelligence? Everyone is talking about AI but how many of us know what it means? Many would think it’s a new concept but actually it evolved in the 1950s, and refers to the ability of machines to simulate human intelligence; rather than simply being able to deal with problems those machines have been programmed to solve. A machine running AI can solve novel problems; it can “think”, “reason”, and “learn”. AI is also often referred to as machine learning.
Many people may have first been exposed to AI in their everyday life through the launch of ChatGPT nearly 12 months ago. ChatGPT is a “chatbot” that can trawl the web and provide answers to questions in natural language. It can “hold a conversation”. ChatGPT and many spin-offs can also be used to write articles, generate adverts, etc. So how do you know that this article hasn’t been produced by AI? You don’t. But AI content generation isn’t that sophisticated yet although sometime soon it may be. That’s why there are already attempts to write apps that can determine if content has been produced by AI.
So how might AI impact the equestrian world? And could it already be? The answer is greatly, and, yes, it already is.
Content Generation
AI is able to generate articles. Already, some of the content that you are reading in magazines, on Facebook, or on company websites will have been generated by AI. How can you tell? With great difficulty. If the AI app is using the web as a resource to provide output/content then, of course, it has the advantage that it will be able to access and review information 1000s, possibly even millions of times faster than we can. But, as we know, just because 99 search results out of 100 say the sky is purple, it doesn’t mean that that is true/correct. AI will give you what appears to be a consensus.
For example:
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Does the sun go around the earth?
ChatGPT to David Marlin > No, the earth goes around the sun.
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Can horses make Vitamin C?
ChatGPT to David Marlin > Yes, horses can synthesize Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) in their liver.
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Should you walk a horse that is tying up?
ChatGPT to David Marlin > No, a horse that is “tying up” (experiencing rhabdomyolysis, a condition characterized by muscle stiffness, pain, and potential damage) should generally not be walked.
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Do horses hold their breath when jumping?
ChatGPT to David Marlin > Horses do not hold their breath while jumping in the literal sense, but they do experience a momentary suspension of breathing. This phenomenon is called the “moment of suspension”, where the horse’s breathing briefly stops as they launch into the air and over the jump.
The above response was the 4th generation of the answer. The first 3 responses were poor.
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Should you scrape water off when cooling a very hot horse?
ChatGPT to David Marlin > Yes, scraping water off when cooling a very hot horse can be an essential step. When a horse is overheated, cooling it down effectively and quickly is crucial. Here’s why and how you should scrape water off:
Why Scrape Water Off?
Prevent Water Heating: When a horse is hot, the water applied to their body can quickly heat up due to the high body temperature. If not removed, this water can act as insulation, trapping heat and potentially making the horse even hotter.
Enhanced Evaporation: Continually applying and scraping off water can facilitate more rapid evaporation, which is the process that helps to cool the body.
This answer is INCORRECT. Water DOES NOT act as insulation. The main mechanism of cooling is CONDUCTION, not EVAPORATION.
From the above we can see that for easy questions, ChatGPT is likely to be correct. For more complex questions, ChatGPT may be partially correct or even wrong.
Here is how ChatGPT could be used by a journalist to create content.
David Marlin to ChatGPT > Write me a paragraph about horse heart rate.
ChatGPT to David Marlin > A horse’s heart rate can serve as a vital indicator of its overall health, fitness level, and well-being. The resting heart rate of a healthy adult horse typically ranges between 28 and 40 beats per minute (bpm), though it can be slightly higher in foals and ponies. Various factors, including exercise, stress, illness, and environmental conditions, can influence a horse’s heart rate. Monitoring changes in the heart rate can provide essential insights for trainers, riders, and veterinarians to gauge the animal’s physical condition, identify potential health issues, and optimize training programs. Regular assessments of a horse’s heart rate, especially before, during, and after exercise, are crucial in ensuring the horse is in optimal condition and not being overexerted or stressed.
This is a reasonable piece of content. It’s not going to win a Pulitzer, though. And note, in case you haven’t spotted it already, that ChatGPT speaks “American English” (“optimize” not optimise).
Image Manipulation
AI can work with data in the form of text or numbers, but it can also work with photos or videos to:
- Manipulate images of people to look more attractive
- Manipulate a horse image
- Manipulate an image of a horse jumping 50cm to jumping 150cm
The three images below illustrate how AI can be used to manipulate an image. The photo on the left is the original image of a horse jumping a small fence. The photo on the right is an original image of a horse jumping a high fence at an international competition.
The image at the bottom is AI-generated. This image has been manipulated to show the horse from the left photo now jumping over the much higher fence from the photo on the right.
Veterinary Medicine
In horse health, one of the best examples of a beneficial AI-based app is ‘Sleip AI’, which runs on a phone. It works by taking a short video (10-20s) of a horse being trotted in hand or lunged. That video is then uploaded to the Cloud for processing, and within a few minutes the results are downloaded to the phone. The app tracks the head and pelvic movements, and it can provide an objective assessment of asymmetry/lameness with greater accuracy and precision than a trained professional because it is able to detect smaller differences than are possible with the human eye. This technology is a major leap forward in detecting, quantifying, and monitoring lameness. The system is available to both vets and owners, although owners are only able to collect videos, while the results are sent directly to the owners’ vet.
Judging
In many equestrian disciplines, performance is almost entirely objective. For example, in showjumping the fastest clear round. In dressage, however, the scoring is subjective. Not every judge gives the same marks for each movement for each horse. And the marks that the judges give are not only influenced by what they see, but also by their biases or by other factors, such as fatigue of the judge.
Movement features that result in higher marks in dressage have been identified in a number of scientific studies. For example, Hobbs et al. (2023) found that the score for gaits was inversely related to stride frequency, i.e. the slower the stride frequency the higher the score. Higher rider scores were associated with more symmetrical lateral movement of the rider. Since there are features that relate to higher marks, it is therefore possible to train an AI system to automatically assess these movements in real time, and to award “scores”. One could therefore envisage a future where the marks are decided by both judges and an AI system, or even entirely by an AI system. Alternatively, AI systems could be used to train judges.
A number of companies and groups already appear to be exploring the use of AI in dressage. Equinnolab BV http://research.equinnolab.com/the-equine-ai/ has announced a project to “evaluate the feasibility of developing a laser system (LiDAR) to objectify dressage scores given by judges during competitions”. And, as long ago as 2021, a story emerged about an attempt to use AI to judge reining competitions: https://issuu.com/bridlebit/docs/june2021editiononline/s/13108757 Dressage and reining would not be the first to develop or use such a scoring approach. Fujitsu developed an AI scoring system for gymnastics back in 2019.
Summary
In summary, AI is already active within the equestrian world, even if we are not aware of it. Plus, as you may have seen from recent stories in the media, AI has the potential to make huge impacts on healthcare, safety, entertainment, etc. But it also has the potential to be misused, to cause harm and to spread misinformation. So, whilst many may not want it, AI is definitely here to stay. It is advisable, therefore, to be aware of how AI is being used.
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