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Equine Speedometers

Makarand writes "According to this article in The New Zealand Herald scientists at Massey University (NZ) are using GPS to monitor racehorses during their training programme. GPS technology is being used to follow horses around a racetrack and measure how far and fast horses gallop each day. This GPS data along with heart rate measurements is transforming racehorse training into a science."

10 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. happy birthday for my bro dan by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    fp on your 16th birthday happy b-day my sweet bro!!!! stef

  2. prost fist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    lemme be the first to say BFD

  3. fp for jews by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    WHITE POWER!!

  4. New horse training programme in the UK by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Can be found here. Personally I was quite impressed!

  5. more info by Angry+Black+Man · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    triple p
    is what it be
    the coolest g!

    that (w)raps so bad, you probably bought it at the olive bistro!

    --
    the byproduct of years of oppression by the white man
  6. GPS and Cars by BoldAC · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Oh, this is not good.

    GPS + Cars = mucho speeding tickets for AC

    Now we see how ashcroft is going to fund his anti-terrorist activities. :)

    AC

    1. Re:GPS and Cars by Davak · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      How is this "off-topic?"

      If they can use GPS to estimate the speed of horses, then the same techology can be easily used to estimate the speed of cars.

      This especially becomes more interesting as GPS becomes common in cars... it could easily be one more example of how big brother enters our lives.

      Gesh.

      Davak

  7. I'm sorry by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
  8. Been a science for years by SuperBanana · · Score: 1, Offtopic
    This GPS data along with heart rate measurements is transforming racehorse training into a science

    Like most sports/races, it's been a science for decades. it's called doping. I guarantee the money that is spent on doping research(and both the technology to test for said drugs as well as the technology to skirt testing) will always pale in comparison to the money spent on GPS units, laptops, and database programs.

    Doping is almost at crisis levels in the world of sports; it's rampant. What's pathetic is when you tell a league you're going to test them months in advance, test them, and find a large # of them still using the drug, because they were too stupid to stop(this would be baseball we're talking about here.) Imagine the results if it had been a surprise test; the implied #'s are staggering. How many were using and were smart enough to stop? Most of them. So when you catch even a 20th...

    What if we did drug testing in the golf league? Figure skating? Downhill skiing? They've tried to do it in cycling, but found such a scandal, the sport would be over if they locked everyone up who was using(in a raid in Italy, cops found an entire team doping up. It was like a high school houseparty raid, complete with people hiding in closets and jumping out windows). Once has to wonder if Lance Armstrong's results aren't the result of miracles, but all the cancer drugs glaxo-cline pumped into him.

    It's also a national embarrassment when a large number of US olympians were found to be using drugs as well. While I despise those who advocate legalizing pot, it's shocking that the US snowboarding team would get sent home for lighting up, yet a dozen US track+field athletes are found to be using performance drugs and they don't even get their medals stripped.

    Lesson here for young kids? 1)use drugs and you'll beat people who don't; you'll be successful, rich, famous. 2)You probably won't get caught since drug makers are usually ahead of the testing technology. 3)If you do get caught, you've still gotten millions(or hundreds of millions) and 4)If you've got a good enough lawyer, you'll probably get to keep your medals anyway, and you'll be knocked down the endorsement ladder pretty far, but still make in a week what most people make in a year.

  9. Hmmm ... does not compute by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Actually, its just a prototype unit designed to improve Kiwi's love life.

    Now they can track thier girlfriends by GPS.

    Baahhh!