Cardiology

Smart Horse Blankets: A New Monitoring Tool

By Adam Marcus

The wearable craze may soon be coming to a paddock near you.

Researchers at Purdue University in Indiana have developed a lightweight, waterproof, flexible array of biosensors that horses can wear while they exercise. The sensors generate real-time data about key metrics, including respiration and heart rate.

The “e-textile” could be particularly useful for assessing asthma in racehorses and other equine athletes that are prone to the condition, according to the researchers, who reported on the technology in Biosensors and Bioelectronics.

“The smart textiles were designed to address the typical challenges of equine husbandry,” said Chi Hwan Lee, PhD, a professor of biomedical and mechanical engineering at Purdue, and the senior author of the new study. “The adjustable Lycra-based structure conforms naturally around the chest or abdomen without shaving, and the soft elastomer encapsulation prevents rubbing or irritation during movement.”

Creating the wearable involved several feats of engineering. Dr. Lee and his colleagues developed a method to integrate sensing materials into stretchable fabrics, preserving their performance even under substantial deformation.

The final product has 21 recording electrodes that monitor heart and muscle activity. Two strain gauges collect data from the horse’s abdomen, including the chest, front shoulders and abdominal walls, which, taken together, reflect respiration.

Dr. Lee said the readings from the wearable are clinically reliable and in “very close agreement” with current gold-standard tools for monitoring heart rate and respiratory activity in horses. “Respiratory rate from our band aligned almost identically with pneumotachograph measurements, both at rest and during exercise. Heart-rate measurements from the accelerometer-based sensors closely matched clinical ECG, with only minimal differences even during trotting,” he said.

Another plus: Horses seem not to mind the devices. In treadmill tests and in the paddock, the animals did not attempt to shed the blankets—perhaps because it feels familiar to them, Lee said.

The technology could supplement, rather than replace, existing tools, he added. “Its strength is continuous, real-world monitoring, while clinical devices remain essential for detailed diagnostics,” he said.

Dr. Lee and his biomedical engineering colleagues are now working with researchers at Purdue’s College of Veterinary Medicine, including Laurent L. Couëtil, DVM, PhD, on clinical assessments of horses in the intensive care unit. “These studies are focused on validating the system’s clinical utility under real-world and medically intensive conditions, and the early results are encouraging,” Dr. Couëtil said. MeV

FOR MORE INFORMATION
Park T, Hong S, Murray L, et al. Wearable smart textile band for continuous equine health monitoring. Biosens Bioelectron. 2026 Jan 15:292:118073. doi: 10.1016/j.bios.2025.118073.Epub 2025 Oct 10.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0956566325009492