Posture in Horse Riding
Asymmetric posture in horse riding (leaning left or right) is not only bad for the rider, but also for the horse. Horses have to compensate for the asymmetry, and horses who have many beginning riders tend to have more injuries.
Often, riders themselves do not perceive the asymmetry, and a device that gives haptic feedback on asymmetry can compensate for this lack of perception and hopefully helps the rider to learn to sense and keep the symmetry on the long term.
In a bachelor project a proof of concept was already done. Still, there are a number of open questions. A student interested should preferably have horse riding experience and/or connection to a riding association or riders community where user studies can be performed. Questions include:
- improvement of the IMU measurements (noise filtering) to detect asymmetry
- design of haptic feedback and feedback fading strategies for learning
- design of an supporting app
Contact Angelika Mader, if you are interested in a project.