A methodology used for the study of human movement was adapted to analyze the movement of equines in a high performance treadmill. An electronic high precision theodolite was used to construct a calibration system to demarcate the volume occupied by the animal. It was taken the three dimensions coordinates of each marker present in the calibrator, composing the calibration archive. Two video cameras (60 Hz) were located approximately 5m from the left lateral side of the treadmill at 1.8m height. The images had been fit using a video monitor. For the validation of the method, a member of the team moved into the calibrated space, a 43.8cm long rigid stick with markers settled in its extremities. For the analysis of the images, the Dvideow program developed by the Laboratório de Instrumentação para Biomecânica - UNICAMP was used. After the three-dimensional reconstruction of the images, the calculation of the distance between the markers of the stick was done in 100 frames. The mean was 43.7 cm with a variation coefficient of 0.8%. These results confirm that this methodology is precise and adequate for the study of the locomotion in horses.
cinematography; three-dimensional analysis; movement; equine; treadmill
