Objective
Horses play essential roles in agriculture, sport, therapy, and recreation. The global equine industry is worth over $300 billion annually; just in the US, $1 billion are spent each year on managing lameness—a gait abnormality caused by locomotor disorders. Lameness is a leading cause of injury, premature death, and reduced performance in horses, raising serious animal welfare, economic, and societal concerns. Lameness has also extremely high prevalence, potentially affecting between 30% and 70% of the 60 million horses on earth. Earlier detection could prevent catastrophic outcomes, reduce suffering, and lower financial risk.
This project aims to enable early, non-invasive detection of developing lameness using gait-generated sounds. We will build SoundHorse, a smartphone-based telehealth app for prescreening equine gait health. Leveraging signal processing and statistical tools developed during our ERC Starting Grant, SoundHorse will: 1) record hoof-fall sounds via a standard smartphone; 2) analyze the rhythmicity and structure of the gait; 3) compare it to a reference database of healthy horses; and 4) generate a “gait health score” to inform the user; 5) if warranted, recommend veterinary follow-up.
Unlike costly systems requiring invasive sensors or expert handling, SoundHorse offers a scalable, affordable, and user-friendly solution. If successful, it will deliver broad ethical, environmental, and economic benefits, namely: 1) reduced equine suffering and mortality; 2) extended working life of horses, reducing breeding and CO2 impact; 3) decreased financial losses for owners; 4) fewer animal and human injuries from undetected lameness; 5) better allocation of veterinary care. By democratizing access to early screening, SoundHorse could transform equine health monitoring at a critical time for both animal welfare and climate-consciousness.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- social sciences sociology demography mortality
- natural sciences physical sciences acoustics
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering information engineering telecommunications mobile phones
- agricultural sciences agriculture, forestry, and fisheries agriculture
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
MAIN PROGRAMME
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC-POC - HORIZON ERC Proof of Concept Grants
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) ERC-2025-POC
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
00185 Roma
Italy
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.