Additionally, she is conducting back palpitation tests on each horse to see if they show fewer signs of pain after using the Thera-tree saddle. She’s also measuring each horse’s heart rate before and after wearing the saddles and using a thermal camera to take images of their backs to determine if there is an increase in blood flow. In each test, Clark is monitoring the horses’ behaviors and looking for any signs of distress. Now they are following the same procedure using the Thera-tree saddles to see how they compare. First, they established a baseline by placing a regular saddle on each of the horses for 30 minutes during a 10-day period. Sidney Clark walks one of her test subjects wearing the Thera-tree saddleįor their project this summer, Rumore and Clark are testing two of the Thera-tree saddles on four middle-aged horses (two mares and two geldings) at Brookhill Farm in Forest, Va. “What’s really interesting is that he’s had people say that their child has anxiety and sleeps with it, or that their dogs have thunderstorm anxiety, and they’ll curl up on top of it.” ![]() “He rents these out to people rather than selling them right now because he is trying to get more information and feedback from people who use them,” Rumore said. Rumore saw demonstrations of the new product last year and was intrigued by what she saw and heard about it. It also appears to improve overall performance and alleviate stress. Specifically, Coffin has observed that it reduces inflammation and improves circulation. When placed inside a saddle, the product emits infrared waves that seem to reduce back pain in horses. While Coffin has been researching and developing new saddles for several decades, he recently discovered that when prietary acrylic material is melded with carbon fiber, it creates a piezoelectric effect. The device was created by Tad Coffin, a former Olympian turned saddle designer. However, she’s now studying a piece of equine technology she had no idea existed until this summer.Ĭlark is working on a Summer Research project with biology professor Amanda Rumore to test a new device called Thera-tree ®. ![]() She has worked in barns, taken riding lessons, and recently even acquired a mare of her own. Sidney Clark ’22 has spent her entire life around horses. ![]() Biology professor Amanda Rumore and Sidney Clark place the Thera-tree saddle on a horse
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