Hi Everyone, I have a quick question and I was wondering if I could get everyone's feedback. A company makes medical devices for ICU and geriatric homes that check hydration in a person. They are thinking about making this same device for a horse. The device would be about the size of a back boot that you would place on the horses neck. It would be beneficial at horse shows to check and make sure your horse is hydrated enough, I think it could prevent some colics that are caused by dehydration that lead to impactions, or you could use it to get an edge over your competitors. For example if you find your horse performs its best when the body water percentage is at 55% then you can make sure to keep your horse at that level. (The benefits are my ideas just on thinking if it would be a good investment for me) How many people would be interested in owning a device like this and how much would you be willing to pay? Would it matter if the device could also tell you body fat % and muscle %? Thank you so much for your help!
It would really depend on the price of it. If it's super cheap then yes some people would buy it but I think most people still go by the simple look of their horse, the skin pinch test, testing capillary refill or temperature.
Personally I wouldn't buy it only because I'd use one, or all, of the methods above to check for signs of dehydration if required.
ETA: Now if this came with a phone app that would send messages to my phone it would be something I may consider. Then if you have a horse you're monitoring hydration on for some reason (tying up, colic, dehydration etc) and it would let me know any changes to hydration then I could see a market for that both for illnesses and for endurance racers.
Equine Hydration Device
