Quantification of Movement Symmetry in Horses
One of the main areas of interest of Dr. Pfau over the recent years has been the quantification of movement symmetry under practically relevant "out of the laboratory" conditions. He has been one of the pioneers in the field of inertial measurement unit (IMU) based assessment of upper body (head and trunk) movement in horses in the context of lameness and poor performance in the horse. Currently, he is leading two externally funded projects in this area: one investigating hoof asymmetries to upper body movement and one relating upper body movement asymmetry and back ranges of motion in different groups of horses.

Foot and Farriery/Hoofcare
With the constant increase in "easy-to-use" technology for measuring movement in "real world' conditions, the dream of "prevention before cure" for conditions affecting the locomotor apparatus of horses is now becoming reality. In this context, the role of hoofcare providers is becoming increasingly important for providing a broad evidence base allowing to investigate the development of overuse injuries. Dr. Pfau is passionate about collaborating with footcare providers in the process of gathering quantitative evidence about "normal" and "abnormal" movement patterns and how these may (or may not) contribute to preventing injuries of the musculoskeletal system in the long run.

Highspeed Locomotion in Horses
Athletic animals are continually pushing their locomotor system to the limits. Sensors, such as inertial measurement units and global positioning system (GPS) (or global navigation satellite system, GNSS) receivers and their combinations offer novel insights into the processes involved in long term development of overuse injuries and crucially can help us with detecting impending injuries before they actually occur. Horses, for example galloping Thoroughbred racehorses or Standardbred Trotters and Pacers, can be leveraged as 'models' for gathering quantitative evidence with simple means, for example a standard GPS/GNSS data logger attached to the saddle cloth during routine training and/or racing, for building up data bases that can be utilized, together with injury and/or performance data, for improved understanding of the kinematic (and kinetic) parameters governing these slowly developing overuse injuries.

Novel Techniques for Quantifying "Real Life" Movement
Being an Engineer by training, Dr. Pfau has been and is continually interested in evaluating different means of accessing kinetic and kinematic aspects of "normal" and "abnormal" locomotion. Currently, he is intrigued by the use of GPS/GNSS loggers for smaller animals (e.g. dogs) and the challenges encountered by higher step and stride frequencies in the context of the Shannon-Nyquist theorem and the accuracy/precision of speed estimates when evaluating "steady state" and "dynamically changing" movements. Additionally, with the availability of a hybrid 8-camera Qualisys motion capture system, Dr. Pfau is interested in investigating the potential for markerless tracking for quantifying movement deficits for example in dairy cows. The more technical aspects of this line of work align nicely with the above more biological and/or veterinary aspects, such as lameness, footcare and high speed locomotion.