Evaluation of a thermal camera in measuring surface temperature in horses

Abstract

The use of thermal cameras in horses has proven effective for monitoring surface body temperature non-invasively, enabling the early identification of disease and inflammation. This study evaluated the agreement between a thermal camera compared to an infrared thermometer in the measurement of surface temperatures of 60 healthy horses (27 mares, 33 stallions; 7.88 ± 4.01 years; 466 ± 50.1 kg). Measurements were taken at the neck, thorax, and coronary band between 8:00–9:00 a.m., under controlled environmental conditions. Analysis revealed strong correlations between the two methods at the coronary band (r = 0.81) and moderate correlations at the neck and thorax (r = 0.53, r = 0.67, respectively). However, the Bland-Altman method indicated wide limits of agreement, particularly in the neck region and a systematic bias, with the thermal camera generally recording higher temperatures. Despite this, the moderate to strong correlations between the thermal camera and infrared thermometer suggest its potential for tracking thermal trends and identifying localized temperature variations, particularly with careful calibration.