The sleeping and grazing behaviors of horses play a crucial role in their health and welfare. In the horse industry, with the prevalent trend of individual single-stall farming in stable, accurately identifying various behaviors of horses within stables is imperative. This study has established a spatio-temporal dataset for horse postures and behaviors, proposed an algorithm utilizing a SE-SlowFast network with an enhanced loss function. This algorithm achieves automatic recognition of multiple postures and behaviors of horse simultaneously. The model developed in this study demonstrates high accuracy in identifying three postures within the stable: Standing, Crouching, and Lying, achieving respective accuracies of 92.73%, 91.87%, and 92.58%. Additionally, it accurately recognizes two behaviors: Sleeping and Grazing, achieving best accuracies of 93.56% and 98.77%. The overall best accuracy of the model is 93.9%. Experiments on video recognition confirm that the suggested model recognizes horse video data accurately. This study marks the first time computer vision technology has been used in the horse farming industry, achieving non-intrusive recognition of multiple horse postures and behaviors. This study provides valuable data support for livestock managers to evaluate the health conditions of horses, enhances the welfare of horses in stables, and contributes to the advancement of modern horse husbandry practices.

Analyzing horse behavior is crucial for assessing training quality, particularly in accurately identifying actions like standing, walking, and running. Research has been conducted both domestically and internationally in this regard; however, challenges persist, including reliance on single sensors, poor real-time performance, and low identification accuracy. In view of these challenges, this study investigated real-time identification of horse behavior based on wearable devices. The system, centered around a microcontroller and utilizing a 4G network as a carrier, employs multi-axis IMU sensors as input sources to perceive horse posture. The study proposed a behavior classification method based on analysis of acceleration thresholds. The method consists primarily of two sequential stages: first, the resultant acceleration interval counting method, which employs a nonlinear segmentation approach for initial behavior classification; and second, the statistical analysis of variance parameters between segments, which when coupled with multi-level threshold processing, achieves a refined classification. Experimental results indicated that the interval counting method alone achieved an accuracy of 87.55%, while for the variance analysis method alone the accuracy was 90.87%. The proposed method, comprising the two stages, reached a classification accuracy of 91.57%, underpinning its usefulness in supporting future equine research.

This study demonstrated that wearable devices can distinguish between different levels of horse activity, categorized into three types based on the horse’s gaits: low activity (standing), medium activity (walking), and high activity (trotting, cantering, and galloping). Current research in activity level classification predominantly relies on deep learning techniques, known for their effectiveness but also their demand for substantial data and computational resources. This study introduces a combined acceleration threshold behavior recognition method tailored for wearable hardware devices, enabling these devices to classify the activity levels of horses directly. The approach comprises three sequential phases: first, a combined acceleration interval counting method utilizing a non-linear segmentation strategy for preliminary classification; second, a statistical analysis of the variance among these segments, coupled with multi-level threshold processing; third, a method using variance-based proximity classification for recognition. The experimental results show that the initial stage achieved an accuracy of 87.55% using interval counting, the second stage reached 90.87% with variance analysis, and the third stage achieved 91.27% through variance-based proximity classification. When all three stages are combined, the classification accuracy improves to 92.74%. Extensive testing with the Xinjiang Wild Horse Group validated the feasibility of the proposed solution and demonstrated its practical applicability in real-world scenarios.