Photogrammetric techniques application for the morphometric study in native Colombian horses

To study the morphological conformation of horses, external measurement techniques known as "zoometric techniques" have been used, which are laborious processes that make it difficult to obtain immediate results. Currently, there are other techniques such as photogrammetry, which has been used successfully in other countries, but its use in this country is unknown and therefore not used in veterinary medicine. In this study, we used a photogrammetric program for the morphometric study of horses through a modified methodology. The results obtained with this technique were compared with zoometric measurements and so the degree of variation between them was determined. To carry out the study, five horses of both sexes, located in the farm Las Palmas, La Florida district, Municipality of Villamaria, Caldas, were used. A series of labels with reference to anatomical regions of interest were placed in the forelimb and hind limb of each individual, and then each animal was placed in a previously prepared ground where three lateral plane photographs were taken which were then processed with Photomodeler Scanner 6.2 software. The results obtained with the software did not show significant differences in relation to the in vivo measurements obtained through zoometric techniques, resulting in an average margin of error of 0.24%, thus demonstrating the degree of accuracy when obtaining longitudinal measures from the horses' lateral plane. Based on studies applying photogrammetric techniques, this is recommended as an efficient, accurate and reliable software tool for the morphometric study of horses.