Methodology

What we measure, and why it matters.

Eight Furlong is a measurement company. Our bespoke, veterinary-grounded equine biomech model reads anatomical landmarks on parade-day video, derives a disciplined set of movement dimensions, and grounds every signal in a 25,010-horse measured cohort, validated against 5,233 mature careers. Below is what we measure publicly — and at the bottom, what we don't.

Where we measure

The anatomy of the score.

A real frame from a yearling parade (2022 Inglis Easter, Lot 7) with the anatomical landmarks our model tracks. Hover any point to see which dimensions of the score it feeds.

REAL PARADE FRAME · Inglis Easter 2022 · Lot 7 · Anatomical measurement points
Eight dimensions

Eight dimensions of movement.

A disciplined set — three frame proportions, one carriage, two stride mechanics, and two soundness checks. Eight Furlong measures these on every horse it sees.

Frame · proportion

Body proportion & scale

Overall frame length and scale, measured from the topline. The base every other measurement is normalised against.

Frame · proportion

Chest-to-body ratio

Chest depth (back to belly) divided by body length. Indexes heart/lung capacity — the engine-room measure.

Carriage · neck

Neck & head carriage

How the neck and head are carried through the walk — tracked frame by frame, not from a standing pose.

Frame · angle

Hip angle

The standing geometry of the hind end — the frame the propulsion has to work through.

Stride · articulation

Joint angles through the walk

How the major joints open and close as the horse moves — sampled every frame, not from a still.

Frame · angle

Shoulder angle

The standing geometry of the fore end, where stride freedom is either available or it isn't.

Stride · coordination

Fore-hind coordination

How the hind end times against the front through the walk cycle. Measured on both sides across every usable stride.

Carriage · tail

Tail carriage & range

How the tail is carried, and how much it moves through the walk. A quiet but consistent contributor to the score.

What we don't publish

The recipe stays in-house.

Showing what we measure is rigour. Showing how we combine it would be a gift to the next desk. Three things we deliberately keep private:

×

The scoring formula

How the eight dimensions combine into a single value-screen score.

×

The metric weights

Which dimensions drive the score — and by how much — across price band and sex.

×

The validation pairings

The yearling-to-race-outcome joins behind the validation set, and how thresholds are calibrated against them.

We publish what we measure. How we combine it is the IP.

Where the model doesn't work
"We measure yearlings, not predictions. The score is a soundness screen — it tells you which horses are built to keep racing, not which one is fastest."
Framing what this is — and isn't.
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Bring this data analysis to your next sale.

Briefings for bloodstock managers, syndicators and trainers. Eight Furlong is private and bespoke — we don't publish picks.