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School of Sport and Wellbeing
Darwin Building, DB201
+44 (0) 1772 89 3328
Subject Areas: Sport and Exercise Science
Dr Hobbs is employed at the university as a Reader in Equine and Human Biomechanics and she teaches biomechanics at postgraduate and undergraduate levels. She is the research lead in equine biomechanics at the university and as such is responsible for development of local and international equine research collaborations. She is also the lead for the Research and Consultancy in Equine Surfaces (RACES) team at UCLan.
Dr Hobbs gained her PhD in 2007 in equine biomechanics. Her work involved developing instrumentation to measure internal hoof strain and using 3D motion capture techniques to track motion of the horse's forelimb. Since then she has developed a number of important collaborative links with equine research centres around the world. Her international collaborative work includes studies investigating fundamental aspects of balance and stability, exploring the functional consequences of uneven fore hooves, and exploring methods of analysing continuous gait data. Her recent doctoral graduates have investigated hoof growth in foals (Dr Simon Curtis), muscle activity in jumping horses (Dr Lindsay St George) and the effects on gait of an abrupt change in surface (Dr Dani Holt). Her work on surfaces with the RACES team lead to the development of the FEI Equine Surfaces White Paper and since then she has worked with an international team from Kentucky, Sweden and France to develop a complete set of protocols for the certification of showjumping competition surfaces for the FEI.
Most recently, Dr Hobbs has begun to lead a team of experts on a project to investigate the relationship between impairment, functional ability and performance in Para-Equestrian dressage riders for the FEI. This project will lead to the development of evidence-based recommendations to support/refine the current Para-Equestrian Classification system. Dr Hobbs is also a REF manager for Unit of Assessment 24 for REF 2021, a research degrees tutor for the School of Sport and Wellbeing, and she module leads and teaches students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. In her teaching, Dr Hobbs usually incorporates aspects of horse and rider biomechanics and many of the techniques and theory that are used in her research work are directly transferrable to the applied biomechanics modules she delivers.
… Hobbs, S.J., Nauwelaerts, S., Sinclair, J., Clayton, H.M., Back, W. (2018). Sagittal plane fore hoof unevenness is associated with fore and hindlimb asymmetrical force vectors in the sagittal and frontal planes. PLOS ONE, 13 (8). e0203134.
…Clayton, H.M. and Hobbs, S.J. (2017). An exploration of strategies used by dressage horses to control moments around the center of mass when performing passage. PeerJ, 5. e3866.
… Hernlund, E., Egenvall, A., Hobbs, S.J., Peterson, M.L., Northrop, A.J., Bergh, A., Martin, J.H. and Roepstorff, L. (2017) Comparing subjective and objective evaluation of show jumping competition and warm-up arena surfaces. The Veterinary Journal, 227: 49-57. ISSN 1090-023.
… Hobbs, S.J., Bertram, J. and Clayton, H.M. (2016). An exploration of the influence of diagonal dissociation and moderate changes in speed on locomotor parameters in trotting horses. PeerJ 4:e2190 https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.2190
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