In the digital age, connected technologies are transforming the equestrian world, notably through the collection and analysis of data from racehorses and their training. While these innovations enhance performance and well-being, they raise essential questions: who has access to this data? How is its confidentiality ensured?
In this context, the protection of personal data is not only an ethical and strategic issue but also a regulatory requirement. Within the European Union, the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)* imposes a strict framework to guarantee security, transparency, and control by owners/users over all collected data. Every entity is required to comply.
Protecting confidential information is thus both a legal priority and a fundamental condition for trust within the equestrian industry.
* Enforced since May 25, 2018, this regulation aims to strengthen individuals’ rights, hold data actors accountable, and enhance the credibility of the regulation. It applies to all private and public entities that collect and/or process data (source: gouvernement)
Data for performance
Every day, trainers, veterinarians, and owners rely on data to better understand and improve their horses’ performance. In 2024, more than 130,000 training sessions were recorded with Equimetre.
Equimetre collects and calculates over one hundred parameters during each training session: speed, heart rate, locomotion, recovery… Thanks to its 4G connectivity, this data is available in real-time, anywhere in the world.
However, performance can never come at the expense of confidentiality. For each data collection, only essential parameters are retrieved (following the minimization principle of Article 5 of the GDPR). These data are then anonymized and encrypted at every stage using measures compliant with Article 32 and stored on a secure and confidential server. Users can modify access or sharing of their collected data at any time via Equimetre.
Data leaks: All entities can be affected. In 2016, the hacker group Fancy Bear illegally accessed the ADAMS database of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), exposing sensitive health data of athletes (therapeutic use exemptions, medical leaves). This leak concerned notable athletes such as Simone Biles and Serena Williams.
A second incident revealed information on other athletes, further extending the impact. This type of leak exemplifies the ethical challenge: the public disclosure of private medical information, with a high potential for stigmatization or harm to the athlete.
Proven and mastered technology
All our tools, sensors, algorithms, and platforms are developed internally by our R&D team (in collaboration with clinicians from CIRALE for EQUISYM®), ensuring total traceability and complete control of the technology.
Migrating our services from the servers of a major Cloud provider to our own servers hosted at OVH is a strong strategic choice regarding data security. By directly controlling our infrastructure, we strengthen control over physical and logical access to sensitive data while limiting dependencies on an American provider, subject to the Cloud Act. Hosting at OVH, a European actor subject to GDPR, guarantees better digital sovereignty and strict compliance with local data protection regulations.
As emphasized by our Technical Director, Thomas Buisson:
“This migration allows us to regain control over the security of our data by implementing protocols tailored to our specific needs. Our clients and partners’ trust is sustainably strengthened by our gain in confidentiality, traceability, and resilience.”
Confidentiality tailored to user needs
Each user defines the level of sharing of their data. During data coaching sessions, our analysts work hand in hand with trainers, but always within the framework of strict confidentiality agreements. And if you wish to keep your data completely private, you maintain full control: nothing leaves your environment without your explicit consent.
Users retain full control over their data, according to the principle of transparency and respect for rights (Article 5). Sharing choices are formalized, documented, and reviewed according to GDPR requirements.
This approach addresses specific challenges:
- For trainers and owners: prevent health issues, implemented strategies, or exceptional performance from being exploited for unfair competition, betting, or uncontrolled dissemination (that could harm the stable’s reputation)
- For veterinarians: protect sensitive medical information of pathological horses or those under special monitoring (notably information that could damage the horse’s reputation).
- For racetracks and institutions: secure data collected from training or research projects (e.g., physiological monitoring programs or collaborative studies) while facilitating scientific and statistical use.
Confidentiality is therefore not just a regulatory obligation: it is an essential tool for ensuring the reliability, integrity, and security of information used to improve the performance and well-being of horses.
Anonymization for innovation
To continuously offer innovative services that meet field needs, we use data collected during training to create reliable scientific benchmarks: recovery thresholds, automatic gait detection, and more.
All this is achieved through machine learning, an artificial intelligence technology that allows computers to autonomously develop new algorithms based on very large databases.
However, innovation must never compromise trust. That is why all data used to improve our services are anonymized. These advances benefit everyone without ever exposing the individual data of each horse.
In our communications on various media, we regularly share concrete cases that may be interesting to Equimetre users. We always obtain prior consent from the concerned trainer or veterinarian. Each case is anonymized beforehand so that no information can be linked to any particular horse, trainer, or veterinarian.
Conclusion
At Arioneo, we believe that data is a tremendous opportunity to better understand, train, and protect horses while enhancing their performance. But this opportunity can only exist if trust is absolute. That is why we place confidentiality at the heart of every innovation, and we remain, for our partners, the guarantors of the security, performance, and integrity of equine data.
Keywords : data, confidentiality, Arioneo, anymization, horses, trust, security, performance, innovation, machine learning, digital sovereignty