Dr. David Lambert was honored Dec. 5 as the recipient of the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program's John W. Galbreath Award for outstanding entrepreneurship in the equine industry. The celebratory dinner was held at The Olmsted in Louisville, Kentucky.
The Galbreath Award has been presented annually since 1990 and honors an individual whose business leadership has had a significant and positive impact on the equine industry. Lambert was nominated for the award by Gwen Davis of Davis Innovation, who has worked in marketing roles for Lambert's company for more than seven years.
To be selected, a candidate must have possessed original and artistic techniques or business approaches, demonstrated a willingness to take personal or professional risks, applied forward-looking and visionary management planning, and demonstrated the ability to make a business or organization more effective and profitable and has earned the respect of colleagues as a demonstration of character and integrity.
“After reading through the criteria for this award, nominating him was a no-brainer,” Davis said as she introduced Lambert at the dinner. “The apply of revolutionary scientific concepts and technologies is for Dr. Nothing up-to-date for Lambert. In fact, it is his life's work. … Good enough is never good enough. He continues to look forward – further ahead than most people in this industry. What makes it so deserving tonight, in my opinion, is what happens next.
Dr. David Lambert (center) receives the John W. Galbreath Award from Dr. Amy Lawyer (left) and Gwen Davis of the University of Louisville
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Lambert is from England and received his bachelor's degree in veterinary science from the University of Liverpool. He made it his life's work to apply his knowledge of equine physiology to predict horse performance.
In 1987, he founded Equine Analysis Systems, a company that consults with Thoroughbred owners and breeders to predict the performance of individual horses. The company advised customers on purchasing horses Gun Runner , Untouchable Thunder Gorge, Carpet Roses in May and many more tiered stakes winners.
After a series of mishaps Santa Anita Park In 2019, Lambert launched StrideSAFE, a wearable sensor technology that documents a horse's movements at high speeds and analyzes that data to identify physical problems that could lead to catastrophic injuries.
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The advanced sensor technology has been tested and deployed at 11 different tracks across the United States and was worn by every Thoroughbred starter in Kentucky this year.
Lambert attributes his team's innovation success to the discovery of a up-to-date paradigm, defined by Oxford Languages as a typical example or pattern of something: a model. Referring to Thomas Kuhn's 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, Lambert explained how scientific revolutions occur when there is a paradigm shift.
Dr. David Lambert accepts the John W. Galbreath Award for Outstanding Entrepreneurship in the Equine Industry from the University of Louisville Equine Industry Program
Lambert's paradigm breaks away from the standard view of comparing horse physiology with that of humans. Over the course of his 50 years of research, Lambert discovered that many of these comparisons had anomalies and differences. The way the horse moves, breathes and uses energy in its body is more similar to that of kangaroos than humans, which led Lambert to develop a up-to-date paradigm for horse performance analysis.
“It’s a completely different paradigm than what’s generally discussed,” Lambert said. “If the senior paradigm is flawed, then that means there is a huge opportunity for teenage people. If you can get a paradigm that is not quite so suspect – if it relates more to the reality of the horse – then there is an opportunity for.” They are asking to do things much better than the establishment is currently doing .
Lambert focused his speech on urging the students in attendance from the university's equine program to continue to seek up-to-date ways of thinking in the horse business.
“For all teenage people, it’s a little hurdle when you go out into the world,” Lambert said. “If there is a different paradigm, that is a golden opportunity. The older people will reject it, they will reject it. They like the senior paradigm, they don't want things to change. If you judge it.” What is presented as potentially up-to-date, if you do it right and if you start to affirm and work within the up-to-date paradigm, you will ultimately win.
“For teenage people entering the horse industry, there is a chance that the future will be theirs when they are associated with a up-to-date paradigm.”
