Columbus, Ga. ? Horse and hound are ready for their screen tests.

As director Rob Gillette watches, his stars undergo their final preparations. This includes being covered with tiny reflective bulbs, 28 on the horse, 24 on the dog. Under the lights, these make the animals’ coats glow like an Elton John costume. The purpose of the bulbs, however, isn’t decorative.

Four video cameras are set up in different locations of an arena to capture the performance. After each animal takes its turn being paraded in front of them, Gillette, the head of Auburn University’s Veterinary Sports Medicine Program, removes the tapes and heads to his office.

There’s much work to be done.

Sports medicine for animals is a relatively new field. Most programs concentrate on horses. Auburn and the University of Florida are among the leaders working with dogs.

Patients at Auburn include dogs that herd, search and rescue, point, track, retrieve, race, pull sleds and do police work.

The dogs come from all over the country, and Auburn’s reputation has grown so much that veterinarians have come from as far away as France to study with Gillette.

While Gillette tests his animals in another area of the Auburn College of Veterinary Medicine, Ron Montgomery, the chief of surgery, takes a moment before an operation to assist in the rehabilitation of a patient.

The dog stands on a treadmill in a tank partially filled with water.

Soon, the dog is running along at a steady pace with only the occasional slip.

Montgomery believes the underwater treadmill is going to make a big splash in the treatment of dogs with orthopedic injuries.

The doctors say projects they’re working on help not only horses and working dogs like retrievers and police dogs, but also granny’s little biscuit eater.

When Gillette views the tapes he’s made of horses and dogs, he sees no fur, skin or bones. What he sees are colorful stick figures, a sort of cartoon.

“It’s a computer re-creation,” he said, “a 3-dimensional system.”

The reflective bulbs have allowed Gillette to digitally record an animal’s movements. A computer then compares the motion with that of normal movements and analyzes it.

“With this, I can see if any joint is moving irregularly,” he said.

“It’d be difficult to do any other way.”

He also uses a special plate under a 1-meter pathway to determine ground force measurements, which tell him if a dog or horse is putting too much pressure on one of its legs.

Before this process, he would watch films of the animals in slow motion — he still does some of that.

The veterinarian says that the Auburn program is specifically designed to study injuries, diseases, nutritional factors and physiologic functions of dogs and horses involved in field sports and working endeavors.

“Our goals are to optimize performance and find ways to minimize the risks of injuries to equine and canine,” Gillette said.