[ 38 horseillustrated.com | october 2019 ]
doneinhand,atthelonge(ona lineorfree),
orundersaddle,andaftervariousstresstests
(e.g.,flexiontests).
Here,too,therecanbea lotofroomforerror.
Forexample,riderscanalterthewayhorses
move,andflexiontestsarenotoriousforbeing
non-specific—thatis,theydon’tpinpoint
lameness—aswellascausinga lotoffalsepos-
itives.Somehorsesmaytrot“off”afterflexion
becausetheydon’tlikehavingtheirlegsbent
up,notbecauseofanyrealproblem.
Evenwiththelimitations,watchingthehorse
moveis anintegralpartofa lamenessexam.Cost LeveL 2:
LoCAL ANestHetIC BLoCKs
It’s often a good idea to confirm that the reac-
tions noted during the physical examination
are actually associated with the lameness.
Alternatively, if the physical examination is
relatively non-productive, that is, no sore spots
or swellings are found, but the horse keeps
limping anyway, local anesthetic “blocks” are
usually the next step.
The idea with nerve blocks is disarmingly
simple. The horse is limping because some-thinghurts.Youmakethepartthathurtsgo
numband,voilà, thehorsestopslimping.
Nerveblocksarea veryimportantpartofa
lamenessexam.However,overthepastcouple
ofdecades,veterinarianshavebecomeaware
ofthefactthatnerveblocksarenotasprecise
aswaspreviouslyassumed.Thatmaymeana
veterinarianmaybe“blocking”moreanatom-
icalsitesthanheorshethought,andthatthe
lamenesshasnotreallybeenspecificallypin-
pointedtoa particularlocation.Ontheother
hand,somespotsaresobig,orsodifficultto
reach,thattheycanbeverydifficulttoblock.
Regardless, after anesthetic blocks, in most
horses you can eventually make the horse
stop limping, and you can begin to focus on
a specific area as the source of the lameness
problem.Cost LeveL 3 (AND HIgHeR):
ADDItIoNAL DIAgNostIC tests
Unfortunately, even if you can make a horse
lameness-free with an anesthetic block, you
still may not know exactly what’s wrong. As
such, there may be a desire to look deeper, that
is, to go on with additional diagnostic tests.Advanced
diagnostics
include X-ray
(shown),
ultrasound,
scintigraphy
and MRI.
Depending
on what is
used, cost
can be in the
thousands.
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