Lameness is one of Dr. Singer’s special interests. The performance of your equine athlete is a crucial part of keeping you in the saddle and your horse on the move. If your horse is lame, it will keep both you and your horse from enjoying life.
Our lameness evaluation has 3 goals in mind: localizing the lameness, identifying causes of the lameness, and treating it. Scenic City Vet uses a multimodal approach to accomplish these goals. Diagnostic workups help identify the source of a lameness and various treatment modalities may be used to help treat the lameness.
- Localize Lameness: When performing a Lameness Exam, we use a step wise approach. We will first watch your horse move. They may be walked and trotted in a straight-line and preferably on a firm surface. If needed, they may also be lunged to the left and right at a trot and possibly a canter. We will be looking for asymmetry in their gait and evaluating neurological status.
- Identify the Cause of Lameness: After appraising the movement, your horse will be palpated assessing the muscles, joints, tendons and ligaments – we will be looking for swelling, tenderness, muscle spasms, sensitivity, evidence of infection, joint trauma, etc.
We offer hoof evaluations, nerve blocks, ultrasonography, and a variety of approaches to make sure we fully identify the cause of the lameness. - Treat the Lameness: Once the cause of the lameness has been identified, a treatment plan is created especially for your horse based on their diagnosis and your budget needs. This treatment may include joint injections, exercise/physical therapy plans, shoeing recommendations, laser therapy, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, etc. We will glad to do follow-ups and can also work closely with local farriers to help provide any ongoing corrective shoeing care if needed. We will do our best to get you back in the saddle as soon as possible!
