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Some lame horses have simple problems to both diagnose and treat, however many lame horses have quite complex problems that involve special diagnostic and imaging techniques. It is for that reason that many veterinarians send their difficult cases in to our hospital for diagnosis and treatment.

Quite often we have to isolate the site or cause of a lameness by selectively anaesthetising specific areas or joints (nerve or joint blocks). After the point of origin has been identified then X-rays, ultrasonography or other imaging techniques are used to best determine how to treat the problem. 

 

The demands of identifying specific conditions in a wide range of breeds has lead us to develop a variety of techniques and conditions to examine lame horses. We have a specific lameness track with a hard, smooth surface, that horses can be trotted on.  We have a high-speed treadmill that any horses action can be examined on, or even videotaped, for later analysis and a 800 metre training track so horses can be ridden at various speeds or Standardbreds can be driven on.

No dedicated lameness facility would be complete without involvement of expert farrier attention. Our farrier is integral to our team approach. 

 We have a forge and room devoted to the manufacture of shoes and shoeing of horses with problems such as founder (laminitis) or navicular disease. 
One of the goals of our veterinary attention is to return the horse to work as soon as safely possible after the problem has been corrected. Attention to proper therapeutic shoeing reduces this time.

 

 

New Equipment:

Digital Radiography has been a huge boost to our diagnostic and efficiency in obtaining quality images. It involves using a plate with a lead attached. The lead sends information from the screen to a computer that sorts it all out. The equipment is very fast and clients and our veterinarians can see the images in a second or two after taking it. Commonly the images is then sent to another computer that has superior resolution for us to look at. We really like this equipment, although it has one drawback which is the plate and lead are quite vulnerable. They cost more than an expensive car so we like to tranquilise the patients before starting to X ray them. The system we use is manufactured in the USA by Eklin.


Scintigraphy is often referred to as bone scanning or nuclear medicine. A radioactive isotope (technetium 99m) is injected into the horses vein and then at a specified time period (less for soft tissue ~ 10 min and more for bone ~ 3 hours) the horse is placed in a room with a gamma counter head that detects radiation emitted from the uptake of the radioactive substance. This is presented as an image with a broad outline of the structure being examined and a area of suspicion (hot spot) where the isotope is being concentrated. The isotope  concentrates in areas of active bone remodelling. It is very useful for problems that are not immediately identifiable with nerve blocks.