It is show season time and just like human athletes the horse will be worked harder and pushed farther than previously to perform at its top level. During this training the equine athlete may suffer from injuries that will impede their training and overall performance; whether competition or pleasure. These injuries will cause the horse to exhibit a lameness which is an alteration in the horse’s gait. This abnormal gait may also occur because of some form of trauma to the limb (i.e. being kicked by another horse), localized infection like cellulitis, poor conformation as in horses with straight hocks, systemic illness like a plueralpneumonia, or osteoarthritis. Sometimes the cause of the lameness is obvious and easily remedied and there are times when it is not and veterinary intervention is required. Some lamenesses, however, can be so subtle that they can be masked as cross-firing, not picking up the correct lead, or not wanting to go forward or be mistaken for other behavioral issue. The treatment for the lameness will depend on what is causing the lameness when found from the examination.
When a lameness is examined, it is initially graded on a scale of 1-5 or 1-10 ;depending on the clinician, based on the horse’s gait with 1 being of a low severity/subtle to 5 or 10 being severe/non-weight bearing. Depending on the initial grade given and a more profound examination further diagnostics such as limb flexions, local analgesia (absence of pain sensation) with nerve blocks or joint blocks, hoof testing and diagnostic imaging will be performed to help localize the problem, determine the potential treatment regimen(s) and the prognosis of returning to the previous level of performance. Some treatment regimens for lamenesses involving the musculo-skeletal system would entail rest with a course of anti-inflammatories (Bute, Equioxx), local injection of steroids into synovial structures like joints and tendon sheaths, regenerative medicine with tendon/ligament injuries, and/or extracorporeal shockwave therapy. Treatment truly depends on the inciting cause. Not all treatments work for all conditions.
Interested in more information? Then we look forward to seeing you at our clinic "From the Ground Up". This clinic will go into more depth about the many causes of lameness in the horse and what the treatment options would be. Please check our website, www.newmanequine.com, for more details.