Lameness & Sports Medicine

Lameness & Sports Medicine

We hear you! Nothing is as valuable as the input from and rider and trainer when it comes to performance and lameness. “He’s dropped a half second, his right turns are poor, he keeps falling out of lead on the reverse, he will not piaffe, he bucks and kicks out at the canter” These are all clues to a problem that is holding your horse back from top performance. Now is the time to get started with a thorough lameness exam.

We’ll start with palpation of the neck, back, hips, and legs and move on with hoof testers. We’ll watch your horse move in hand and proceed with flexion tests. Don’t be surprised if we ask you to tack up and ride. We may even meet you at your arena to watch your horse do his job.

It’s a combination of knowing the anatomy, signs of pathology and using diagnostics to get a diagnosis. We are equipped to perform joint and nerve blocks. Our digital radiography and ultrasound are fully portable.

We also know that performance is not just legs. Horses with lung and throat conditions don’t run fast. Horses with muscle disease such as rhabdomyolysis also have performance issues. We’re going to look at the whole horse, not just a leg.

Once we have identified the problems we’ll work with you to develop a therapeutic plan that is specific for your horse. From joint injections, corrective shoeing, anti-inflammatory medication, rehabilitation and regenerative medicine we offer a variety of treatment options.

We ask that owners and trainers of performance horses please bring your tack and equipment as many cases will be worked under saddle, in the round pen or on a lunge line during the examination. Please do not medicate horses coming for performance examinations as this may obscure the exam findings.