“At what point is it time to have a lame horse checked?” This is one of the most frequently asked questions that veterinarians hear. The best answer? At the first indication that the horse is not moving right.  Too many times these conditions are “watched” for several days or months with the horse recovering only to come up sore again. The time spent waiting to see if the lameness will improve is a critical time zone that can be used to help relieve the horse of a painful and potentially career ending injury.

A horse is considered lame if it has an abnormal rhythm to its gait. This lameness can be due to a structural or functional disorder that is generally evident while the horse is in motion, but can also be recognized when the horse is standing still. On the subject of athletic performance horses, the leading cause of decreased performance is lameness caused by musculoskeletal disorders such as arthritis (see Figure 1), tendonitis, or synovitis (see Figure 2). Many times these subtle musculoskeletal disorders are not clearly evident until irreversible damage has occurred. Subtle signs include slight edema (swelling) in a limb, a puffy joint, decrease in performance, or reluctance to maintain a certain gait.

Below is a scoring system that helps veterinarians rate the severity of lameness that the horse is exhibiting at the time of the exam.

Lameness Scoring System
The American Association of Equine Practitioners has developed a system for scoring lamenesses:

Level 0:           Lameness not perceptible under any circumstances.

Level 1:           Lameness is difficult to observe and isn’t consistently apparent, regardless of circumstances (e.g., under saddle, circling, inclines, hard surface, etc.).

Level 2:           Lameness is difficult to observe at a walk or when trotting in a straight line but consistently apparent under certain circumstances (e.g., weight-carrying, circling, inclines, hard surface, etc.).

Level 3:           Lameness is consistently observable at a trot under all circumstances.

Level 4:           Lameness is obvious at a walk.

Level 5:           Lameness produces minimal weight bearing in motion and/or at rest, or a complete inability to move

Unfortunately the horse’s lameness has typically progressed to a Level 3 before a veterinarian is asked to examine it.  It is much better to have the horse evaluated when the lameness is at a Level 1 or 2. This is when the problem is in an early stage of its progression and will allow for early treatment and a better outcome. Please don’t hesitate to call and consult with one of our veterinarians at the slightest sign that your horse is not moving normally. Stay vigilant in watching your horse daily to notice any change in behavior or movement to avoid chronic pain or the possibility of permanent damage. Your early response and quick veterinarian care will help return a lame horse to soundness which will provide increased time in the saddle and a more comfortable horse!

Ever wonder what is going on inside your horse?  Do you ever wonder if you are doing the right thing for your horse’s health?  Even though we have incredible new tools to evaluate our wonderful equine friends, such as digital x-ray, video endoscopy, and ultrasound, there is a simple way to check their health that is quick, gives us a broader picture of what is going on, and is less invasive than these other modalities.  Taking blood from your horse and submitting it to the lab allows us to see how some of the most important parts of the body are functioning.

Routine blood work is a great way to get a picture of your horse’s health from the inside.  It also gives us a baseline for future use.  Routine blood work over time can show us trends in health that we may not pick up on otherwise.  This could help us to recommend changes to their lifestyle that could keep them healthier longer.  We also find that blood work at the time of a health crisis gives a picture that would become much clearer with previous results from when the horse was healthy.  Because of the great benefits that come from routine blood work, we recommend having routine blood work done annually.

Routine blood work gives us feedback about several areas that help us.  It will give us information about the red blood cells in the body – the carriers of oxygen to the tissues.  It gives us information about the immune system that tells us how the body is reacting to insults from the environment.  It gives us a window into some of the major organs and how they are functioning.  Blood work also lets us know about the electrolytes that are circulating.  Maintaining the proper level of these is required for the proper function of all cells in the body.  The results will also show us if there is any active inflammation present.

As you can see there is a lot of information that comes from an annual blood test that can make a huge difference in the health of your horse.   Let us help you make sound, informed decisions about the care of your horse by having your horses blood evaluated each year.