FEATURE rip off the shoe and re-nail it before you find out you were 60 degrees off rather than 6? There may not be much foot left by then. It may take weeks or months, and the horse is still suffering, whereas it could have been quickly and easily resolved if radiographs had been taken at the beginning.” In the long run, it’s cheaper to do it properly the first time, and much better for the horse. “All that time, the horse is suffering, so the owner gives painkillers. If the horse is loaded up on Bute or some other anti-inflammatory drug, this may damage the stomach. Then, the owner has to buy ulcer medication,” says White. Dr. Jake Hersman (Animal Imaging, Irving, Texas) says, “If the farrier notices a gait abnormality, he or she visually evaluates the foot and looks at how the horse is moving, and uses hoof testers to get an idea of any painful areas in the hoof capsule. This may provide a diagnosis, and perhaps the foot can be balanced and shod with an easy solution. “The farrier’s initial visit would involve evaluating the horse’s conformation, heel angle, sole depth, medial-lateral balance, foot flight and other clinical parameters. If the lameness is puzzling, however, localizing the soreness is important before embarking on a shoeing plan. This is where the veterinarian needs to be involved, to further define the site of the lameness with a series of nerve blocks.” But, nerve blocks may not always determine the cause of lameness. Sometimes advanced imaging, such as radiographs, ultrasound or MRIs, are needed. Hersman continues, “One of the things we’ve learned after doing MRI evaluations on horses
An MRI image can reveal injuries that wouldn’t show up on a regular X-ray, such as a severe bone bruise.
Continued on page 94
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www.drnaylor.com 90, Equine Journal, September 2011