Farm Bureau Equine Seminar - Lameness
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The Farm Bureau Equine Seminar had a Horse Lameness panel speak briefly about diagnosing lameness in horses, and then answer audience questions on specific lameness issues. The panel consisted of Dr. Sarah Schreiber, her husband Dr. Mark Schreiber , and Beth Blevins.
Ms. Blevins stated that she almost always starts by checking the horse’s hooves when lameness is an issue, since 95% of lameness comes from hoof problems. Also, moving the horse at a trot in a circle will help identify which leg or foot is affected since the legs on the inside of the circle get the most stress. Sometimes it can be helpful to actually video the horse as it trots in a circle, and then play the video back, at slower speeds if possible, to better observe the problem.
Another method of diagnostics mentioned by Dr. Sarah Schreiber included flexing muscles and joints for a short period of time and then noticing if it affects the horse’s lameness. If so, they know to zero in on that particular area.
Dr. Mark Schreiber said that it is impractical to use radiographs or X-rays as a diagnostic tool before isolating the area that is the problem because of the expense, and because of the fact that they might turn up irregularities that were not actually causing the problem. Isolating the lameness area is the first step and then they can move on to x-rays or ultasound. X-rays are more for bone and joint problems, while ultrasound will do a better job with soft tissue problems.
The panel ansered questions from the audience afterwards. Many of the questions involved correct shoeing, natural balance shoeing, and types of shoes. 
Dr. Sarah Schreiber took a common sense approach to the shoeing questions, stating that she had seen cases where many different types of shoeing and shoes were successful, but that it depended a lot on the individual horse, their conformation, type of use, etc. as to what would be successful.
Technorati Tags: horse health, horses, equine lameness, horse lameness, diagnosing lameness in horses
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- Horse Slaughter Bill
I find it difficult to understand your reasoning behind your objection to the anti horse slaughter bill. Have you seen the videos of what the horses are put through before and during “the kill?” My, Lord, where is your sense of humanity?
How could you love/care for your horses for their time with you and then turn around and inhumanely slaughter them? Would you do that to other pets? Your dog? Cat?
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First of all, although I love my horses, and have 50+ years experience with horses, I don’t consider them pets. They are large animals and need to be treated and respected as such. Dogs and cats are pets….horses are not.
Secondly, my good horses don’t go to slaughter. I either keep them here until they die naturally of old age, or I sell them to people who are happy to use them.
The issue of whether horses are treated humanely or slaughtered humanely is important to me. I would hate to see any animal treated inhumanely. I think it is unfortunate that the US horse slaughter plants were closed, because we could control how animals were killed in those plants.
H.R. 6598 goes way beyond this. It says we can’t transport our private property, our animals, if the end result is that they will be slaughtered (even in another country) without becoming criminals. In my mind, that infringes on my freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution. Do you really think that a bill that takes away our freedom to transport our private property can be a good thing? Or that it won’t spread to other products?
Ask some hard questions of those organizations who are against horse slaughter. What do they stand to gain? What happens to the “rescue money” that is being sent to them? Are they working for free? There is no way that a rescue effort for horses will work long term without it being a profitable endeavor for someone. So who is it?
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