Sport Horse Medicine Services are available at all three of our hospitals: Lexington, Saratoga & Wellington.

Horses are versatile and athletic animals that can sustain a diverse set of injuries due to the demanding nature of their work. Whether your horse’s occupation is show jumping, dressage, eventing, reining, cutting, polo, barrel racing or trail riding or any one of the many athletic endeavors that we ask our horses to do, the doctors and staff at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital are prepared with the right training, expertise and equipment to return your horse to soundness.

Our clinicians perform lameness and neurological examinations to narrow down the source of a horse’s pain or gait abnormality. These exams can be performed on all breeds of horses and ponies and help the clinician determine if a horse displays neurologic symptoms or if and where a horse is lame. The clinical examinations are followed up with additional diagnostics such as radiography, ultrasonography, nuclear scintigraphy, PET Scan, MRI or CT.

Lameness exams involve walking and jogging the horse in different directions in circles and straight lines away from and towards the observing clinician. Horses may also be ridden or lunged in our arena. The clinician manipulates the limbs to determine the source of pain. Regional nerve blocks are especially important in identifying the cause of lameness.

Neurological exams are similar to lameness exams and consist of walking and trotting in circles and straight lines and walking up and down slight inclines. The clinician will also observe the horse walking with its head lifted above its normal head carriage, backing up and responding to body manipulations. A treatment plan is then developed based on the findings and may include acupuncture, chiropractic care or extracorporeal shockwave therapy.

Submit a pre-purchase exam request form.