Though sedating a fractious horse could make a lameness exam safer for both horse and handler, a study from Germany indicates that sedation can affect how a horse moves, thus making pinpointing the lameness more difficult.
While sedation can make horses more cooperative, it can also make them more sluggish. Dr. Matthias Rettig, with the Free University of Berlin, created a study to determine whether a sedative affected the biomechanical parameters vets use to diagnose lameness.
Scientists attached inertial sensors to 44 horses that were divided into two groups. Baseline lameness exams were given to each horse, then 22 of the horses received a low dose of the sedative xylazine. The other 22 horses received saline to act as controls. The lameness exams were repeated 20 and 60 minutes after the injection.
The inertial sensors recorded limb, head, and pelvic movement throughout each of the exams.
The researchers found that sedation had no significant effect on pelvic movement in horses with hind-end lameness. Sedation also didn't initially affect the movement of horses with forelimb lameness, but 60 minutes after sedation, it decreased the head movement in some of these horses.
Though the reason for the delayed effect isn't clear, Rettig suggests that horses become used to the trotting up and back routine for the lameness exam or that xylazine acts as a pain reliever and not just a sedative.
Though the change in head movement from the xylazine was not statistically significant, Rettig suggests that practitioners keep it in mind when sedating a horse for a lameness exam, specifically if the exam takes more than an hour.
Read more at EQUUS magazine.
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