Lameness is the most common cause of poor performance in equine athletes. We offer lameness investigation, including in-hand observation and ridden assessment. This allows subtle lameness to be assessed on your premises. We may recommend other investigations for a change of behaviour or performance problem, including gastroscopy (to check for gastric ulcers), blood tests or other tests for ophthalmic (eye) or cardiac (heart) problems. Get in touch with the Nova team if you have concerns with lameness or a change in your horse’s behaviour or performance. Link to get in touch page. Image of horse being gait assessed When conducting lameness assessment at your yard, we require a hard surface to observe the horse’s movement (ideally with space to lunge on the hard surface also), and a soft surface, preferably a school – allowing movement to be observed on a lunge circle. It is beneficial if the horse’s primary rider is present, and a competent handler able to lunge the horse as required. If you haven’t got these facilities available let us know before the appointment where possible and we can discuss arrangements. We may recommend an investigation involving nerve blocks and local analgesia, where we inject local anaesthetic around nerves or into joints, to numb specific areas and see if the problem improves. If the lameness or issue improves when a specific area is temporarily numbed, we will then often recommend further diagnostics including imaging. We can perform digital radiography (xray) and ultrasound scans on your yard, usually getting results immediately. We may recommend further imaging including nuclear scintigraphy (bone scan), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These forms of imaging are carried out in a specialist equine hospital, we have great working relationships with several hospitals in the South East, and will arrange a referral with you. We often collaborate on lameness and poor performance cases, allowing us to draw from numerous vets’ experiences to form a treatment plan (link to treatments for lameness) tailored to your horse’s problem. Get in touch with the Nova team if you have concerns with lameness or a change in your horse’s behaviour or performance. Link to get in touch page.