“When we get called for a lameness or pre-purchase examination, the first question I ask the client is: What’s your intended use? What do you want to do with the horse?” she says. Alejandra Garza is an equine sports medicine veterinarian with McKee-Pownall Equine Services in Caledon, Ontario. Photo: iStock/AnnaElizabethPhotographyĭr. A day will come when he just needs to do less. The horse’s welfare and quality of life must always be taken into account. “Every lesson horse that comes in gets x-rayed, and if we find arthritis, they get injections or put on something to maintain them,” Donohoe says. “I can only think of one or two horses that don’t have anything wrong with them at the moment.”ĭonohoe works with veterinarians to assess her horse’s soundness and decide how to keep them sound. “We have about 25 lesson horses and pretty much all of them require something to stay sound,” says Gwen Donohoe, who owns Sagehill Stables just south of Winnipeg, Manitoba. By that I mean they have issues just like you and me, but those issues are not so severe that they prevent the horse from doing the job the client wishes them to do.” “The remainder, if they’re in work, would be serviceably sound. “Probably no more than 10 percent of my horse clientele would be classified as sound,” says Laverty. Laverty teaches the farrier science program at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia and has his own farrier business. “It’s most horses that have saddles on,” he says. Gerard Laverty says many horses that are less than 100 percent sound are living comfortable lives as “serviceably sound” partners. Lameness generally means a horse is in pain hence, it’s not acceptable to ride lame horses. But many horses are not totally sound, and most horse sports don’t allow lame horses to compete. Most horses aren’t simply pasture pets - they provide some sort of active service to their owners.
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