Can exercise reveal hidden lameness in horses before purchase?

Ebony may need to have a full exam and lameness workup done by your equine veterinarian to make sure she doesn't have a lameness issue. If there is no soft tissue or bone issue going on causing lameness, she may have muscle pain, and in my experience acupuncture works great for treating musculoskeletal issues in horses. Gentle massage and acupressure techniques and stretching exercises are things you can learn to do as a horse owner and they may help as well. She is at an age where she is likely dealing with arthritis pain also, and could benefit from products like Cosequin for horses. Hope that is helpful!

This could be a sign of laminitis, a hoof abscess, inflammation or arthritis of the joints, tendinitis, etc. You will need to make an appointment with your equine vet for an exam. The least your vet will give or prescribe is pain medicine and anti-inflammatory medicine, If there is an abscess or infection your horse will also need antibiotics.

Even though the other horses tested positive and Chance could have EPM, we cannot rule out other causes including orthopedic disease. I would advise you to consult a veterinarian and have him tested for EPM.

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! This is indeed very standard as your veterinarian likely just wants to make sure that her lameness continues and that it has not improved on its own to make sure that surgery remains the best treatment course for her. Good luck and have a great day!

I do not recommend using a treadmill for exercise. It is easy for a dog to step off of the path and Bruno could seriously harm himself. Any new exercise needs to slowly worked up to, I would not expect Bruno to be able to start running for an hour straight! Going for walks is a great form of exercise, but if he needs more and you are not able to run with him, you can train him to fetch or have a friend or dogwalker take him out for additional exercise. There is only one blood test that relates to the heart that I am aware of. It is called proBNP and helps vets differentiate primary heart disease from primary lung disease, this is often used in cases of dogs in Congestive Heart Failure. It would not be an appropriate screening test for Bruno. Other ways of monitoring for heart disease would include listening for a murmur, checking pulse and blood pressure, ECG, thoracic x-rays, and echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart).

I would still be very suspicious of a hoof abscess. I would recommend having her checked out by a vet to see what is going on. Some abscesses can be tricky to diagnose and they may not even react with hoof testers, but a good equine vet should be able to tell what is going on after a lameness exam.

I would advise you to get an equine vet out to look at her as soon as you can. What you describe may be due to sacroiliac pain, but aspects of it such as problems placing her feet would make me wonder regarding a neurological issue. I would advise you not to ride her until the vet has checked her out, for your own safety and to avoid worsening any problem. You can walk her in hand. I hope it is nothing too serious and you find resolution quickly.