Disease Du Jour: Equine Foot Lameness

In episode 61 of the Disease Du Jour podcast, Ty Wallis, DVM, MS, DACVS, talks about Tips on Equine Foot Lameness. Wallis is a partner at Texas Equine Athlete Veterinary Services, which has doctors based in California, Kentucky, Arizona, Michigan and a hospital located in Pilot Point, Texas. Wallis currently is based in Pilot Point, where he focuses his practice on lameness, sports medicine, pre-purchase exams and orthopedic surgery of equine athletes in training centers throughout the country.

Podcast transcript coming soon

EquiManagement’s Disease Du Jour podcast is focused on equine research and current best practices. Disease Du Jour is brought to you in 2021 by Merck Animal Health.

Topics covered in this podcast include:

• What are the most common foot lamenesses that you see in the field?
• punctures
• heel bulb lacerations
• Orthopedic-related issues
• coffin joint
• navicular
• pastern/pastern soft tissue
• Hoof lameness diagnosis in the field
• Advanced diagnostics
• management with shoeing
• When refer to a hospital

Wallis said one of the most important times in a foot lameness is when you are talking to the client on the phone on your way to the horse. “Make sure the client is educated on what to do or not to do” before you arrive, he said.

He also noted that the pastern is a “tricky area to get an answer.”

Wallis said since the clinic has installed MRI that he has changed his thoughts on what he is seeing when he blocks an area of a foot. For example, he said with coffin bones, he has found with MRI that there is a lot of soft tissue disease and not as much associated with the bone itself.

EquiManagement’s Disease Du Jour podcast is focused on equine research and current best practices. Disease Du Jour is brought to you in 2021 by Merck Animal Health.