Now we know what an ultrasound is, and what it does the question then becomes, how does it allow me to do my job better and provide higher quality care for your horse. Let me give you some examples how I would take advantage of technology to better evaluate some problems one may come across:

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While the ultrasound is ineffective through air, you could scan the lung fields and see the surface of the lungs –inflammation will appear as bright little ‘comet tail’ looking specs on the lung surface in a horse that may have pneumonia. The image would give me an idea of the inflammation occurring within that horse's lung fields and, consequently, ongoing damage. In another case, or you may find fluid accumulation in the pleural space (where there it shouldn't be) which would suggest a very severe disease process such as pleuropneumonia ('shipping fever') or a cancerous process. In another case, I may find a thick, fluid filled abscess in the lung field of a foal with rhodococcus. Any one of these findings would change my recommendations for treating, prognosis, referral, and even vital antibiotic decisions. 

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The ultrasound may used for reproductive purposes: You can scan the uterus and evaluate for fluid filled cysts before breeding a mare that may be confused with a pregnancy later, evaluate the details of the uterine wall to estimate how close she may be to estrus, or even the ovary to monitor the development of follicles and know on what day she ovulates. This would be absolutely vital to ordering semen or a timed breeding! 

 

You can diagnose a pregnancy, evaluate the heart beat and health of the foal, and even determine the sex of the foal in some cases!

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The machine can pick up such fine detail, it can even image the fiber structure of tendons and ligaments to determine soft tissue injury, severity, where it is in the healing process, and sometimes even old healed or repetitive injury. This may alter your decision to purchase a horse, or influence our decision when to increase exercise off a past injury, or even what route of therapy we choose to treat a lameness/performance issue.

 

Needless to say, there are a plethora of applications and uses! In an effort to provide quality care and services, Rhoades Equine is proud to offer ultrasonography on the farm.