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 Veterinarians to more accurately classify and characterize lameness during clinical examination, thereby streamlining the diagnostic process.

Let’s imagine for a moment that a horse’s lame limb would visibly change color for us, making it much easier to distinguish it from the other limbs. Most of us have had the ability to discriminate between colors since childhood, so this scenario would make determining the horse’s affected limb a breeze.

Now let’s imagine that the affected half of the limb (upper or lower) would glow brightly for us. In addition to seeing the affected limb, we would instantly know which aspect of the limb harbored the problem.

Finally, imagine that the specific source of the horse’s lameness (such as a certain joint) would flicker for us. In this instance, we could determine the source of the problem simply by looking at the horse. Visual lameness assessment of the horse would accordingly seem much less intimidating to the average observer.

Obviously, we don’t have the luxury of using colors and flickering lights to help us determine the anatomic source of a horse’s lameness. There are other visual markers, however, that can be just as obvious and just as definitive. It is the goal of this book to make the reader aware of these markers as well as their physiologic implications. The fundamental methodology of proper lameness assessment is highlighted in Figure 4.1 and detailed in ssss1 (see ssss1) of this book.