Performance evaluation
Our equine performance evaluation service offers a comprehensive examination of the cardiovascular system during exercise.
This examination is indicated to
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Evaluate the horses's level of training
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Assess the horses fitness
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Evaluate the horses's recovery after intensive training or competition
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Diagnose any underlying cardiovascular condition leading to poor performance
Our equine performance evaluation includes
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Clinical examination
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Individually designed exercise tests including VLA4 and V200
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Exercise ECG and detailed analysis
Poor performance is often subtle and requires a detailed veterinary examination. Many horses with poor performance suffer from musculoskeletal or respiratory diseases and those organ systems should also be evaluated in such cases. We can arrange to perform a respiratory and musculoskeletal examination if necessary.
Echocardiography
Echocardiography is performed to evaluate structural and functional cardiac diseases.
Common indications for an echocardiographic examination are
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Heart murmurs
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Arrhythmias
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Pre-purchase examinations
You can find a detailed list of when you should consider referral in the "info for veterinarians" section.
The echocardiographic evaluation of the heart includes a comprehensive ultrasound examination with a specialized cardiac ultrasound machine (GE Vivid iq) and phased-array probe. During the examination we obtain a series of recordings using different echocardiographic modalities (2D imaging, MMode, PW-TDI, CFM). We then perform specific measurements offline to evaluate cardiac function and anatomic structures.
Electrocardiography
Electrocardiography (ECG) is performed to evaluate cardiac arrhythmias
Common indications are
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Irregular arrhythmias at rest
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Regular arrhythmias that persist with exercise
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Arrhythmias during exercise
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Poor performance
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History of collapse
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Certain structural cardiac diseases (e.g. moderate to severe aortic regurgitation, large VSDs)
The ECG examination is performed with a special telemetric ECG device (Televet) for horses. Depending on the type of arrhythmia we can perform resting ECG, 24h Holter ECG and exercise ECG. The horses ECG is evaluated for obvious arrhythmias in real time and the ECG recording is later analyzed in detail with specific computer software.