Back x ray

[blackmagicc]

Hello
I've had the vet to my boy today and he suggested getting his back x rayed.
I'm taking him on Thursday morning but I'm just wondering what to expect? Will I leave him there? I'm presuming they sedate him so he keeps still.
Any body have any experience?
Thank you for reading!

 

[Cowpony]

Hello I've had the vet to my boy today and he suggested getting his back x rayed. I'm taking him on Thursday morning but I'm just wondering what to expect? Will I leave him there? I'm presuming they sedate him so he keeps still. Any body have any experience? Thank you for reading!

I've had this done twice on 2 different horses, but both times the vet came to us so I have no experience of taking a horse to the vet.

Yes, they do sedate so the horse keeps still, but it's just so they become very sleepy, not a complete anaesthetic. You need to remove their rugs because the sedative makes them sweat a lot, so don't rush to re-rug when the vet has finished. You should also remove all hay and water because they aren't meant to eat for an hour afterwards, and you don't want them having a bad reaction and collapsing into their water bucket. I normally stay with mine for an hour until I can see she's woken up completely and is fine. Then I give her back some hay, but keep her in and quiet for the rest of the day. The water goes back in after a couple of hours, and I pop back every so often to check that she's still OK.

With the portable x-ray equipment you will have to wear a lead apron and gloves if you are the one holding the horse, and hold the plate up on the other side of the horse from the vet (if you are having this done at the surgery they will probably have an assistant do this). The x-rays show up immediately on the laptop screen. Once finished the vet will have a look and will take you through what he sees.

Good luck, hope everything is OK.