Suspensory denerving?

[elsiex]

Is there any way to tell if a horse has had this surgery? By looking at them, or would a scan/X-ray pick it up?

Can't see any scars there, she is unclipped at the mo though.

 

[vicky1234]

a vet would be able to do a test im sure as my horse has had his foot de nerved and they were able to tell it worked because he did not respond to certain things. I would not do this yourself you need a vet and if you bought a horse that has been de nerved and they didnt tell you they could get in serious trouble as its dangerous not to know...

 

[neddynesbitt]

If you are buying a horse and would be getting it vetted, the vet doing the vetting can ask for a full print out of it's clinical history to be revealed. If the sellers refuse, I would be wondering if they had something to hide?

 

[TarrSteps]

Short answer, no, not definitively. At least not without a scan, which wouldn't show the denerving per se but would show the damage that prompted it and possibly some evidence of the surgery.

With heel denerving the standard is the "pen test" where you poke the bulbs of the horse's heels with a pen, looking for a "non-reaction". I believer there are also tests you can do with electro-stimulation/conduction (this was a massive deal in the AQHA at one point and they instituted a lot of investigation and testing) but these are obviously beyond the average vet. I guess you could do something similar with the suspensory but it would be very difficult to judge as the skin and other structures would still have feeling.

Even the clinical history . . .that's a tricky one. I've seen quite a few racehorses have it done "away from home" and I'm not sure how that information would be traceable. Even if it were, if the horse is not officially rehomed through a reputable organisation (and even then . . . ), I doubt its medical history would have been passed along.