Thermal imaging

[Sheep]

Our mare seems slightly "off" at the moment and is being booked in for a lameness workup shortly.
Someone locally offers thermal imaging. Is it a useful diagnostic tool to highlight areas of concern, or a waste of money?
I have my own ideas about what I think the issues could be.
By the way, just to highlight, it wouldn't be a case of either thermal imaging or vet - just wondering if the two approaches could complement each other, or if there's no real benefit in the imaging. Anyone done similar?

 

[Identityincrisis]

My horse had intermittent lameness issues and a few people suggested TI but my concern was, what qualifications do these people have to read the images? What is classed as a suspicious hot spot and not? Just too unregulated and open to misinterpretation for me

 

[JillA]

Ask your vet? One vet round here won't have them, another is okay with them - just bear in mind the operator can't diagnose from the image, and that the heat recorded is generally pretty close to the surface. I had some done years ago and they revealed his iffy soles, some tension in his hamstrings and under the rear of his saddle. All useful as confirmation, rather than primary diagnostic tool

 

[Sheep]

Thanks for the feedback, definitely food for thought. Going to get vet out for a workup in the first instance anyway, hopefully will get to the bottom of it fairly quickly!

 

[Allykat]

I think if you really have no idea where a horse may be sore then TI can be a useful tool to give you an indication of where to start looking but as others have said it can only be used as an indicator not diagnostic.