VeterinaryEquine lameness evaluation
You find the lame limb of a horse on video, then show on a live horse the exam you would use to localize it: digital pulses, hoof testers, palpation, flexion tests, nerve blocks and imaging. You give the affected region, the treatment and the prognosis, and locate 5 anatomical structures, all within 45 minutes. It is station 3 (EQ03) of the Equine Practice section of the ECFVG Clinical Proficiency Examination.
Free to startScenarios
- Video clips of a horse with a common lameness (for example AAEP grade 3 of 5) that shows at the trot in a straight line, plus a live horse for the hands-on exam.
- The 5 structures to locate are drawn from these 20, on any limb: cannon bone (MC III), splint bones (MC II and MC IV), fetlock joint pouches, suspensory ligament, superficial and deep digital flexor tendons, central sulcus of the frog, scapulohumeral joint, accessory carpal bone, olecranon, calcaneus, patella, medial patellar ligament, coxofemoral joint, greater trochanter, carpus or tarsus, tuber ischii, tuber sacrale, tuber coxae, withers, semitendinosus and semimembranosus muscles.
The steps
- Get the history from the owner, played by the examiner.
- Ask for the video clips you need, with gait and direction, as you would ask a handler with a live horse.
- Name the lame limb, or the worse one if both are lame, and explain why; points only count if the limb is right.
- Explain how you used the head or hip movement to find the limb.
- Describe the normal and abnormal parts of the stride: landing, length, sound and symmetry.
- On the live horse, characterize the digital pulses of that limb.
- Pick up and examine the foot and apply hoof testers.
- Palpate the limb in detail for effusions, swellings, heat and pain.
- Manipulate the joints.
- Show the flexion tests that fit this lameness, or explain why none are needed; the examiner gives the results.
- Describe the palmar or plantar digital, abaxial sesamoid, low and high volar nerve blocks: landmarks, site preparation, injection technique, drugs and the area each one desensitizes.
- Say which nerve or joint blocks this horse needs, or why none; the examiner gives the results.
- Request the right imaging, or explain why none is needed, and read the radiographs you are given.
- Name the anatomical region causing the lameness.
- Explain the management and treatment, and the short and long term prognosis for the horse to return to its use.
- Locate the 5 anatomical structures the examiner picks.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Handle the horse humanely and safely and direct the technician only with specific instructions: the examiner can take points off or end the station with a fatal flaw and a zero, which fails the whole Equine Practice section.
To pass
- The sheet scores 100 points: history 5, lameness on the video 35, lameness exam 50, locating structures 10.
- You do not inject any nerve block or take any image yourself: you describe them and ask for them.
- The station is 35% of the Equine Practice section, which needs 60 weighted points to pass.
Official source
Manual of Administration for the Clinical Proficiency Examination
The AVMA publishes the CPE Manual of Administration free: every station, its assessment sheet and the score needed to pass.
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