It doesn’t matter if your No. 1 horse is a well-seasoned senior, a world champion or a promising prospect; when he’s lame, your horse program suffers. The time and money invested in your favorite horse can be substantial. The inevitable emotional investment also carries a high price tag, which makes keeping your horse sound a major priority.

In Understanding Lameness, veterinary professional Dr. Terry Swanson of Littleton (Colo.) Equine Medical Center guides you through the degrees of lameness and the effects of injury on your horse’s future health and serviceability. A past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, Swanson uses the latest diagnostic techniques as key tools in managing lameness problems. Also a horseman, Swanson grasps the physical demands placed on equine athletes and the impact lameness can have from a rider’s and an owner’s perspectives.

From hoof abscesses, white-line disease and navicular syndrome to laminitis, ringbone and soft-tissue injuries, in Understanding Lameness you learn to recognize the symptoms of each problem, which diagnostic tools can be most beneficial and what types of treatments might best put your horse on the road to recovery. Swanson’s common-sense information is your best asset in keeping your horse sound, as well as for coping with a lameness diagnosis.

In the preface to Understanding Lameness, G. Marvin Beeman, DVM, writes that with Swanson’s insight owners are more likely to detect problems earlier in their development, allowing for more satisfactory resolutions of those problems.