By Veterinary Practice News Editors Oklahoma State University’s Center for Veterinary Health Sciences recently implemented a Dynamic Respiratory System to evaluate the respiratory function of performance horses. “We have the ability to evaluate a variety of equine disciplines,” said Daniel Burba, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, equine surgeon and interim head of the Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences at the center’s Veterinary Medical Hospital. “This includes barrel racers, cutting horses, western performance horses, dressage, English and racing horses.” The system is portable and worn across the horse’s back. It can even fit under the rider’s saddle, according to the university. A scope is placed up the horse’s nose and a transmitter projects images from the horse’s throat onto a portable monitor. “The system allows us to watch a performance horse ‘work’ in real time and assess its respiratory track simultaneously,” Dr. Burba said. “You can ride the horse, put it on a lunge line or on a treadmill. The system records the respiratory track activity even as you watch it live on the screen. So if you want, you can review it after the horse has exercised.”
