Why can the vet not identify the problem by just looking and feeling the leg?
Unfortunately, horses cannot say where it hurts, and it is hard, by looking and feeling the leg, with long-standing problems, to find the site of the trouble. 3. Why not X-ray the whole leg? To comprehensively examine a part of the leg of a horse requires at least four radiographic views and sometimes more. Doing the whole leg is time-consuming, expensive, and frequently means that the key area is omitted. In addition, tendon and ligament problems will not show up on radiographs so it would be necessary to ultrasound all the soft tissue structures and possibly bone scan (using scintigraphy) the leg as well!
