Clinical Examination of the Cardiovascular System

Horses are capable of a large range in both cardiac function and reserve. Therefore, examination of the horse’s cardiovascular system, at rest, is not always sufficient, and thus the clinician should also consider exercise testing of the horse. Unfortunately, there are no exact and standardized exercise tests for specific evaluations of equine cardiac function. Therefore, the clinician must rely on the history, clinical examination at rest and subjective evaluation of exercise testing. This presentation will focus on the clinical examination of the heart and some relevant para-clinical diagnostic tests. Despite the availability of advanced diagnostic equipment – the most important technique to diagnose cardiac diseases in horses is still auscultation and therefore this will be highlighted during the presentation. […]