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By Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett
Dressage Department Head, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre

WAVERLY, WV: Until you can follow your horse's motion at the walk, trot, and canter (the subject of our last three articles), the feel of your seat aids on his back does not convey a clear request to your horse. You also must be able to follow the horse's motion before you can quietly apply rein and leg aids in coordination with your seat. You need strong core muscles to hold your upper body erect and flexible hips to follow the rhythm of the horse's back as it lifts and rolls in a different motion at each gait. When you can follow the motion, you are ready to apply your seat aids without 'noise' in a way that is meaningful to the horse.
Beginning riders say a million things to their horses at the same time. Their seat bounces all around in the saddle while they pull, grab, grip and slap with their hands and legs. At this point in a rider's education a goldie oldie school horse that ignores these beginners' mistakes and just keeps traveling along the rail in a nice rhythm really is truly priceless. Once you can follow the motion, your body understands the basic feel of your seat aids. Now you can practice applying them in ways that feel clear and meaningful to the horse.

As an oversimplified example, if you are following the motion at the walk and you stop following it, your horse feels the difference and stops. You can use your seat aids (or some books refer to them as weight aids) to ask your horse to start, stop, or back up. As your communication becomes more sophisticated, you can also ask him to move sideways, adjust his speed within a gait or adjust his degree of suspension within a gait. Start by practicing some simple exercises in coordinating your seat aids with rein and leg aids at the walk.

Stopping your Horse - As you follow your horse's motion at the walk, feel your hips swinging in rhythm with the horse's footfalls. As the horse's barrel swings left and right, your lower legs alternately pulse left and right to encourage the horse forward. As your reins maintain a light and steady contact with the bit, your hands oscillate forward and back as they follow the bobbing rhythm of the horse's head.

When you want the horse to halt, you take in a deep breath. As you let your breath out, sink into your seat bones, stop following with your hips, stop pulsing with your legs and stop following with your hands. Without any dramatic gestures on your part, your horse will feel the cessation of following movement and he will halt.

Some authors talk about 'burdening' the seat or 'bracing' the back. I dislike the latter term because it implies muscle tension. You use muscle strength, not muscle tension. You should feel like you are relaxing into the saddle and sitting deeper into it. Sit straight up in a chair with your hand on your lower back. Now take a deep breath and release it while keeping your back muscles relaxed (keep sitting straight!). You will feel your lower back belly out a half an inch or so. It is a very subtle change but one the horse completely understands as a feel that means 'stop.' If you fall behind the vertical, round your shoulders, or collapse your middle, you garble your request. Your hands do not pull back, even an inch. Your legs simply stop asking for forward as your hands stop following the bobbing of the head.

Walking Off - To ask your horse to walk off, begin pulsing with the legs, lighten your seat bones by breathing in, and resume following with the hands and pulsing with the legs. With a trained horse, the sequence starts with the leg aids. However, coordination among the aids for 'walk on' may depend on the horse's training level and on whether he is lazy, excitable or somewhere in between.

If it is hard to lighten your seat bones without tensing your back or lower leg muscles, think of 'growing tall' or stretching your neck to the sky as you breath in. Keep sitting straight and don't stand in your stirrups or arch your back. If you 'overburden' your seat bones in asking for a halt, you risk falling behind the motion when you ask your horse to walk off.

Speed Adjustment - If you want your horse to walk out faster, pulse or squeeze your legs in the increased rhythm you would like and immediately allow your hips to follow with an increased swing. If your hip swing does not match the request from your legs, the horse gets a mixed message and will not extend his walk. At the same time, your elbow joints open and close a bit more as your rein contact follows the increased motion of the horse's head.

As your legs ask 'more forward,' your seat and hands must immediately follow the increased motion with 'more forward' aids as well. Otherwise, the horse gets conflicting signals. Depending on his temperament he may ignore them or express frustration.

To slow the horse's walk, slow your aids. Depending on your horse's training and temperament, pulse or squeeze your legs in a slower rhythm or momentarily stop driving altogether until the horse's speed matches what you want. At the same time, slightly burden your seat without ceasing to follow the motion completely as you would when asking for a halt. Gradually slow the swinging motion of the seat until the desired rhythm is achieved. Your hand oscillation should slow as the horse's head motion slows.

Be careful not to fall behind the vertical rather than lightly burdening your seat bones. Rather than pulling back on the reins to slow the horse, just slow the oscillation of your hands forward and back as they following the bobbing of the horse's head.

Following the horse's motion at the walk, trot, and canter enables riders to coordinate their aids and take communication with their horses to new levels. When you have a solid foundation for your seat aids, you can then become more conscious of what you are actually saying to your horse with your rein or leg aids and of how the horse is responding to subtle adjustments in any aid. As you learn to coordinate your seat aids with leg and rein aids, your communication with your horse will take a quantum leap.
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© 2009 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett has earned numerous United States Dressage Federation horse awards including Bronze and Silver Medals on horses she has trained. She competes her horses at Training through FEI levels. As a Certified Riding Instructor she brings over 20 years of experience to her position as Head of the Dressage Department at Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV 26184; 800-679-2603; www.meredithmanor.com), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

By Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett

Dressage Department Head, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre

WAVERLY, WV- Most riders easily learn how to sit equally on their seat bones and follow the motion of their horse's hips with their own hips at the walk. Successfully following your horse's motion at the walk, however, does not mean that you will automatically be able to follow the motion at the trot.
The walk is a four-beat gait with no moment of suspension. It is relatively easy to feel the left/right forward swinging motion of the horse's hips at the walk while staying balanced over your seat bones with all muscles relaxed yet firm. The trot has a moment of suspension when none of the horse's hooves are on the ground. Riders who are unable to follow the horse's hips at the trot often grip with their thighs or tip forward when this 'bounce' occurs (and some horses are bouncier than others).

Also, the swing of the horse's hips at the trot is generally quicker than it is at the walk. This feels different to the rider. The bigger the horse's trot, the more likely a rider grips with the thigh and bounces. The bigger the horse's trot, the more it feels as though both hips are swinging forward at the same time, rather than swinging left/right. If your horse has a slower, flatter trot (a typical pleasure horse trot, for example), you may still feel a slight left/right movement in the swing of the hips.

Following the swing of the horse's hips at the trot is basically the same as it is at the walk. Push your horse forward at the walk by moving your hips faster, then exaggerate the motion even more until the horse transitions to a trot. Keep swinging your hips to get the feel of this motion. Later you will ask the horse to trot with leg aids, then follow the motion with your hips instead of pushing with the hips. In the beginning, however, using your hips to push your horse from a walk into a trot helps the rider understand that the swing of the hips at the trot is the same tipping motion as it is at the walk with a different rhythm.

I describe the motion of the hips at trot to students in different ways:

· Think of lifting with your pelvis.

· Think of swinging the horse's back into your hands with your hip.

· Think of crunching your abdominal muscles to lift the pelvis up and forward toward your hand (be careful not to let the upper body drop forward when thinking of this abs "crunch” just lift the lower abs up to the upper abs).

· Think of doing a pelvic tilt every stride.

· Think of lifting the horse's back with your hips with each stride.

Bouncing your legs in rhythm to your horse's trot (at the sitting trot) is an exercise that can help you swing your hips correctly. If you bounce your legs in a gentle upward/downward motion, your hips will start to swing in the same upward/downward motion simply because your hipbones are connected to your thighbones (sing the tune, if you like!). This exercise also helps riders with a tendency to tip forward because it helps to position them deep in the saddle with a straight back. When you tip forward, it is impossible to swing your hips to follow the horse. This exercise also helps riders loosen any grip with their thighs. When you grip with your thighs, your hips lock and are unable to swing.

Another exercise that can help you find the feel of the hip swing at the trot is to hold onto a grab strap placed on the front of your saddle (or, even better, hold onto your crossed stirrup leathers while working without stirrups on a longe line). As you hold on, focus on the horse's bounce. Try to bounce your elbow, hip, knee and ankle in rhythm with your horse. You want to move with your horse's body as it is moving. You do not want to hold your body steady by tensing your muscles. Ironically, the more you relax your muscles and move your joints as your horse moves his, the steadier you will be without tension or gripping. The horse is in constant motion, therefore you must be in constant motion in order to achieve steadiness. As you ride:

· Try to pull your seat into the deepest part of the saddle.

· Try to straighten your spine.

· Try to open the shoulders and upper body area without arching your lower back or collapsing your upper body.

· Try to loosen your thighs so you are not gripping.

· Try to bounce your legs in rhythm with the horse at the sitting trot.

Now try to swing your hips. Even though holding onto the grab strap or crossed stirrups may introduce tension in your arms, the exercise should help you loosen your shoulders, thighs, knees, ankles, etc. in order to swing your hips. If these essential joints are tight, your hips will be locked, too, and be unable to swing. When your hips are locked, you bounce more, which makes you grip more, which makes you bounce more and a vicious cycle begins.

Muscle tension in any joint will make the rider bounce and this hurts the horse's back. A lazy horse copes by slowing down. A tense horse is more likely to speed up or even start running to get away from the discomfort. Bouncing at the trot does not influence the horse in positive ways. When you get it right, the swing of your hips at the trot can either maintain the gait, slow the gait, or increase the gait. You do this by using your core muscles to set the rhythm and pace. If the rider deliberately (or accidentally) introduces a right/left swing to the hips at the trot, it slows the horse down. By holding the swing of the hips for just a nanosecond, the rider's core muscles can direct the horse's forward energy upward, helping the horse spring off the ground.

Following the horse's motion at the trot might seem impossible when you first try. Keep moving from walk to trot and back again to remind yourself that you can follow the horse's motion. When you finally 'get it' at the trot, your communication with your horse will move new levels.

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© 2009 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett has earned numerous United States Dressage Federation horse awards including Bronze and Silver Medals on horses she has trained. She competes her horses at Training through FEI levels. As a Certified Riding Instructor she brings over 20 years of experience to her position as Head of the Dressage Department at Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV 26184; 800-679-2603; www.meredithmanor.com), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

By Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett
Dressage Department Head, Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre

WAVERLY, WV--Your body position influences the way your horse stands and moves. If you sit crooked or off balance, your horse's compensations will reflect those position faults. Understanding and mastering a good position is part theory, part practice. Your mental image of correct position must match the reality of how that position feels when you are in the saddle. Correct position is the starting point for anyone who aspires to achieve the independent seat that allows you to influence every move your horse makes.

As viewed from the side, you may have your ear, shoulder, and hip correctly aligned and perpendicular to the ground. However, if your heels are ahead of the ideal vertical alignment of ear, shoulder, hip and heel you are sitting in a chair seat. If you glance down and see any toe, it is a sure bet that your upper body and lower body are out of alignment. A chair seat puts you on the back of your saddle, behind your horse's motion, and puts more pressure on your horse's back than necessary. Since you may also feel out of balance, you may tip forward to try to get in balance with your horse, compromising your vertical alignment even more.

You must relax your thighs in order to align your heels with your hips. Achieving long, relaxed thigh muscles requires both stretch in the hip flexor muscles, which pull the leg forward when tight, and strength in the hamstring muscles, which hold the leg back. You must relax all of your joints so that your lower leg can flex upward and downward in rhythm with the horse's motion. If you tighten your hip muscles, grip with your inner thighs, pinch with your knees, lock your ankles, or tighten your toes, you will not be able to absorb the motion of the horse's movement.

How do relaxed muscles and joints feel? At the walk, on a tolerant horse, grip as hard as you can with your inner thighs as though squeezing a ball between your legs. Then relax. That feeling of relaxation after the tension of the squeeze is the way you want your thighs to feel while you are riding. Do the same exercise with your knees. Squeeze tightly and then relax. The relaxed feeling is the one you want. When muscles and joints are relaxed, the heels will flex up and down as the ankles absorb the upward and downward motion of the horse. Try gently bouncing your heels up and down to feel whether your ankle joints are locked or loose. If your ankles are locked, check your toes to see if they are tight and wiggle them to help loosen tight ankles.

Viewed from back or front, you should be sitting in the middle of the saddle with your legs and stirrups at an equal length. A line through the middle of your chin, breastbone, belly button, and pubic bone should align vertically with the horse's spine and breastbone.

Getting weight evenly on both seat bones is a challenge for many riders. Often the feeling of 'even' that is locked in our muscle memories is not quite right. So it is hard to do a self-check. Ask an instructor to line your body up correctly after viewing you from the front and back to check for any imbalances. Then begin riding again, working to reprogram that feeling into your muscles. If you are crooked, you may feel like you are falling off to one side when an instructor straightens your posture. Stick with it until you retrain your body to accept this new feeling of 'even.'

Which hand do you favor for writing? Your muscles on that side of your body may be stronger and more contracted. Meanwhile, the muscles on your weaker side can stretch and lengthen more easily. This combination makes it harder for you to keep the seat bone on your stronger side in contact with the saddle. Your weaker side stretches down more easily, so you may feel pulled to that side. As a result, your ribcage collapses on your strong side as you attempt to counterbalance. Try temporarily lowering the stirrup on your stronger side one hole to stretch the muscles on that side and develop a feeling for the correct position. If you feel comfortable, you can try working without stirrups to help stretch your legs down. Holding a strap placed on the front of your saddle can add a feeling of security as you work to relax your inner thigh muscles.

Whenever you ride on a circle, you must counteract the centrifugal force that pushes you onto your outside seat bone. This is particularly evident at the canter. It becomes an even bigger problem when you are cantering on a circle in the direction of your stronger side. Imagine you are lengthening your inside leg while drawing up your outside leg to help bring your seat bones into better balance. Think of yourself as a gymnast on a balance beam and keep your shoulders directly over your seat bones and hips. Holding the back of the saddle with your outside hand to help shift weight onto the inside seat bone is another helpful exercise.

From the front, your thigh should lie flat against the saddle and your knees and toes should point straight ahead. Your thigh cannot lie flat if your knees turn out. If your knees turn out, probably your toes do, too. If your toes turn out, you probably grip with your calves (which makes reactive horses oversensitive to leg aids and dulls the response of lazy horses to them).

Do not grip with your inner thigh, pinch with your knees, or turn your toes in to flatten your thigh against the saddle. Any repositioning of your lower leg actually starts at the hip's ball-and-socket joint. If your toes or knees point out, rotate your whole leg from the hip socket until your thigh is flat and your toes point straight ahead. Try pulling your thigh back with your hand and repositioning it flat against the saddle. You have tremendous stability when you position your leg correctly. Prove this to yourself by standing on the ground with your feet shoulder width apart and your toes pointing out. Shift from left to right and notice the range of motion you have. Now point your toes straight ahead, repeat the exercise, and notice the limited motion. It is easier to stay evenly centered in the saddle when your thighs are flat and your toes point forward.

Feedback from someone on the ground is the best way to correct your position faults. If you are unable to work with an instructor on a regular basis, viewing video of your riding helps. Ask a trusted friend to videotape you or tape your own rides by setting a camera on a tripod. Shoot from the side of the arena to check your vertical alignment from the side. Shoot from a corner on the long side of the arena to check your position from the front and the back.

Check your position at the beginning of every ride. Review your position whenever something is not going just right. Realign your body every time you take a walk break. Remember that your horse cannot use his body correctly unless you use yours correctly first. A correct effective seat takes time to develop. Keep practicing and realigning yourself and you too can have a correct seat.

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© 2009 Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre. Nancy Wesolek-Sterrett has earned numerous United States Dressage Federation horse awards including Bronze and Silver Medals on horses she has trained. She competes her horses at Training through FEI levels. As a Certified Riding Instructor she brings over 20 years of experience to her position as Head of the Dressage Department at Meredith Manor International Equestrian Centre (147 Saddle Lane, Waverly, WV 26184; 800-679-2603; www.meredithmanor.com), an ACCET accredited equestrian educational institution.

OVERVIEW:
Horses eating sand is not commonly thought of as a regularly occurring event. However, being natural grazers, horses are constantly ingesting a certain amount of sand and dirt
from their environment. The amount that a horse ingests is determined by the horse’s eating habits as well as the horse’s feeding environment. Some horses are very discriminate about what they eat; however some are not. The amount of sand that will cause a horse to show signs of distress is dependant on the individual horse. Some studies suggest that it is common to find moderate amounts of sand in horses that show no clinical signs. Sand causes problems by way of irritating the luminal mucosa of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Over time, the mechanical irritation of sand causes inflammation and secondary decreased motility. Lack of normal motility causes a slowed GI transit time, which will also affect the normal GI microflora in the hind gut. This becomes a vicious circle as the amount of sand accumulates.
CLINICAL SIGNS:
A large sand burden can cause diarrhea, weight loss, colic, and may eventually lead to complete GI lumen obstruction. Many other things can cause this list of signs; therefore it is important to have your horse assessed by a veterinarian. Sand most commonly accumulates in the right dorsal colon, which has a very large diameter. Therefore, a very large amount of sand is generally required for a complete obstruction to occur.

DIAGNOSIS:
There are a few ways to check your horse for sand. One method that can be performed on the farm is a fecal sediment test. Place a sample of feces into a clear plastic glove, add water to break down the manure, and allow the glove to hang for several hours. If the horse is passing sand, the sand will settle out into the fingers of the glove. In some horses, sand can be ausculted by your veterinarian in the cranial ventral abdomen. It sounds like gentle waves rolling in on a sandy beach. These two methods do not, however, give any idea of how much sand is present or how likely the horse will colic due to its presence. Abdominal radiographs are the next step to be taken to assess the size and density of the mass of sand.

TREATMENT & PREVENTION:
The most important way to manage a horse with a tendency to ingest sand is to make environmental changes. A feeding area that raises food off the ground needs to be provided. Raised feeders, hay nets, rubber mats, and feeding tubs are all methods that can help accomplish this. Avoiding sandy paddocks and overgrazed pastures is necessary. Sometimes horses eat sand intentionally as a result of a mineral deficiency. This can be prevented by providing a mineral supplement. Psyllium mucilloid is commonly accepted as the therapeutic and preventative treatment of sand when management changes are not enough. Psyllium is reported to work in two ways. First, it acts as a laxative. Second, when it is eaten by the horse, its fibrous texture is changed into a gelatinous material. This gel-like form swells, picks up the sand and attempts to dislodge it. Research shows that the effectiveness of this approach is variable. There are studies that both prove and disprove the ability of psyllium to remove sand from the GI tract. Some studies have shown that combined use of psyllium, probiotics, and prebiotics enhance sand clearance. When treatment with psyllium is utilized, it is recommended to feed it once daily for seven days each month. Intermittent administration (one week per month) is recommended, because constant administration allows the normal GI microflora to adapt to the psyllium, thereby decreasing its effectiveness. When sand causes complete GI obstruction, surgery is indicated for its removal.

Please contact your veterinarian or any of the veterinarians at New England Equine Medical & Surgical Center if you have any questions about sand colic in horses.

Miranda Noseck, DVM
Jacqueline Bartol, DVM, DACVIM

LAPAROSCOPY GENERAL: Surgical techniques easier on horses

A laparoscope is a specialized camera that allows the veterinary surgeons to examine the inside of the abdomen (belly). The laparoscope is attached to a video camera, which displays the image on a monitor. Unlike traditional abdominal surgery techniques, which require large openings to allow the surgeon’s hands to enter the abdomen, laparoscopic surgery is performed through very small incisions. Specialized long handled surgical instruments are passed through separate cannulas (tubular ports) into the abdomen. The surgeon uses these instruments while watching the procedure on the television screen, dissecting, cutting, suturing and cauterizing. During most laparoscopic procedures, the abdomen is kept distended, or filled, with carbon dioxide (“insufflation”) to allow visualization of the organs. Some procedures are performed using a combination of laparoscopy and traditional surgeries, known as “hand-assisted laparoscopy”. The excellent view provided by the laparoscope allows surgeons to see up close what their hands and instruments are doing within the abdomen.

The laparoscope also provides direct magnified visualization of the surgery site. Therefore, surgeries can be performed in areas that cannot be seen with traditional surgical approaches. Also, surgical sites can be critically evaluated for control of bleeding (hemostasis) and placement of sutures or other implants. Many laparoscopic procedures are performed with the horse standing under sedation and local anesthetic, reducing the inherent risks associated with general anesthesia and recovery.

Laparoscopy is a less invasive procedure, requiring three or four 1-cm incisions. These small incisions decrease the time required in surgery and in closing the surgical incisions, as well as decrease the time required for the horse to be off work while the incision heals. In addition, there is a decreased chance of accidental trauma to the abdominal organs during the surgery.

The major benefits of minimally invasive surgery include: smaller incisions, tension-free dissections, better visualization, and a more rapid return to function. Laparoscopic procedures in horses are less invasive and are associated with less postoperative pain and inflammation...

Benefits of Laparoscopy

Laparoscopy is a minimally invasive surgical technique. This means that the surgery is performed through several small incisions. Advantages include:
1. Decreased hospitalization and rehabilitation time
2. Reduced discomfort associated with incisional healing and therefore decreased need for postoperative medications
3. Excellent cosmetic outcome

Procedures
Procedures which can be preformed laparoscopically include:

* Ovariectomy (Removal of both ovaries for colic or behavioral problems)
* Ovarian tumor removal (e.g. granulosa-thecal cell tumor)
* Castration
* Cryptorchidectomy (Removal of abdominal testicle(s))
* Abdominal or thoracic exploration
* Biopsies of organs (e.g. lung, liver, intestine)
* Adhesiolysis (Management of adhesions after abdominal surgery or peritonitis)
* Inguinal hernia repair
* Incisional hernia repair
* Nephrectomy (Removal of a diseased kidney)
* Colopexy (attachment of the colon to the body wall to prevent displacement) and nephrosplenic space ablation (closing the space for prevention of displacement of the large colon)
* Ruptured bladder repair
* Closure of mesenteric defects

These procedures are currently being performed laparoscopically at New England Equine Medical & Surgical Center. The ones carried out the most routinely are ovariectomy, “routine” castration without testicle removal and cryptorchid castration. These procedures can be performed standing with sedation and regional anesthesia (local block) or under general anesthesia in dorsal recumbency (on the horses’s back).

A laparotomy is the typical procedure used to castrate cryptorchid stallions and perform ovariectomies. A laparotomy requires general anesthesia and is an invasive surgery, resulting in a larger incision in the body wall.

OVARIECTOMY

Standing laparoscopic ovariectomy is used to remove ovaries bilaterally in mares with behavioral problems and unilaterally in mares with granulosa-thecal cell tumors.

Granulosa-thecal cell tumors in mares can produce abnormal levels of testosterone. The mare can have behavioral changes such as anestrus (not coming into heat) or create stallion-like behavior, such as aggressiveness and herding and mounting of other mares. Removal of the tumorous ovary alone can not only resolve the behavioral issues, but the remaining ovary can start to cycle again so the mare can be used potentially as a broodmare.
Radio-frequency devices, such as the Ligasure (Valley Lab/Tyco Healthcare), have been designed to cauterize vessels up to 7 mm in diameter. It has a built-in knife blade that is used to cut the tissue after the coagulation is complete. This device is very effective in cutting and coagulating the ovarian pedicle even in cases of large granulosa-thecal cell tumors.
Regardless, the tension-free dissection causes much less post-operative complications than do the other techniques that have been described and used in the past.

“ROUTINE” CASTRATION FOR OLDER STALLIONS

Castration of older stallions has a higher risk of post-operative bleeding and herniation of intestinal organs through the vaginal rings due to the larger size of the testicles. The vaginal ring is the opening which the spermatic cord passes through from the abdomen to the scrotum. Since the spermatic cord is larger in size in older stallions, the likelihood of an intestinal organ, such as small intestine, to herniate through the opening is greater. With laparoscopy, the spermatic cord can be cauterized within the abdomen, and the testicles are left within the scrotum. The testicles will atrophy to approximately the size of a walnut and become non-functional. Testosterone levels are checked before and about a week after castration to ensure the testicles are no longer functional.

CRYPTORCHIDS

Cryptorchidism is a developmental problem that is characterized by failure of one or both testes to descend into the scrotum. Descent of the testes normally occurs in the male fetus. The testes move from within the abdominal cavity through a space called the inguinal canal, to a position outside the abdomen within the scrotum.

Interruption in this process will result in one or both testes being retained along its route. The testicles may be located inside the abdomen, within the inguinal canal or under the skin in the inguinal (groin) area.

Retained testicles are not fertile (do not produce viable sperm), but do produce testosterone, causing the cryptorchid horse to have the behavioral characteristics of a stallion. There is strong suspicion that cryptorchidism is heritable.

Retained testes also have a tendency to become cancerous in horses, and testes that are retained in the inguinal area may be associated with hind limb lameness.

Laparoscopy can also be very useful for the evaluation and the treatment of male horses with no palpable testes but with a known history of displaying stallion-like tendencies. Often, these horses are required to go through an exploratory laparotomy under general anesthesia. This surgery is invasive and requires exploration of both inguinal areas up to the abdominal cavity. Laparoscopy in these horses permits a non-invasive exploration of the abdominal cavity and the accurate distinction between gelding and cryptorchid. During the surgery, if a retained testis is found, it can be easily removed.

If you have any questions regarding laparoscopy please ask your veterinarian or any of the surgeons at New England Equine Medical & Surgical Center.

Meredith Steudle, DVM
Omar Maher, DV, DACVS