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How to trot up your horse for the vet

Carol Phillips Carol Phillips

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    Trotting your horse up for the vet for a lameness assessment can be an anxious time, so we asked Fizz Marshall, former manager of the Equine Therapy Centre at Hartpury College, to share her top tips for getting it right.

    Standing the horse up

    “First of all you want to get the horse to stand nice and square,” says Fizz. “This is so that the vet can walk around the horse and look at it from every angle, looking for asymmetries or any difference in muscles or posture.”

    Walking the horse

    “Next we move onto walking the horse up and down. You want to make sure you walk the horse away as straight as you can, keeping an even rhythm and allowing the horse to have its head so that the vet can see any abnormalities with the way it’s walking or moving,” says Fizz.

    “When you come to turn the horse you should always turn the horse away from yourself. This is a safety thing apart from anything else as it is less likely to stand on your feet

    “The trick is to pull the horse slightly towards you, swing it out and then turn it around.  You then end up walking back in the same line that you started.

    “When you’re walking back towards the vet, you want to keep the horse really nice and straight and aim for your target.”

    How to trot up your horse

    After walking away and back, the vet will usually ask to see the horse in trot.

    “The same applies to the trot-up,” explains Fizz. “You need to keep a really nice, even pace and not go too fast when you’re trotting. If you go too fast the vet won’t be able to see enough and they’ll probably tell you to slow down.

    “Again, give the horse its head so that you can see any head nods or tilts or anything that might give clues to how the horse is moving.

    “When you come back up towards the vet, don’t run them over! Lots of vets will actually want to see the transition from trot back to walk, so make that very obvious.”

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    Carol Phillips
    Carol Phillips

    H&H website editor
    Carol is an experienced journalist and editor, who is also a passionate amateur rider and dedicated horse owner, having ridden since childhood. She has a particular interest in the emotional well-being and ethical training of horses, alongside veterinary matters, having garnered extensive first-hand experience of numerous equine health conditions through more than 30 years of horse ownership.
    Carol Phillips

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