Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the foot is a valuable tool in diagnosing equine lameness and can clearly identify fragments or chips originating from the distal border of the navicular bone … but researchers say, "so what?"

"These fragments are seen in both lame and non-lame horses, which makes it difficult to determine if the fragments really are important or not," explained Sue Dyson, MA, VetMB, PhD, DEO, FRCVS, head of clinical orthopaedics at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, England, renowned for her research using MRI in lameness diagnosis.

To better determine the importance of these fragments, Dyson and her research team reviewed the MRI scans of 427 horses with forelimb lamenesses localized to the foot.

"Fragments were noted in 111 (30%) of the horses," said Dyson