Upper airway problems can ruin a good horse, whether they slow him down or cause airway noise that hurts his show placings. But they haven't always been easy to sort out because the upper airway couldn't be examined under natural exercise conditions (with rider, tack, competitors, etc).

Today there's the Dynamic Respiratory Endoscope (DRS, developed by Optomed of France), which peers inside a horse's upper airway while he works. The system includes a bridle with scope mounts (fitting over standard tack); a small breakaway pack for the video recorder, wireless transmitter, battery, and lens cleaning pump; and a hand-held video display/control box a veterinarian can use up to 0.3 miles from the horse.