Poor Performance Exams
Poor Performance Exams For Your Pet | Gippsland Veterinary Hospital
When a horse isn’t performing as expected — but there’s no obvious lameness or illness — working out what’s wrong can be a genuine challenge. Poor performance cases require a systematic approach, because the cause could be musculoskeletal, respiratory, cardiac, metabolic, or behavioural, and sometimes a combination.
At Gippsland Veterinary Hospital, we offer poor performance examinations to help identify what’s limiting your horse and develop a plan to address it.
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Poor Performance Exams FAQs
Just a few common questions about Poor Performance Exams. If there is something else you need to know just ask in the Contact Us form below!
How long does a poor performance examination take?
It depends on the complexity of the case. A basic assessment covering history, physical exam, and initial lameness evaluation might take 1–2 hours. A comprehensive work-up involving multiple body systems, endoscopy, ultrasound, and bloodwork could take half a day or require multiple visits. We can discuss what’s realistic for your horse and situation, and prioritise the most likely causes first if time or budget is limited.
What if you don't find anything wrong?
A negative result is still useful — it rules out significant medical or musculoskeletal problems, which can be reassuring. If diagnostics don’t reveal a cause, we’ll discuss whether further investigation (such as referral for advanced imaging or dynamic endoscopy) is warranted, or whether the issue might be related to training, behaviour, or management. Sometimes poor performance improves with changes to workload, turnout, or nutrition even when no specific diagnosis is made.
Should I rest my horse before the examination?
Usually no — we want to assess your horse in its normal working state. In some cases, we may ask you to exercise the horse beforehand so we can listen to the respiratory system or heart during recovery. For lameness assessment, we prefer the horse not to have had anti-inflammatory medication for several days beforehand, as this can mask pain. We’ll give you specific instructions when you book.
Can poor performance have more than one cause?
Yes, and this is common. A horse might have mild back pain, low-grade gastric ulcers, and suboptimal hoof balance — none of which individually would stop it working, but together they add up to a horse that’s reluctant and underperforming. Part of the value of a systematic work-up is identifying these contributing factors so they can all be addressed. Improvement often comes from fixing several small things rather than finding one big problem.