Background: The most common reason for veterinary care in horses is Lameness. Lameness in riding horses is often difficult to evaluate and in many cases may require riding to come to a diagnosis. Evaluation of Lameness has proven to be very subjective and depends on the examiner. There is a need to evaluate ridden horses in an objective way.

The purpose of this study was to compare less experienced veterinarians? subjective assessments of Lameness in horses on the lunge. Previous studies on subjective Lameness evaluation have mainly focused on horses trotting in a straight line and the results have shown generally low compliance. With a web-based questionnaire, 43 veterinarians assessed 60 recordings that showed both fore- and hindlimb Lameness, interspersed with sound horses that were trotting on the lunge in one direction. The horses showed mild to moderate Lameness.

The most common reason for a horse owner to seek veterinary care for their horse is related to the musculoskeletal system. Assessment of the horse's movement pattern is essential in the equine veterinary work. How uniformly veterinarians evaluate the lame horse may have both diagnostic and prognostic significance, such as follow up examination by the same or different veterinarian. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether there are between-veterinarian differences in assessing Lameness in the same horse. In total 12 veterinarians evaluated 80 video sequences of 4 horses with induced Lameness and made an evaluation of the affected limb as well as the degree of Lameness.

On average half of the sows in Swedish piglet producing herds are culledannually. A significant portion of the sows are euthanized because of Lameness orparalysis. Young sows and gilts are overrepresented in the category of animals,culled due to injuries in the musculoskeletal system. These injuries cause pain tothe animals. Early culling of sows/gilts also have economical consequences forthe producers.

Background: Evaluation of Lameness in horses is traditionally performed by a veterinarian who subjectively evaluates the movements of the horse. Accordingly, Lameness diagnosis varies with the veterinarian and circumstances for which the horse is examined. Research within the area has long tried to establish an objective and standardized method for Lamenessevaluation in horses. Several methods have been shown to be reliable and are used regularly within research, for example measurement of forces between the hoof and ground, and measurement of movements with high speed cameras or accelerometers. However these methods require considerable preparation, standardization, and expensive equipment as well as produce large amounts of data that are incomprehensible for the clinician.

Background The Shetland Sheepdog is a popular breed of dogs in Sweden. The breed is mostly used as a companion dog and is also popular within certain dog sports such as agility. The Shetland Sheepdog is not included in any breeding programs regarding joint health. The animal insurance company, Agria had recently informed the Swedish Shetland Sheepdog Club (SSSK) that they had noted an increasing number of arthritis in the elbow joints, therefore they wanted to exclude elbow joints from the insurance until SSSK started a breeding program against elbow dysplasia. After the start of this study Agria withdrew their demand, but the study went on as planned. Aims of this study The aims of this study was to investigate if there is any data that may show if there is a larger or smaller reason than before to suspect that the breed has a problem with elbow dysplasia and therefore would benefit from a breeding program regarding this.

Detta examensarbete är en pilotstudie vars syfte var att med hjälp av det objektiva mätsystemet Lameness Locator studera om kompensatoriska hältmekanismer förekommer hos kliniskt halta hästar. Tidigare studier har visat att en inducerad hälta på ett av hästens ben kan resultera i asymmetriska rörelsemönster, så kallad kompensatorisk hälta, även på andra ben. Dessa kompensatoriska hältor är ej smärtutlösta utan försvinner när man reverserar den ursprungliga hältan. I litteraturen beskrivs att en hälta på ett bakben kan ge upphov till en kompensatorisk ipsilateral frambenshälta. Vid hälta på ett framben kan både en ipsilateral och en kontralateral bakbenshälta uppkomma. Totalt ingick 35 hästar i studien varav samtliga var under hältutredning på Universitetssjukhuset vid SLU.

Lameness causes suffering and poor performance in sheep, as in other species. The cause of Lameness often originates in problems of the claws. Many claw diseases of sheep are described in British and Australian research, but this field has previously not been of special concern in Sweden. This graduate thesis contains the first claw health survey made on Swedish sheep. The chief objective was to give an overview of sheep claw diseases and to assess claw health in adult sheep.

Phenylbutazone has been discussed in the world of the equestrian sport several times and different countries have diverse opinions on its use in competitions. The progressive list that permits phenylbutazone with plasma levels up to 8 µg/ml was presented at the FEI General Assembly in November 2009. The list was voted to be accepted, but later several countries realized the consequences and after protests the list was rejected and is going to be discussed again at the FEI General Assembly 2010. In this literature study I have studied the relationship between the concentrations of phenylbutazone in plasma and the effects on Lameness. The purpose was to establish whether the limit of 8 µg/ml phenylbutazone in plasma affects the equestrian sport.

The harness racing industry has roots hundreds of years back in time and breeders through time have changed the horses to a mix of potential, harmony and speed. Breeding has changed the conditions and created a horse that perform better and better. A risk with high-performance horses is that injuries related to training and racing may occur more often. In training and racing situations, Lameness is the most common injury. There are many factors affecting the occurrence of injuries and Lameness of the trotter horses, such as how the horse is trained and raced, the surface condition of the racetrack, banking and angle of the curves of the racetrack and how fast injuries are discovered and treated.

The Swedish dairy production today consists of big farms and different housing systems are in use. These systems put demands on the cows? ability to cope with the environment and one challenge is the claw health in the herds. Some claw lesions that are frequently observed are foot rot, hemorrhages, digital dermatitis and sole ulcers, which can be caused by, for example, the claws? environment and the flooring type used.

?Tollarsjuka? is a disease with a suspected immunopathological background seen in Nova Scotia duck tolling retrievers. Pyrexia, Lameness, stiffness and joint- or musclepain are typical clinical signs. The purpose of this study is to describe case histories from dogs with a possible evidence of ?tollarsjuka?. 18 private dogs were included in this report. Generalised stiffness, Lameness and fatigue were the most frequent manifestations of the disease.

The aim with the literature study is to inform about the risks that exists in large dairy farms(with focus on mastitis and hoof health) and to inform about the milk industry in Sweden.Personal comments from two study visits (Nötcenter Viken and Vadsbo Mjölk AB) arelinked together with the literature and forms into a discussion regarding sustainableagriculture versus the milk cow's welfare.The profitability for Sweden's milk farmers have decreased because of the decreased milkprice and current inflation. This leads to an increase in herdsize in order to make a profit.The milk cow herds in Sweden becomes fewer year by year and the herdsize increases. Theincreased herdsize can cause a decrease in the time the farmer spends per animal. This canaffect early disease detection and prolong the animals suffering.Swedish Board of Agriculture published (2008) statistics showing that today's milk cow ismedicated primarily because of two reasons; mastitis or hoof problems. Mastitis is thereason to two thirds of all treatments that are carried out.

The aim with the literature study is to inform about the risks that exists in large dairy farms(with focus on mastitis and hoof health) and to inform about the milk industry in Sweden.Personal comments from two study visits (Nötcenter Viken and Vadsbo Mjölk AB) arelinked together with the literature and forms into a discussion regarding sustainableagriculture versus the milk cow's welfare.The profitability for Sweden's milk farmers have decreased because of the decreased milkprice and current inflation. This leads to an increase in herdsize in order to make a profit.The milk cow herds in Sweden becomes fewer year by year and the herdsize increases. Theincreased herdsize can cause a decrease in the time the farmer spends per animal. This canaffect early disease detection and prolong the animals suffering.Swedish Board of Agriculture published (2008) statistics showing that today's milk cow ismedicated primarily because of two reasons; mastitis or hoof problems. Mastitis is thereason to two thirds of all treatments that are carried out.

Hälta hos hästar är ett vanligt förekommande problem. Hälta orsakas vanligtvis av inflammatoriska, smärtutlösande tillstånd i rörelseapparaten men kan även ha andra orsaker såsom mekaniska hinder. Rörelseasymmetrier i trav på rakt spår har påvisats hos hästar som av sina ägare uppfattas som friska och fullt fungerande i träning och tävling. Dessutom förekommer systematiska rörelseasymmetrier på volt, och många hältor förstärks på volt. Huruvida rörelseasymmetrierna hos av djurägarna förmodat ohalta hästar beror på smärta och inflammation eller är en biologisk normalvariation är ännu inte känt.