L'interet des connaissances initiales en radiographie pour le marechal-ferrant

The farrier is an important actor on the equine locomotor apparatus. The objective of this communication is to show direct and indirect interests for the farrier to use some radiological informations in his work. Today, however the existence of some new sophisticated imaging technics, radiography is the first choice to appreciate an equine locomotor lesion. The direct interest of radiography, when it concerns the distal limb, is to guide to the conception of an adapted orthopeadic horseshoe. The indirect interest of radiography, when it concerns proximal regions like shoulder, back or pelvic, is to help in the understanding of the whole horse as the loading of the joints is closely connected (Noble et al. 2010).The Objective of this presentation is to propose the basis in radiography of the horse, to give some examples in the equine digit radiopathology and to explain how several radiographic informations could be used by the farrier in his work process.