Standing MRI for horses

You'll need to leave your horse with our highly trained staff to conduct the exam. You won't be able to watch the MRI exam because the equipment is sensitive to room temperature.

MRI booking includes a minimum of two nights stay. Your horse will arrive the day before the MRI, have their scan the following day, and go home after staying the night with us. This is all included in the price of the MRI. 

A team member will notify you when you're able to collect your horse.

Standing MRI doesn't use ionising radiation and is safe for handlers and patients. It uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce diagnostic images of bone and soft tissue while your horse is standing.

Your horse will be sedated before we carry out the exam.

Standing MRI is a time-consuming process. It is different to Computed Tomography (CT) which can provide us with images in minutes.

The timing of the MRI is quite variable and can be difficult for us to predict in advance. Depending on the horse and the area being examined, the process can take anywhere from half a day to a full day.

With standing MRI, we'll need time to:

• prepare your horse (we'll remove all magnetic items including your horse's shoes before the exam and your horse will be sedated)
• carry out the exam 
• quality-control the images
• review the images.

If we're assessing your horse's lameness, we'll need to localise a specific part of your horse's anatomy so we can focus on the correct location. 

MRI booking includes a minimum of two nights stay. Your horse will arrive the day before the MRI, have their scan the following day, and go home after staying the night with us. This is all included in the price of the MRI. 

If your horse needs a comprehensive exam (across multiple regions) or we're examining complicated anatomy, it may take longer.  

On rare occasions, your horse's standing MRI exam may be delayed by an emergency case.

We find horses generally settle much better when they have had some time to get used to the hospital environment before their MRI. A relaxed horse is easier to sedate and helps us to obtain the best possible image quality. 

Having them arrive the day before also give our team an opportunity to get to know your horse and ensure that everything is appropriately prepared for the scan. For example, we will need to remove shoes prior to the MRI scan. 

We also aim to start MRI examinations first thing in the morning wherever possible. Having horses admitted the day before allows us to do that efficiently, without asking owners to travel early into the morning or risking unforeseen delays.

Overall, arriving the day before helps make the experience smoother for both your horse and our teams, and give us the best opportunity to obtain high-quality images.

There are two main reasons. Firstly, we monitor your horse as the sedation wears off to make sure they are comfortable and doing well. 

Secondly, MRI studies require a thorough review after the scan has been completed. Occasionally, once our clinicians and imaging specialist have reviewed the images, they may identify that additional or repeat imaging is required before discharge. We want to ensure that we have the time needed to acquire all the imaged necessary for the final diagnosis. 
 

MRI utilises a magnet to obtain images and therefore any metal objects in or near the field of view can affect the image quality. For this reason, any shoes on the limb of interest and the accompanying front or hind limb must be removed. This will be done on site by our staff and the shoes kept and returned to you at the time of discharge. If you would prefer your own farrier remove the shoes, please ask that they take care when removing nails so as to not leave any residual metal in the hoof wall.