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An endoscope is a small flexible camera that we can use to visualise internal problems within the horse, typically in the respiratory tract but also involving the digestive or urogenital tracts.

The RVC's equine team has a variety of portable endoscopes for investigation of different respiratory diseases from nose bleeds to allergic conditions such as RAO. Standard flexible endoscopes are used when the horse is at rest in the stable to evaluate the nasal passages, larynx, pharynx, guttural pouches and the trachea.

Samples and washes can be collected from the trachea and lungs via the endoscope and submitted to our laboratory for the identification of infectious, inflammatory and neoplastic conditions.

Endoscopy is also an extremely useful tool in investigating poor performance issues or abnormal noises arising from the upper respiratory tract encountered at exercise. Some conditions such as laryngeal neuropathy or cysts can be identified from endoscopy at rest in the stable. However, many of the airway conditions encountered in athletic horses during exercise are dynamic in nature, meaning that they only occur when the airway is stressed and the horse fatigued. As a result, the airway can appear completely normal at rest.

Specialists at the RVC have been instrumental in progressing the technology necessary to overcome this difficulty. The end result is that endoscopy can now be performed during ridden overground exercise, exactly simulating the conditions under which the horse displays the abnormal noise or poor performance.

We are now able to bring our mobile endoscopy equipment to you, and can perform endoscopy on your horse during exercise, rather than simply at rest. The endoscope we use is very similar to that used during resting endoscopy, but the video is recorded on the horse, with wireless technology used to confirm endoscope positioning during exercise. This gives us the best possible opportunity to visualise any abnormalities of your horse’s upper respiratory tract.