Mid-South Equine Sports Medicine & Surgery
in Tioga, Texas
Mid-South Equine Sports Medicine & Surgery
in Tioga, Texas
Mid-South Equine Sports Medicine & Surgery provides equine sports medicine, lameness evaluation, and equine surgery for performance horses across North Texas and DFW. We are the only clinic within two hours of Tioga offering standing MRI, traditional MRI, and equine bone scan. Our services include diagnostic imaging, orthopedic and arthroscopic surgery with a board-certified surgeon, regenerative therapy, rehabilitation, gastroscopy, in-house laboratory, pre-purchase exams, and reproduction.
Performance Horse Show Veterinarian | On-Site Care | Mid-South Equine
Standing MRI & Bone Scan for Horses
North Texas | Tioga, TX
Standing MRI & Bone Scan for Horses
Advanced imaging you won't find within two hours of Tioga
Mid-South Equine is the only equine facility within two hours of Tioga offering standing MRI, traditional MRI, and nuclear scintigraphy. Owners haul to us from across DFW, Oklahoma, and East Texas specifically for this imaging, because for certain injuries nothing else gives you the answer.
When MRI Is the Right Choice
The most common scenario is this: your horse blocks sound to the foot, and the radiographs come back clean.
That used to be where the workup ended — a shrug, a shot of joint medication, and a hope that it holds. The problem is that radiographs only show bone, and the structures most likely to be injured inside a hoof are soft tissue. They're invisible on X-ray.
MRI shows what radiographs cannot:
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Deep digital flexor tendon lesions within the hoof capsule
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Collateral ligament injuries of the coffin joint
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Navicular bursa inflammation and adhesions
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Bone bruising and subchondral edema
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Impar and distal sesamoidean ligament damage
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Early degenerative change before it appears on X-ray
MRI is also the right call when a horse has failed to respond to treatment aimed at a presumed diagnosis. If joint injections haven't worked, it's worth confirming the target was correct.
Why Standing MRI Matters
Our standing MRI is performed on a sedated but conscious, weight-bearing horse.
That means no general anesthesia, no anesthetic risk, no recovery period, and no waiting for a horse to get back on its feet. Most patients go home the same day.
It also means the limb is imaged under load — the way it actually functions. A structure that looks normal with the foot hanging free can reveal its injury when it's bearing weight.
Standing MRI images the foot, pastern, fetlock, and lower limb. For regions higher up the limb, we use traditional MRI under general anesthesia.
When a Bone Scan Is the Better Tool
Nuclear scintigraphy images the entire skeleton at once, identifying areas of active bone remodeling and inflammation. It's a survey tool rather than a detail tool — it tells you where to look.
Choose bone scan when:
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The lameness shifts between limbs or is bilateral
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The horse won't localize to diagnostic blocks
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You suspect pelvic, sacroiliac, or spinal involvement
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Performance has declined without an obvious lameness
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You need to survey broadly before deciding where to image in detail
Bone scan routinely finds upper limb, pelvic, and back problems that no amount of distal limb blocking will ever reveal. Horses stay overnight following the procedure for radioisotope clearance.
What to Expect Before:
Bring prior radiographs, ultrasound, and records — including work done by your regular veterinarian. Shoes generally need to come off for foot MRI; we'll tell you when you schedule. Coggins required.During: Your horse is sedated and positioned in the magnet. Imaging takes roughly 60 to 90 minutes per region depending on the sequences needed.After: We review the study and go over the findings with you. You'll receive a full report and images, and if your regular veterinarian referred the case, we send those to them as well.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does standing MRI require general anesthesia?
No. Your horse remains standing under sedation throughout, which eliminates anesthetic risk entirely.
How far do clients travel for this?
Regularly from across DFW, Oklahoma, and East Texas. For most owners in this region it's still faster than shipping to a university hospital.
Do I need a referral?
No. We accept direct appointments and referrals both. If your veterinarian has already worked the case up, bring those records. It saves time and money.
Can you image more than one limb?
Yes, though each region adds scan time and cost. We'll usually recommend blocking to prioritize which region to image first.
Why not just take more X-rays?
Radiographs image bone. If the injury is tendon, ligament, or bursa, which is most foot lameness, additional radiographs will keep coming back normal no matter how many you take.