Veterinary Podiatry
Dr Luke Wells-Smith
BVSc GAICD
Director of Motion Equine Centre
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Dr Luke Wells-Smith first started shoeing horses at age 15. Over the last 20 years, he has continued to refine his skills in equine veterinary podiatry, learning from some of the best veterinarians and farriers from throughout the world.
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Equine Veterinary Podiatry uses the art of farriery and the science of veterinary medicine to diagnose and manage foot related lameness in the horse.
A good friend of Dr Luke’s, Dr Raul Bras from Rood and Riddle Equine Veterinary Podiatry department in Lexington, Kentucky describes what farriers and vets see when it comes to assessing the hoof;
‘Farriers are taught to look at the hoof from the outside in (ie external landmarks), while veterinarians are taught to look at the hoof from the inside out (ie using x-rays) when assessing the hoof’
What services does Dr Luke provide?
Assessment of hoof health and lameness evaluation to understand how to best manage horses with a foot related lameness
Use of high quality x-rays and venograms to understand both hoof health and the biomechanics of the lower limb
3D scanning of the hoof and lower limb - COMING SOON
Ability to maintain horses barefoot with a range of different limb/hoof conformations at different life stages
Ability to maintain equine athletes in a wide variety of shoes so that they can perform at the highest level.
Dr Luke works with all disciplines of both racing and sports horses
Ability to use and design therapeutic shoes for diseases of the hoof Ability to work with your farrier/trimmer to come up with a long term management plan to keep your horse competing
Provides a referral service and second opinion to veterinarians throughout Australia and overseas. This can be in clinic, on site, fly in-fly out or online through our Telehealth portal.
Long term rehabilitation of chronic diseases such as laminitis at our facility in Kilmore, Victoria