16/06/2026
Ce texte est particulièrement pertinent dans le cadre de notre activité, où il rappelle qu'une observation réalisée sous sédation doit toujours être confrontée à l'examen clinique et fonctionnel du cheval éveillé.
Often overlooked when procedures are performed under heavy sedation is that the body is not functioning the same way it does when not sedated.
Muscles throughout the body relax under sedation. In horses, this includes the muscles of the jaw, tongue, head, neck, and even the postural muscles that help maintain normal alignment and balance. When those muscles are no longer working “normally”, the position and movement of structures can change.
**A simple human example is when a dentist numbs your mouth. After a procedure, they have you bite down on blue/red articulating paper to evaluate your bite. Even then, many people leave feeling like something is not quite right because they’re trying to evaluate their bite while parts of their mouth are still numb and functioning differently than normal. This often leads to further adjustment visits conducted with no local anesthetic. To feel the function of your teeth and jaw “normally”. 
The same principle should apply when evaluating balance, alignment, or movement in a heavily sedated horse. What you see during sedation may not perfectly reflect what happens when the horse is fully awake, carrying normal muscle tone, and using all of the structures that naturally help stabilize and position the body.
**This doesn’t mean sedation does not have an important role—it absolutely does! It simply means that any assessment made under sedation should be understood within the context of how dramatically sedation can alter normal muscle function and biomechanics.
