One of the oldest applications for cold lasers was equine therapy. Using lasers on horses was a great early introduction to the technology because the results are so clear and visible. Animals cannot get any placebo effect from cold laser therapy so when an animal changes it's stride or behavior immediately after a Low Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) session, you know it is working. This application has very different requirements than cold lasers for home use and low level therapy (LLLT) devices for office use.
One major difference is that there is no FDA clearance required for lasers used for equine therapy. This reduces the cost of cold lasers can be lower. However, it also means some products are sold on the market with no validation or quality standards. A system that does both horses and humans typically are higher quality. Here are other some factors that are more critical in equine therapy equipment:

• Maximum Portability: Plugging in to A/C power is not an option in some barns or fields. Systems with bigger internal battery will allow for shorter treatment times and ease of treating multiple areas.
• Power: Due to the losses through the hair, the depth and total size of the treatment area, the power requirement are typically much higher than on humans..
• Dark Hair: Overheating the tissue/hair is a big issue with dark hair. Larger treatment heads can solve this problem by applying the dosage over a larger area keeping things cool. We like the 4-inch diameter emitter the best
• Long Emitter Cords: For class-4 systems with a cable between the emitter and the base, it should be a long as possible. The standard 5 ft cord can make it a challenge get to all areas on a horse.
• Protocols: The dosage pulsing and other factors can be radically different for humans, dogs and horses. The best protocols are specific to horse.
• Wavelength Diversity: Laser can treat a wider variety of problems if they have more wavelengths. Everyone wants 810nm for deep ATP production. 630-600nm is best for saddle sores, cuts and bruises. Use 980 and 1064 for pain, 915nm for blood absorption that travels through the body and 450nm is antibacterial and antiviral.

Some products like Powermedic, Avant, and Thor are FDA cleared for use on humans but are also sold for equine applications. The ReGen Laser and EVOlaser systems allow users to enter a code at startup that automatically switches between human and animal protocols so there is never any confusion. Apollo products have different protocol manuals for human, equine and veterinary purposes.

We do not recommend systems like the ATPmax for equine because it lacks a battery. Buyers must rely on the specifications and the reputation of the company, that are not FDA cleared, to build, test, and support their product to make sure they are delivering on their specifications. A non-FDA cleared device can save you money if you are willing to take the risk.

Selecting an Equine Cold Laser

The following outlines different factors to take into account when selecting the best cold laser for equine therapy.

Wavelength: One of the biggest decisions to consider when buying an equine laser is which wavelengths are best. Since wavelength determines the depth of penetration, selecting the proper wavelength is critical. There is NOT one perfect wavelength for equine applications but studies show that 800 to 860nm is the best option for most therapies. For some applications (like superficial damage, abrasions, hoofs and cuts) Red (600 to 640nm) is the better wavelength. 905nm also provides efficient energy transfer to the cells and deep penetration. In general, 980nm became popular because the diodes are cheap as they are used in surgical lasers since most of the energy is converted into heat to cut and cauterize (just search on 980nm surgical laser to see why they are such bad therapy lasers). You can read more about different wavelengths and how they have different interactions with the tissue here.

Broad and Fine Area Therapy: Lasers with broad coverage heads allow for treating a large area directly and evenly. More advanced practitioners also use laser acupuncture to treat the meridians in order to manipulate the energy levels in the body, trigger points to treat the muscular system and the lymph system associated with the problem. In general, using a single non-divergent laser beam like you get in lower-end products is like trying to color in a full sheet of paper with a fine-tip ball point pen. The coverage is so random and uneven that it can not deliver consistent results. For most applications, you want a larger treatment area so a more powerful system or a system with multiple diodes is recommended.

Durability and Portability: Cold Lasers for Veterinary and Equine usage are often grouped together, however there is a big difference between these products. The biggest difference is that equine cold lasers need to be very rugged and sometimes portable. Electronics tend to take a much bigger beating in the barn than in a sterile veterinary office. Higher power class 4 laser system (10 watts and up) must be kept in a clean environment so they should not be stored in a barn. Small particles of dust can heat up from the laser energy and damage the laser. As long as the system is stored in a clean area, higher power system are fine.

Power: If you spend much time on ColdLasers.Org, you will see that we don't try to up-sell everyone on more power. With more power comes more risk. Even with a giant budget, it still may be best to get a lower power laser. That being said, things are a bit different in the equine market. Provided that you use the product properly, power is more important. Many horse injuries have large overall tissue damage that is both broad and deep. Having higher power means you can cover a large area faster and deeper. We never recommend no less than 400mW or more than 15,000mW for equine applications.

Pulsing and Continuous Wave: In general, the consensus is that pulsing is better for most application and continuous wave is best for rebuilding nervous system damage (See Study Here). Pulsing the laser adds an additional mechanism for stimulating the cells and helps keep the body from adapting to the light input. This means that a horse with chronic problems that require long-term therapy might start to see declining results with a CW (Continuous Wave) laser. If you can afford it, we recommend buying a laser that does both pulsing and continuous wave output as these systems are more flexible. At lower power levels, pulsing is even more important so the worst option is a low-power continuous-wave only systems. (Read More about pulsing and CW advantages)

Comparing Equine Lasers

The following table includes lasers that we sell on ColdLasers.Org as well as other popular lasers. We are not dissing or recommending these other products. We feel it is important for you to know all your options before you buy a product. We have done our best to accurately show their specifications but some companies like to keep their specs a secret. There are many other products that primarily target other markets and can be used for equine therapy, we have not included those products in our table. Options are listed in order of decreasing power. We left out a lot of non-battery operated (desktop) options that might not stand up to the environmental requirements of an equine laser.

Product	Pulse / CW Inc FDA*1	System Type/ Inc Equine Protocols	Power Waveform and Wavelength	Multi- Wave*2	Warranty	Price
Class 3b (sorted by decreasing power and number of wavelengths)
PowerMedic Basic 1500	Pulse Only	Hand held cordless Through App	1500mW@808nm	Single	2 years	$3995
Avant LZ30z	CW & Pulsed	Hand held cordless Through App	1400mW@808nm 1000mW @ 637nm	Dual	3 years	$7,200
Avant LZ30x	CW & Pulsed	Hand held cordless Through App	1000mW@808nm 250mW @ 637nm	Dual	3 years	$6,250
Thor DDv- Vet Only (with probes)	CW & Pulsed (limited)	Cordless pack+ probes	P1: 1000mW@810nm P2:69 LED@660nm	Dual	5 year if you pay for service	$10,520 and Up
Avant LZ30p (for non professionals only)	CW & Pulsed	Hand held cordless Through App	600mW@808nm 80mW @ 637nm	Dual	3 years	$4,850
Laserex 3000 450a	CW & Pulsed	Handheld cordless color display, programmable	450mW@808nm	Single	2 years	$2,672
Vetrolaser	CW	Flashlight style	300mW@808nm	Single	1 year	$575
Microlight ML830	CW & Pulsed	Hand held cordless Through App	90mW @ 830nm	Single	1 year	$4950 to $8950
Class 4 (by decreasing power level and number of wavelengths)
ReGen H104	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Battery, Controller + Fiber Internal Protocols	2 W@660 20 W@810 20 W@910 20 W@980 20 W@980 20 W@1064 2 W@450nm	Hex	5 Year	$19,950
ReGen Q82	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	2 mW@650nm 20 W@810nm 40 W@810nm 20 W@980nm	Quad	5 Years	$19,950
ReGen D60	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	30 W@810nm 30 W@980nm	Dual	5 Years	$14,950
KLaser Vet Cube 4+	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	100mW @ 660 15W@ 810nm 15W @ 980nm 15W @ 920nm	Quad	5 Years	$27,000
ReGen S30	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	30W@810nm	Single	5 Years	$11,950
EVOlaser D30	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	15W @ 810nm 15W @ 980nm	Dual	5 Years	$12,995
EVOlaser Q27	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	200mW@635nm 9W@810nm 9W@980 9W@910	Quad	5 Years	$13,995
LiteCure Pegasus	CW, Pulsed (50% duty cycle only)	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	9W to 25W@ 980nm/810nm	Dual Fixed Blend	2 years	$17,000 to $45,000
EVOlaser S9	CW/ Pulse / Sweep	Controller/Fiber Internal Protocols	9W@810nm	Single	5 Years	$8,950
Apollo Portable +3000	CW	Portable pack + probes	3W@810nm	Single	2 years	$7,143

*1 FDA registered system typically are higher quality and also give users the option to use the laser on humans.
*2 In this table, multi-wavelength does not include the guide light (red laser/LED at 5mW) as it is designed to illuminate the treatment area and not treat it. Some low-end manufacturers list this in their specifications. This is deceiving.

Using the Laser

One of the last critical areas to consider when buying a system is the level of training that comes with the laser. Many systems from other sellers do not include adequate training on how to use the laser on horses. Every system that we sell includes the laser-therapy.us animal protocol library (You can see all the available protocols here). The laser-therapy system used the best practice of dynamically calculating the dosage based on key factors like the size and color of the horse. If you are using a printout of another statically created protocol, you need to get your calculator out or your dosage can be horribly wrong. Size, color, and therapy objective have a huge impact on calculating the optimum dosage for the best results. This is especially key for anyone who does not have experience using a laser on an animal. When you purchase any animal laser from ColdLasers.Org, we include the information that you need to properly treat animals using the current best practices.

Summary

For most cases, we recommend buying a 800nm to 860nm wavelength rugged laser with more than 500mW (1/2 watt) of power. Better systems will also have energy output in the RED spectrum. For treatment of superficial injures and hoofs, we recommend a cold laser that also operates in the 600nm - 680nm wavelength. Adding in some 980nm and 1064nm will give better pain control. The addition of 910nm will allow more of the energy to enter the bloodstream allowing better combo of effects. On the high end laser, Blue light is added for antibacterial and anti-viral benefits.

The Avant systems are highly recommended because they operate in both RED and IR plus they can do both pulsing and continuous wave. With the included light pipe, a skilled practitioner can also treat the horses meridians, acupoints and trigger points. That means, you have 4 different types of therapy you can use for treating a condition and that means even more amazing results. If you looking at lower-price systems, the Laserex 3000 are great performance for the price.

If you desire more power look at the EVOlaser as an entry level class 4. They cost 20% - 30% less than similar powered class-4 systems.

If you are looking for the pinnacle of laser technology, the ReGen laser have everything you need for equine therapy. The include an extra long fiber to reach larger horses, more power promote faster changes, more wavelength to treat a wider variety of issues, automatic surface temperature regulation to avoid overheating the therapy area and a battery so it can be easily used in the barn.

More on Selecting an Equine Cold Laser

Wavelength â??

Wavelength is a critical factor when selecting an equine laser because it determines the interaction with tissue and the depth of energy absorption. There is no single perfect wavelength for equine applications, but studies show that 800 to 860nm is the best option for deep penetration. For some applications, such as superficial damage, abrasions, hooves, and cuts, Red (600 to 640nm) is the better wavelength. 915nm also provides efficient energy transfer to the blood. While 980nm and 1064 became popular are good supplemental wavelength due to its pain and inflammation control properties. 450nm is the wavelength for antibacterial and antiviral applications

Battery-Powered Operation

Most handheld lasers are battery-operated, allowing for cordless operation and enhanced mobility. The Auburn University equestrian team has been using the Avant Lz30z model for years, praising its portability and effectiveness despite its lower power but class-4 battery operated systems like the ReGen Laser are rapidly become the choice of professionals.

â?? Here are a few reasons to buy from ColdLasers.Org

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	The Industries Best Protocol Library Every laser comes with the Laser-Therapy.US library. The app dynamically creates pictorial treatment plans for over 250 different conditions for humans, pets and horses.
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