Many of us have developed our 2025 competition plans by now, and at least some of us are working towards one or more marquee events. More of us still are looking forward to a fun and low-stress year in the company of our horses. Regardless of our goals, we all try to do the best to keep our sport horses pain-free and well throughout their performance careers.
It is therefore timely that The Horse magazine has published an article this month called “Promoting Longevity in Performance Horses: A Comprehensive Look at Supporting Soundness to Help Sport Horses Perform Into the Years Ahead,” by Lucile Vigouroux, MSc. Vigouroux holds a Masters of Science in equine performance, health, and welfare from Nottingham Trent University in England. Her article covers the following topics:
- Conformation
- General and Preventive Care
- Hoof Care
- Nutrition
- Training
- Rehabilitation
- Footing
She also reports on the recent research about the most common forms of musculoskeletal lameness in the various disciplines, as follows:
Dressage Horses: The most common cause of lameness is hind-end suspensory ligament injuries.
Event Horses: The most common causes of lameness are superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) and suspensory ligament injuries, “with soft tissue damage accounting for 45% of all injuries.”
Show Jumpers: The most common cause of lameness is forelimb flexor tendon injuries.
Both dressage horses and show jumpers also present frequently with lameness in the lower limbs, hoof bruising, navicular disease, and low-grade degenerative joint disease (DJD) of the fetlock, coffin, and hock joints in both dressage horses and show jumpers.
Read the article here for more of Vigouroux’s very useful information, as well as citations to the underlying research.
Have fun out there this year!
Photo sources: FEI.org and iStock