Osteoarthritis is one of the most common causes of chronic pain and performance limitation in horses. Early diagnosis and multimodal management significantly improve quality of life for affected animals.
Osteoarthritis causes chronic, progressive pain that accumulates over a horse's working life and often goes underdiagnosed until advanced. Horses with early joint disease continue working at levels that exacerbate damage because subtle gait changes are difficult to detect without specialist assessment. The welfare imperative is early diagnosis through systematic lameness screening and imaging, followed by multimodal management that combines appropriate analgesia, joint treatment, farriery, and workload modification. Horses asked to perform at high levels despite chronic joint pain are experiencing sustained welfare harm. Retirement or reduction in work demands is sometimes the most welfare-responsible management decision, particularly for horses whose performance demands exceed what their joint health can support.