Tendon injuries are a leading cause of retirement and welfare compromise in sport horses and are significantly reducible through evidence-based conditioning programs.
Tendon injury prevention is a welfare investment in every performance horse. The training and conditioning decisions made during a horse early career determine its lifetime injury risk and career length. Horses worked too hard too young, conditioned without adequate rest and adaptation time, or competing on inappropriate surfaces accumulate micro-damage that eventually manifests as the career-ending injury that could have been prevented. A welfare-centered approach to horse conditioning prioritizes long-term soundness over short-term performance progression, uses monitoring tools to detect developing problems early, and respects the biological timeframe for tendon adaptation rather than the competitive calendar. Prevention requires a culture where a horse future soundness is valued as highly as current performance.