Preventing tendon injuries in horses through appropriate conditioning, training surfaces and management reduces the welfare burden of one of the most common serious sport horse conditions.
Tendon injury prevention welfare requires understanding of the biomechanical principles governing tendon loading and adaptation. Tendons adapt to increasing loads over time, but this adaptation process requires adequate recovery periods between loading sessions. Training programs that increase workload too rapidly outpace adaptive capacity, creating micro-damage that accumulates to clinical injury. Surface quality affects tendon loading patterns — inconsistent, deep or excessively hard surfaces create abnormal loading that increases injury risk. Fatigue management is particularly important as tired horses show altered movement patterns that increase peak tendon forces. Proactive baseline ultrasonography enables early detection of sub-clinical tendon changes before they progress to clinical injury.