Long-term follow-up studies of regenerative therapy in equine tendon injuries are revealing which horses and injury types benefit most, enabling more targeted welfare-conscious treatment decisions.
Longer-term outcome data for regenerative therapy in equine tendons is now beginning to provide welfare-relevant evidence about which approaches genuinely reduce re-injury rates rather than just improving short-term healing appearance. The most meaningful welfare outcome is whether horses experience fewer repeated acute injury events over their athletic careers — each recurrence causing significant pain and welfare cost. Current evidence suggests genuine benefit from mesenchymal stem cell therapy in appropriately selected cases, particularly superficial digital flexor tendon injuries. This represents a meaningful welfare advance over the era of empirical rehabilitation without biological enhancement of repair quality. As evidence matures, more precise treatment selection criteria will enable even better welfare outcomes by matching therapy to injury type and individual healing trajectory.