Horse Tendon Injury Prevention | Animal Welfare Hub

Tendon injuries in sport horses are among the most common career-ending conditions. Understanding prevention strategies reduces the welfare burden of this painful injury.

Key Facts

Superficial digital flexor tendon injuries account for over 30% of all soft tissue injuries in racehorses
Cumulative microtrauma from repeated loading precedes most catastrophic tendon injuries
Fatigue is a major risk factor; tendon injury risk increases significantly toward the end of exercise bouts
Conditioning programmes that progressively load tendons support collagen adaptation and injury resistance
Surface monitoring and avoidance of very hard or deep going reduces loading risk

Welfare Considerations

Tendon injuries cause severe acute pain and consign horses to months of restricted exercise with associated psychological welfare costs. Prevention through appropriate conditioning, fatigue management, and surface monitoring reduces both the incidence of this painful injury and the welfare burden of prolonged rehabilitation. High-speed galloping when fatigued on hard or uneven ground represents the highest risk condition; monitoring and reducing exposure in these conditions has clear welfare benefit.

What You Can Do

Implement progressive training load increases that allow tendon adaptation over weeks and months
Monitor going conditions and reduce high-speed work on hard or rough surfaces
Avoid training high-speed work when horses show fatigue signs
Use ultrasound monitoring proactively for high-performance horses to detect subclinical changes
Allow full rehabilitation before return to full work after any tendon injury or sore tendon episode