Tendon injuries are among the most common and frustrating conditions in sport horses, requiring months of careful rehabilitation. Understanding the biology of tendon healing guides welfare-centered recovery management.
Tendon injury recovery creates a difficult welfare balance. The acute injury phase involves pain and swelling that require appropriate analgesia and management. Extended box rest, while necessary to protect healing tissue, causes its own welfare burden: horses are highly motivated to move and social animals who suffer from confinement. Stereotypic behaviors like box walking and weaving often emerge during prolonged box rest. Progressive rehabilitation — carefully graduated exercise increase guided by ultrasound findings — provides both physical therapeutic benefit and behavioral relief. The temptation to return horses to work prematurely, driven by economic or competitive pressures, frequently leads to re-injury that extends the period of suffering and welfare compromise.