Author: Dr Karin Leibbrandt at Equitopia Centre
As a veterinarian, I have been confronted with many cases of lameness – especially in the front legs; tendon injuries, problems in the navicular area or the fetlock joints. What has often suprised me is the age of the horses. Young horses were already struggling with lameness and back pain. The cure for these problems was rarely very effective, or in the case of tendon injuries, the problems would return very often.
This is why I started to search for answers. Why do horses get lame? Why do they suffer from back pain and osteoartritis at the base of the neck? And since we can not cure this very succesfully, how can we prevent it?
The answer was simple and difficult at the same time. The cause is: “what we do with horses”. It’s the way we keep them, feed them, take care of their feet, the rider, the saddle and especially the training.