Page 90 - Barrel Stallion Register 2023

EQUINE HEALTH
“After front ankles and hocks, probably the next most common injuries in barrel horses would be a toss-up between stifles and coffin joints (in front feet),” says Peters. “The stifle
is built like the human knee. In an athletic horse, it would be like a football player straining his knees. Coming into the barrels, stopping, turning, and pushing off at full speed puts a lot of stress on stifles. The stifles are very important in this action and can become sprained or develop ligament injuries or tear the meniscus.”
If the stifles get sore, the horse won’t want to stop and turn quickly. It will be painful to slide into that stop and sit back and turn and push off.
Also stressed are coffin joints in the front feet. “As the horse comes into the barrel and plants the front feet and rotates, the collateral ligaments at the front of the coffin bone take the brunt of that stress and rotation. Also, direct concussion in the cartilage of the joint itself can be a factor as the foot is jammed into the ground. Thus, the stifle and front coffin joints are readily injured,” says Peters.
Similarly, the pastern joint (between the coffin bone and short pastern bone directly above it) can also be strained. “It takes some of the twisting motion, too, though it’s not as common for this joint to be injured. If it gets strained, we may see ringbone-type changes in that area. This would develop over a longer time, in an older horse—with repeated twisting and concussion. You might look at radiographs taken for some other purpose and notice some ringbone. Over time, stress has taken its toll, and it may or may not make the horse sore. This is another high load, low motion joint, similar to the lower joints of the hocks,” Peters explains. There’s not a lot
of movement in the pastern joint, but there is some—which is important for the rotational aspect of the horse’s action around the barrels.
Coming into the barrels, stopping, turning and pushing off at full speed puts stress on stifles and can cause sprains or tears.
“So in order of importance and frequency, I would say the joints most affected in barrel horses are the front ankles, then the lower joints of the hocks, then the stifle and front coffin joints at about the same frequency, and lastly the pastern joint,” says Peters.
“Joint trauma is something we continually address, as veterinarians,” says Carpenter.
Any time there’s an insult to the joint,
you need accurate diagnosis and early intervention with treatment to try to prolong that athlete’s career. A thorough lameness evaluation by a veterinarian is important, and imaging—whether something simple that the veterinarian has in the back of the truck, like digital x-ray or ultrasound, or something more advanced like MRI, CT or PET (positron emission tomography) scan. These can be helpful in accurately classifying the type of trauma that has occurred, and this can help guide us on what would be the best course of action moving forward,” says Carpenter.
TREATMENTS
Today there are dozens of treatments for joint problems. Some are therapeutic, aimed
at helping an injured joint heal or to minimize pain and inflammation within a diseased joint, while others are prophylactic and given to the horse to try to prevent joint injury and damage.
“With an acute chip fracture/fragment
in the front ankles, we have to remove those surgically. After that, we would try to protect that joint as much as possible, using things like joint supplements and some of the injections like HA (hyaluronic acid) and Adequan, etc. We are trying to guard against and minimize secondary arthritic changes on down the road,” says Peters.
There are a number of different medical therapies. According to Carpenter, the old tried- and-true method is to use the corticosteroids that have been around for a long time. “These
include Depo Medrol (Methylprednisolone),
“The joints most affected in barrel horses are the front ankles, then the lower joints of the hocks, then the stifle and front coffin joints at about the same frequency, and lastly the pastern joint.”
– Dr. Duncan Peters
A thorough lameness evaluation by a veterinarian is important to accurately classify the type of trauma that has occurred, and this can help as a guide to the best course of action moving forward.
Dr. Duncan Peters performing an injection on a coffin joint.
88 SPEEDHORSE