Background: Similar to other high-level athletic disciplines, the western performance horse experiences a variety of orthopaedic conditions as a result of rigorous sport-specific physical demands. While musculoskeletal injury rates have been quantified in other equine disciplines, these data are lacking for the western performance athlete.
Objectives: To identify the most common anatomical regions of lameness in western performance horses being evaluated at the nation's largest sanctioned shows over a 10-year study period.
Study design: Retrospective review of clinical records.
Methods: Records of diagnostic analgesia of western performance horses competing at nationally sanctioned shows were retrospectively reviewed over a 10-year period to identify affected limb(s) and lameness localisation patterns.
Results: A total of 2267 lameness examinations on 2512 horses were included. The average lameness grade was 2.21/5 with 1504/2267 (56%) cases being primarily forelimb in origin while 1173/2267 (44%) were hindlimb related. Forelimb lameness localised to the distal limb in 40% of cases. The proximal metatarsus/distal tarsus was an identified source of lameness in 16% of cases, followed by the stifle in 9% of cases. All-around western performance horses most commonly presented with a single hindlimb lameness (315/1188, 26.5%) in contrast to reining horses that presented with a single forelimb lameness (135/616, 22%).
Discussion: Determining the source of lameness through diagnostic analgesia remains challenging, but the continued assessment of response to diagnostic analgesia may help characterise discipline-specific injuries in western performance horses.
Main limitations: Retrospective review of subjective responses to diagnostic analgesia.
Conclusions: The distal forelimb and distal tarsus/proximal metatarsus were the two most common anatomical regions of lameness based on response to diagnostic analgesia.
Keywords: diagnostic analgesia; horse; lameness; western performance horse.
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