Often experience tells us that we can't go wrong with pasture rest, when it comes to healing our horses. But could pasture rest alone be the ideal treatment for stress remodelling in horses' cannon bones? According to the results of a recent study by a team from Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital, in Lexington, Ky., turning a horse diagnosed with stress remodelling--a relatively common cause of lameness--out to pasture could allow him the best chance to return to his previous level of work.
Described by lead researcher Travis M. Tull, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, a "cumulative stress-induced bone injury" throughout the study, stress remodelling is a process in which a bone tries to adapt its structure when exercise demands exceed what it can handle. Such remodelling likely predisposes the horse to injury: "If the bone cannot adapt fast enough to the stress of training and racing, horses can develop microstructural or microscopic pathology, leading to lameness, condylar fracture, and fetlock arthritis," Tull explained.
Stress remodelling is often to blame for lameness and poor performance in Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses. Stress remodelling can affect other types of performance horses, however Tull noted that cannon bone involvement is not as common in disciplines besides racing.
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