When your horse’s joints become stressed or diseased, you might hear your veterinarian talk about osteoarthritis (OA) or degenerative joint disease (DJD). Simply put, OA and DJD, in the natural progression of the disease process, are the degeneration of the cartilage and the synovial membrane, creating synovitis and bone remodeling. In the athletic horse, this degeneration of the cartilage is caused by reactive forces on the joint from the interaction of the horse’s conformation and the ground surface he is working on. It can also be caused by a traumatic wound incident involving the joint. But for our purposes, let’s focus on keeping joints healthy in the long run. Horses of any age can be affected by this issue, but you should be considerate of weight management, shoeing intervals and…
