When injuries affect the complex knee (carpal) joints and surrounding soft tissues, they can compromise a horse’s long-term comfort and athletic performance. | Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse

Up to 90% of lamenesses affecting horses’ front legs stem from bone and soft tissue found from the fetlock joint down. This doesn’t mean, however, that the other 10% of injuries occurring higher up aren’t serious. In fact, when they affect the complex knee (carpal) joints and surrounding soft tissues, they can compromise a horse’s long-term comfort and athletic performance.

Why complex? Horses’ knees, which are the equivalent to our wrists, are each made up of two rows of bones that flex in three different places—though markedly less in the bottom joint. Add to that stack of bones an extensive network of tendons and ligaments, and you have a sophisticated structure that’s crucial to the horse’s athleticism … and also one that’s susceptible to injury.  

In this article we will review some equine knee problems owners and veterinarians encounter and how to manage them. We’ll start with those that horses are born with and move on to ones they can acquire