Acute pain in horses can lead to intense physical and psychological suffering, and even require euthanasia.

To find ways to better manage pain in horses, researchers have been studying a technique that involves inserting continuous peripheral nerve block (CPNB) catheters along nerves in the horse’s front limb to relieve pain.

Bernd Driessen, DVM, DrMedVet, Dipl. ECVPT, Dipl. ACVA, associate professor of anesthesia at the University of Pennsylvania, said the CPNB method could potentially mean the difference between life and death if it helps prevent the development of laminitis, a painful and often deadly complication which can be caused by an unbalanced distribution of weight.

Driessen was a member of the veterinary team that worked to save Barbaro after his injury at the Preakness Stakes. Barbaro fractured several bones in his right hind leg and eventually developed laminitis so severe that he had to be euthanized