Attendees of the Western Performance Horse Sunrise Session at the 2003 American Association of Equine Practitioners' convention were greatly interested in lameness problems that plague Western performance horses. Moderators Jerry Black, DVM, past president of the AAEP and a senior partner of Pioneer Equine Hospital in Northern California; and Scott Taylor, DVM, from the Arizona Equine Medical and Surgical Center in Gilbert, Ariz.; fielded questions from the audience of veterinarians, technicians, and veterinary students in the informal discussion.

Common Lameness Problems

Tarsitis (hock inflammation) is a common problem for Western performance horses since they use their hind ends heavily during events such as reining and cutting. Black believes that a large percentage of high-performance Western performance horses have this problem. He said it is hard to keep these horses in training for futurity events since they are worked so hard.

Taylor agreed that hind limb problems, especially hock problems, are the majority of his cases, making up 60% of the lameness problems he sees. He said that another 20% turn out to be problems with the stifle, and other problems make up the other 20% of his cases