01/19/2026
For those who have seen injection posts circulating FB that are negative about injections please read this!
Dr. Holmes is our own personal equine DVM. Iโve learned tons on how to maintain the joints all our 5 horses. So many options, equine medicine is always improving. And yes, that includes X-raying our youngest horse at the age of 2 and injecting a suspicious joint.
It always takes a team to maintain your horses. โค๏ธ
๐๐๐ญโ๐ฌ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ง๐ค ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฆ๐ ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ฌ ๐๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐จ๐ข๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ.
๐๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก #๐: Once you start joint injections, you must continue them forever.
Although this idea was more prevalent in the past, veterinary medicine has made remarkable progress. Today high-quality diagnostic tools enable us to detect joint changes, soft tissue injuries and early arthritis sooner than ever before. These advancements align with significant improvements in nutrition, rehabilitation strategies and therapeutic aids.
Joint injections no longer represent a one-way path or a lifelong obligation. When applied correctly, they form one part of a comprehensive management plan. On top of that veterinarians now offer a broad array of options:
- ๐๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐ข๐๐จ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ข๐๐ฌ
- ๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐๐ฌ
- ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฅ๐จ๐ ๐ข๐๐ฌ
- ๐๐ฒ๐ง๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฌ
Each of these plays a role in caring for performance horses. Treatments can be customized to the specific horse, joint, diagnosis and disease stage. Early detection often leads to improved long-term results and reduced need for repeat procedures.
This brings us to...
๐๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก #๐: You shouldnโt inject young horses.
We have seen a lot of success injecting horses at the beginning of their careers and often when we treat a joint early we are able to halt degeneration of that joint.
For those who believe joint injections should be delayed based solely on a horseโs age, itโs important to recognize that postponing treatment for joint pain/inflammation can allow the problem to progress. As discomfort increases, horses often begin to compensate - shifting load to other limbs or joints - to protect the affected area. Over time, this compensation can lead to secondary lameness and involvement of additional joints - turning a single, manageable issue into a more complex, multi-joint problem. In these cases, treatment may ultimately need to be more frequent and more extensive than if the issue had been addressed earlier.
๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐๐ฒ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฏ๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐งโ๐ฌ ๐ ๐จ๐๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ข๐ง๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ซ๐๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐๐ ๐ง๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ญ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ข๐ง ๐๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง ๐๐๐๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ซ๐จ๐ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ซ๐ข๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง.
