YOUR HORSE'S CARE VETNOTES | THE LATEST ON TENDONS
IT MAY BE stating the obvious, but without tendons the horse would be unable to move. A horse's tendons have two main functions — they transmit force from the muscle to the bone to create movement, while some, such as the superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT), act like springs so that when a horse is trotting, cantering, or galloping they stretch when his foot lands on the ground and then they recoil, which propels the limb and saves energy.
Horses’ limb tendons are elongated, and are far longer than any tendons that can be found in the human body. Tendons are composedmainly of collagen molecules that are arranged into fascicles, meaning that the tendon itself is not unlike a rope, with these highly aligned fascicles bound together by the interfascicular matrix.
Why are tendons injured so easily?
Horses are athletes, with the majority taking part in some kind of activity. If we compare horses to human athletes we tend to see similar injury levels in similar structures in the human body.
In the forelimb, the SDFTs need to be particularly strong tosurprising that more horses don't injure them.
