Shoeing strategies during injury recovery play a critical role in determining long-term soundness and reinjury risk. Rather than simply unloading injured structures, farriers must focus on restoring normal elasticity, preserving range of motion and supporting progressive loading during healing.

This shift in approach reflects a growing understanding that elastic function and controlled mechanical stress are essential for proper tendon healing, challenging traditional methods that prioritize comfort alone and fail to address long-term tissue function.

Why Injury Mechanics Matter

Tendon and ligament injuries do not occur in isolation. They develop as a direct result of the specific forces placed on the limb during movement. Understanding how those forces vary between disciplines, footing conditions and movement patterns is essential when determining how to support the horse during rehabilitation.

As Dr. Matt Durham of Platinum Performance explained during his presentation at the 2026 International Hoof-Care Summit, injury patterns often reflect the mechanical demands of the horse’s job.

“One of the things to think about is that not all tendon and ligament injuries are the same,” Durham says. “A dressage horse, for example, places a tremendous amount of weight on the hind end, heavily loading the suspensory, which makes hind limb suspensory injuries relatively common…