Biomarkers have the potential to be used as a screening aid prior to musculoskeletal injury.

Carpal and MCP/MTP joint injuries are an important cause of morbidity in Thoroughbred racehorses. Identification of modifiable risk factors for these injuries may reduce their incidence.

Trauma to the MFT joint may lead to both meniscal and subchondral bone damage of the medial femoral condyle that may be recognised concurrently or sequentially.

Future work should include a study of components of the synthetic track responsible for the change and epidemiological association of risk of injury.

Radiographic contrast studies were used in 50 forelimbs from 13 live horses and 12 fresh adult cadavers to determine the frequency of communication between the navicular bursa and the distal interphalangeal joint. Injections of contrast medium were made into the dorsal aspect of the distal interphalangeal joint of one limb and into the navicular bursa of the other forelimb of each horse. In 25 limbs in which contrast medium was injected into the distal interphalangeal joint, no communication was demonstrated between the joint and the navicular bursa. In 20 of the 25 limbs in which injection was made into the navicular bursa, no communication between joint and bursa was seen. In five horses, contrast medium was visible in both the distal interphalangeal joint and the navicular bursa. However, in four of five horses the communication was clearly iatrogenic. In both limbs of one horse, contrast medium was seen to enter the digital flexor tendon sheath after injection into the navicular bursa. There is probably no naturally occurring communication between the navicular bursa and distal interphalangeal joint in the horse.

Veterinarians examining presale radiographs at cutting horse sales should expect a high prevalence of radiographic changes in this population of horses. Work to determine the clinical relevance of these radiographic changes is currently ongoing.