JCG Health Hub Conditions Directory

Horse Health Conditions

Browse practical, easy-to-understand information about common equine health conditions.

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Arthritis / Osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is particularly common in older horses, but it is not simply a condition of old age. It can occur in horses of any age and may be associated with previous injury, repeated loading, joint instability, conformation, intensive work or other joint disease. Although osteoarthritis cannot usually be reversed once established, appropriate veterinary treatment, management, exercise and nutritional support can

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Back Pain

Back pain should not automatically be assumed to originate in the back itself. Poor saddle fit, muscular strain, underlying orthopaedic problems, foot pain, altered movement and some medical conditions can all contribute. Important: Persistent, significant or unexplained back pain should be investigated by your veterinary surgeon. Treatment should be based on identifying the underlying cause rather than simply trying

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Bit & Bridle Fitting

A bit and bridle are much more than pieces of equipment used to steer or control a horse. Together they form part of the communication system between horse and rider and sit against some extremely sensitive areas of the horse's head and mouth. Correct fit matters.

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Bleeding

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Bringing a Horse Back Into Work

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Bruised Soles

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Bruising

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Building and Maintaining Topline

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Burns and Scalds

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Cellulitis

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Chiropractic & Manual Therapy

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Choke

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Choosing an Equine Dental Professional

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Colic

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Cuts and Grazes

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Dental Emergencies – When to Seek Help

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Diarrhoea

Supporting horse owners with practical information, early warning signs and appropriate nutritional support. Diarrhoea can range from mildly loose droppings to frequent, very watery faeces. While a temporary change in droppings may sometimes follow a change in diet, grazing or routine, significant or persistent diarrhoea should never simply be assumed to be a digestive upset.

EIPH

Exercise-Induced Pulmonary Haemorrhage (EIPH) is bleeding that occurs within a horse's lungs during or following strenuous exercise. You may also hear a horse with EIPH described as a “bleeder.”

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Equine Asthma

Equine asthma is a long-term inflammatory condition affecting the horse's lower airways — the tubes that carry air into and through the lungs. When these airways become inflamed, they can become more sensitive and reactive. The lining may swell, more mucus can be produced and the muscles surrounding the airways can tighten. Together, these changes make it more difficult for air to move freely through the lungs.

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Equine Dentistry

A horse’s mouth is a complex working system. The teeth, jaw, chewing muscles, tongue, gums and the way the upper and lower teeth meet all work together. Problems in any one part can affect comfort, chewing efficiency, ridden performance and, in some cases, the horse’s ability to maintain weight and condition.

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Equine Metabolic Syndrome

Equine Metabolic Syndrome

Equine Metabolic Syndrome, commonly shortened to EMS, is a metabolic condition in which a horse or pony has an abnormal response to insulin. This is known as insulin dysregulation.

Equine Physiotherapy

Physiotherapists, chiropractors, osteopaths and other appropriately qualified musculoskeletal practitioners can all play an important role in keeping horses comfortable, helping them recover following injury and supporting their movement and performance. But the different titles can be confusing.

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Eye Injuries

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Farriery & Hoof Care

The old saying “No foot, no horse” still contains an important truth. A horse's feet support its entire body, interact with the ground at every stride and influence how comfortably and efficiently the horse moves.

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Feeding a Horse in Light Work

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Gastric Health

Gastric Health

Gastric health describes the health, comfort and normal function of the horse’s stomach. The stomach begins the process of digesting food and produces acid to help break down the horse’s feed. Unlike people, horses produce gastric acid continuously, including during periods when they are not eating.

Gastric Ulcers / EGUS

Supporting horse owners with practical information, management guidance and nutritional support. Gastric ulcers are relatively common in horses, particularly where feeding, exercise, travel, stabling or other aspects of management increase exposure of the stomach lining to acid or place additional demands on its natural protective mechanisms.

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Hindgut Health

Your horse's hindgut plays a major role in digestion, particularly in breaking down fibre and helping the horse obtain energy from forage. Unlike some of the conditions covered within the JCG Health Hub, poor hindgut health is not a single disease or diagnosis. Changes in diet, management, stress, illness and other factors can affect the hindgut environment and the microorganisms living within it.

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Hives / Urticaria

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Hoof Abscesses

Important: Sudden severe lameness should not automatically be assumed to be a hoof abscess. Fractures, penetrating injuries and other serious conditions can produce similar signs. If your horse is severely lame, the cause is uncertain, or there is a wound or object penetrating the hoof, seek veterinary advice promptly.

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Hoof Cracks

Seek professional advice promptly if a hoof crack is associated with lameness, heat, swelling, bleeding, discharge, significant separation or movement of the hoof wall, or appears to extend into sensitive tissue. The hoof wall is a tough but continuously growing structure that bears and distributes substantial forces every time the horse moves.

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Horse Owner’s First Aid

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Hyperlipemia

Supporting horse owners with practical information about recognising risk, seeking veterinary help and supporting appropriate nutritional management. Hyperlipemia is a potentially serious metabolic condition in which very high levels of fat enter the bloodstream. It can occur when a horse, pony or donkey is not consuming enough energy and the body begins mobilising large quantities of stored fat.

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Influenza

Equine influenza — usually called equine flu — is a highly contagious viral infection affecting the horse's respiratory system. It can spread very quickly wherever horses mix, including livery yards, competition venues, training yards, sales, studs and equestrian events. Horses can also potentially encounter infection without travelling themselves if infected horses, people or contaminated equipment introduce the vir

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Insulin Dysregulation

FreeStep nutritional support for this condition: [Lamialert] · [Lamialert CSH] Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas. One of its important roles is helping regulate the amount of glucose circulating in the blood.

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Joint Mobility and Stiffness

Joint Mobility and Stiffness

Joint stiffness is usually noticed when movement becomes less free. Your horse may take longer to loosen up, appear less willing to bend, struggle on tight circles, or seem more uncomfortable after rest, hard work, cold weather or travelling.

Lameness

It can be very obvious, with a horse clearly protecting one limb or being reluctant to bear weight on it. But it can also be extremely subtle — perhaps appearing only as stiffness, uneven movement, altered rhythm, reluctance to turn or an unexplained reduction in performance. Lameness is not a single disease. It tells us that something is affecting the horse's normal mobility or function. The changes we actually see

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Laminitis

Laminitis

Understand what laminitis is, recognise the early warning signs and learn the practical management steps that can support your horse.

Lice

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Ligament Injuries

A horse may be diagnosed with a suspensory ligament injury, proximal suspensory desmitis, collateral ligament injury, check ligament injury or another ligament problem. These names can sound complicated, but understanding where the affected structure is and what it normally does can make the diagnosis much easier to understand.

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Lumps and Swellings

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Maintaining a Healthy Digestive System

A horse’s digestive system is designed for frequent intake of fibre-rich food and almost continuous movement. Modern management can sometimes be very different, with restricted turnout, meal feeding, concentrates, travel, competition and changes in routine all potentially affecting digestive health.

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Maintaining Joint & Muscle Health

Healthy movement depends on much more than the joints alone. Bones, joints, muscles, tendons and ligaments all work together, while the horse's feet, body condition, workload, fitness and recovery also influence how comfortably the horse moves. Maintaining joint and muscle health is therefore not simply something to think about when a horse becomes older or develops a problem. It is part of everyday management throug

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Mallenders & Sallenders

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Managing a Horse on Box Rest

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Managing an Overweight Horse or Good Doer

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Managing Restricted Grazing

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Managing Weight Through Spring Grass

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Melanoma

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Metabolic Laminitis

Laminitis is a painful and potentially serious condition affecting the sensitive structures that support the pedal bone within the hoof. When metabolic factors are involved, controlling the underlying metabolic problem is an important part of reducing the risk of further episodes. Laminitis describes inflammation and damage within the lamellae of the hoof — the specialised tissues that help suspend the pedal bone ins

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Mites

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Mud Fever

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Muscle Disorders

Healthy muscles are essential for much more than athletic performance. They help your horse move, maintain posture, stabilise joints, support the back and carry a rider comfortably. Muscle problems can range from relatively simple soreness or loss of condition to specific disorders affecting the way muscle cells produce and use energy.

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My Horse Has a Dull Coat

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My Horse Has Itchy Skin

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My Horse Has Loose Droppings

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My Horse Has Poor Hoof Quality

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My Horse Has Suddenly Gone Off Its Feed

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My Horse Has Swollen Legs

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My Horse is Anxious or Difficult to Settle

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My Horse is Drinking More Than Usual

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My Horse is Losing Muscle

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My Horse is Stiff

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My Horse is Sweating Excessively

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My Horse Isn’t Performing as Well as Usual

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My Horse Keeps Coughing

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My Horse Keeps Getting Hoof Abscesses

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My Horse Needs to Gain Weight

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My Horse Seems Lethargic

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Obesity

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Persistent Coughing

An occasional cough does not necessarily mean that a horse is unwell. Horses may cough briefly when dust or other material irritates the airways. But a cough that keeps returning, happens regularly during exercise, appears at particular times of day or continues over several days can be telling you that something is affecting the respiratory system.

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Photosensitisation

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Pneumonia

Unlike a simple cough or mild airway irritation, pneumonia can make a horse systemically unwell. Early veterinary assessment is therefore important. Pneumonia affects: The lungs and lower respiratory tract

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Poor Hoof Quality

Poor hoof quality is not a single disease. It is a description owners may use when the hoof wall becomes brittle, crumbly, weak, slow growing or prone to breaking, splitting and losing shoes. Hoof horn grows slowly, so changes made today may take several months to become clearly visible. Good hoof quality depends on much more than simply feeding a hoof supplement: nutrition, farriery or trimming, environment, workloa

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PPID (Cushings Disease)

PPID (Cushings Disease)

🩺 What is PPID? PPID stands for Pituitary Pars Intermedia Dysfunction. It is a hormonal condition involving part of the pituitary gland, which is located at the base…

PPID / Cushing’s

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Preparing Your Horse for Winter

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Proud Flesh

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Rain Scald

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Respiratory Allergies

Horses breathe enormous volumes of air, particularly during exercise. Along with that air they can inhale tiny particles from hay, bedding, arena surfaces, pollen, mould spores and the general stable environment. For some horses, these particles cause much more than an occasional cough. Their airways can become irritated and inflamed and may narrow or produce additional mucus, making it harder for air to move freely.

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Respiratory Health

Respiratory Health

🫁 What is respiratory health? Respiratory health describes the normal function, comfort and resilience of the horse's respiratory system. The respiratory system brings oxygen into the body and…

Ringworm

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Saddle Fitting

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Sand Accumulation

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Sarcoids

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Signs Your Horse May Have a Dental Problem

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Strangles

Strangles is one of the best-known infectious diseases of horses. It is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi subspecies equi, often shortened by vets to Strep. equi or S. equi. The infection commonly affects the lymph nodes — the small glands involved in the immune system — around the horse's head and throat. These can become enlarged, painful and filled with pus, sometimes forming abscesses that eventually bur

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Stress and Anxiety

Stress and Anxiety

🧠 What are stress and anxiety? Stress prepares the horse to respond to a demand, challenge or possible threat. In the short term this is normal and useful.…

Supporting an Older Horse

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Sweet Itch

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Tendon Injuries

Tendons are strong, slightly elastic bands of tissue that connect muscles to bones. They transfer the force produced by the muscles so that the horse's joints and limbs can move. In the lower limb, some tendons also act rather like springs. They stretch slightly as the limb takes weight and then release that stored energy as the horse moves forward. This is one reason horses can move so efficiently – but it also mean

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Thrush

Thrush is often associated with wet, dirty conditions, but environment is only part of the picture. Hoof shape, frog health, movement, trimming or shoeing, and how effectively the hoof cleans itself can all influence whether thrush develops. Thrush is an infection affecting the soft tissues of the frog, particularly the grooves running alongside the frog and the central groove between the heels.

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Tying-Up

“Tying up” is the commonly used name for an episode in which a horse develops painful muscle damage, usually associated with exercise. You may also hear your vet describe it as exertional rhabdomyolysis (ER). In everyday language, this means that muscle cells have been damaged during or around exercise and their normal contents begin to leak into the bloodstream.

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Understanding Common Dental Findings

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Understanding Your Horse’s Dental Health

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When to Call the Vet

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White Line Disease

Early recognition, removal of damaged horn and correction of the factors that allowed the separation to develop are important parts of successful management. White line disease is a condition in which the inner layers of the hoof wall become separated and damaged.

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Worms & Parasites

Supporting horse owners with practical information on parasite testing, pasture management and responsible worm control. This conditions page gives you an overview of worms and parasites in horses. Our downloadable Worms & Parasites User Guide provides more detailed information to help you develop a practical parasite-control programme for your horse.

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Wounds

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