All horses can be negatively affected by their athletic disciplines. Wear and tear appears in all athletic horses. If you're doing either dressage or hunter/jumper, your horses are pressing off of their hocks and landing on four small legs with a heavy body."Arthritis is an unwelcome diagnosis for any horse, regardless of his discipline or occupation. Whether the condition appears suddenly after trauma or gradually with worsening stiffness, it means the same thing: Chronic inflammation has led to permanent degradation of the cartilage in a horse’s joints."(Meszoly). But horses aren't only affected physically. After a hard workout horses can start bleeding from their noses. These horses are called bleeders. It isn't a nose bleed but actually, blood coming from the lungs.(Coumbe) "According to the study, conducted by Frank Pellegrini, DVM, 63 percent of horses involved in competition sports, ranging from dressage to racing, suffered from colonic ulceration."(Hale). So, it's pretty safe to say that no matter the discipline, there are consequences and risks.
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