Not every tendon injury starts with a bad step. In fact, most don’t.
Soft tissue failure usually begins long before there’s heat, swelling, or lameness. It starts with microstrain, tiny, repeated stresses that quietly weaken tendon fibers over time. In performance horses, this kind of wear happens every day, through hundreds of hours of training, small footing changes, and repeated loading cycles. The horse looks sound. The leg feels normal. But the structure underneath is beginning to fray.
Understanding and managing microstrain is what separates horses who stay sound season after season from those who break down when the workload increases
What Microstrain Actually Means
Microstrain isn’t an injury you can see or feel. It’s the result of repeated mechanical load exceeding the tendon’s ability to fully recover between sessions. Each time the horse trains, a small number of collagen fibers stretch or tear at the microscopic level. Normally, the body repairs these quickly. But when the horse’s schedule outpaces its recovery, the body doesn't have adequate time to heal and repair these tears. The body starts building small areas of disorganized, weaker tissue.
It’s the same concept as fatigue in a material: bend it enough times, and it loses its strength long before it breaks.
The Compounding Effect of Time
The body’s repair system can only handle so much. If the tendon doesn’t get full recovery between cycles of work, microstrain turns into microdamage, then fibrosis, then reinjury risk. This process can take months or years, but by the time visible signs appear, the damage has already been building. That’s why older performance horses often show “wear-and-tear” injuries even with good management, the small stresses were simply never addressed early.
Preventing microstrain from turning into real injury means paying attention long before the ultrasound ever shows an injury.
How to Protect Tendons from Microstrain
The best protection is structure, in both training and recovery. Tendons need time and support to remodel between work. This means varying the workload, adjusting for footing, and allowing the body to adapt before increasing demand.
Consistent nutritional and therapeutic support plays a major role, too. Collagen synthesis, hydration, and fiber alignment depend on the right building blocks being available when the body repairs. Supporting this process daily helps maintain the integrity of the tendon through repeated use. Tendonall helps maintain tendon strength and fiber integrity through daily use, supporting healthy adaptation under consistent training.
Soundness isn’t lost in one bad step, it’s worn away through a thousand small ones. Microstrain is the invisible layer of work every performance horse accumulates, and managing it early is the key to long careers and consistent results. The most successful programs don’t just react to injuries, they prevent them by supporting tendon strength before damage begins.
The Hidden Cost of Repeated Microstrain in Performance Horses
Not every tendon injury starts with a bad step. In fact, most don’t.
Soft tissue failure usually begins long before there’s heat, swelling, or lameness. It starts with microstrain, tiny, repeated stresses that quietly weaken tendon fibers over time. In performance horses, this kind of wear happens every day, through hundreds of hours of training, small footing changes, and repeated loading cycles. The horse looks sound. The leg feels normal. But the structure underneath is beginning to fray.
Understanding and managing microstrain is what separates horses who stay sound season after season from those who break down when the workload increases
What Microstrain Actually Means
Microstrain isn’t an injury you can see or feel. It’s the result of repeated mechanical load exceeding the tendon’s ability to fully recover between sessions. Each time the horse trains, a small number of collagen fibers stretch or tear at the microscopic level. Normally, the body repairs these quickly. But when the horse’s schedule outpaces its recovery, the body doesn't have adequate time to heal and repair these tears. The body starts building small areas of disorganized, weaker tissue.
It’s the same concept as fatigue in a material: bend it enough times, and it loses its strength long before it breaks.
The Compounding Effect of Time
The body’s repair system can only handle so much. If the tendon doesn’t get full recovery between cycles of work, microstrain turns into microdamage, then fibrosis, then reinjury risk. This process can take months or years, but by the time visible signs appear, the damage has already been building. That’s why older performance horses often show “wear-and-tear” injuries even with good management, the small stresses were simply never addressed early.
Preventing microstrain from turning into real injury means paying attention long before the ultrasound ever shows an injury.
How to Protect Tendons from Microstrain
The best protection is structure, in both training and recovery. Tendons need time and support to remodel between work. This means varying the workload, adjusting for footing, and allowing the body to adapt before increasing demand.
Consistent nutritional and therapeutic support plays a major role, too. Collagen synthesis, hydration, and fiber alignment depend on the right building blocks being available when the body repairs. Supporting this process daily helps maintain the integrity of the tendon through repeated use. Tendonall helps maintain tendon strength and fiber integrity through daily use, supporting healthy adaptation under consistent training.
Soundness isn’t lost in one bad step, it’s worn away through a thousand small ones. Microstrain is the invisible layer of work every performance horse accumulates, and managing it early is the key to long careers and consistent results. The most successful programs don’t just react to injuries, they prevent them by supporting tendon strength before damage begins.