Equine Spine & Joint Care

08/23/2026

Old soft tissue injuries can be frustrating to live with. Fibrotic (scar) tissue does not stretch the same way that normal ligaments and tendons do. Think of a tendon or ligament like a bungee cord made up of a bunch of small rubber bands. All of these rubber bands have approximately the same ability to stretch. Now, if a few of the rubber bands break (tear in a tendon or ligament), they are repaired with rubber cement (fibrosis). Rubber cement is strong, but not very stretchy. If that bungee is then stretched maximally, the rubber cement tears away from the normal rubber bands.

The same thing happens in tendons and ligaments. This means that every time a ligament or tendon with fibrotic tissue is maximally stretched, some degree of reinjury occurs. Pain, edema, and sometimes new tears are the result.

Horses with this type of problem are usually not consistently lame at a trot. They tend to be the horses that have a great run or performance one day, then do slightly worse the next day, and even worse the third day. Or...they are the ones that do fine right after joint injections, but seem to get bad again about 3 weeks after injection.

A standard lameness exam that focuses on watching a horse trot, then uses blocking to localize pain is not a reliable way to find these chronic sources of pain. Because this type of reinjury doesn't generally cause a consistent limp, adequate musculoskeletal palpation is the best way to localize lesions. Finding these old, problematic injuries is a crucial part of managing expectations when it comes to performance.

The suspensory ligament in the pictures has a band of fibrosis (red arrows) surrounded by edema (outlined by yellow).

06/12/2026

Is Your Barrel Horse “Off” But Your Usual Vets Can’t Find It?

🚨 Barrel racers & rodeo pros — you know the frustration.

Your horse is knocking a tenth off, refusing the first barrel, losing rate, or just not firing like they used to… but flexion tests, nerve blocks, and x-rays come back “normal.”

That’s because many performance-limiting issues hide in the spine, pelvis, and subtle musculoskeletal imbalances that standard lameness exams miss.

Dr. Keith Taraba, DVM (Equine Spine & Joint Care) has spent 25+ years perfecting a complete static musculoskeletal palpation exam that “asks the horse where it hurts” — identifying problems earlier and more accurately than traditional methods.

From kissing spine and pelvic restrictions to compensatory forelimb/hindlimb issues that kill your run times, Dr. Taraba finds the root cause and builds targeted treatment plans with regenerative therapies, performance optimization, and advanced sports medicine care.

No more guessing. Get your horse sound, supple, and running at their peak — whether you’re chasing futurity wins, rodeo titles, or consistent 1D runs.

📍 Mobile across Texas (and beyond) — farm calls for serious competitors.

Text 903-855-3179 today to book your slot on Dr. Taraba’s next circuit. Limited availability.

04/12/2026

Attention Texas Panhandle!

Do you have a frustrating lameness issue or a horse that just isn't working right? Dr. Taraba will be in the Amarillo area this Monday and Tuesday (April 13 &14). We have a few appointment slots available.

Call or text for availability 903.855.3179

04/11/2026

We are here to listen to the whisper...

“He’s not in pain, we’ve had everything checked.”

If there is one phrase that will set me off faster than any other, it's this one, and I used to be someone who would say it.

You may have had a vet check, the dentist, farrier, physio and saddle fitter out, but that does not mean your horse is not in pain, it does not mean they are free from discomfort, it does not mean that the behaviour isn't stress related.

What it means is that you've checked all the tick boxes in your head and drawn the conclusion that it's ''just them''.

But the uncomfortable reality that a lot of people don't like to sit with is that your horse is communicating, and you aren't listening or understanding.

Horses communicate with us all the time, in tiny, sometimes unnoticeable ways if you aren't paying attention - a slight hesitation to go forward, tightening the jaw when you pick up the reins, the ears that flick back and stay there a bit too long, the tail swish, the head toss.

Those are whispers, and they are really easy to ignore if the horse still ''does the job''.

So we keep going, we kick on, we put the jumps up, we enter the test, because you've had 'everything checked'.

Now they're resisting, they're hollowing, bracing, refusing to go forwards.

We label it quirky, attitude, laziness, mareish, spicy, sharp and we kick on, we pick up a whip, put on some spurs, buy a titanium mask, swap the bit.

Then you get the explosions, the fly bucking, the leaping, the sideways canter, the tanking off after a fence, the rushing to get to the fence.

And what do we do? We post it online. People laugh, people like, people share, people praise the ''amazing seat'' of the rider and what they don't see is a horse screaming, trying desperately to communicate and not only being ignored, but being pushed for more.

Horses do not go from fine to explosive overnight. They whisper, the ask, they insist, they shout and then they scream, and somewhere in that time, we missed it - or we dismissed it, because we've 'had everything checked'.

Everything is not everything. Pain isn't always obvious, stress shows up in different ways, discomfort doesn't always show up on an x-ray…and even if it's not pain, it's still communication. Confusion, stress, overwhelm, fear. This isn't 'misbehaviour', this isn't personality traits or character.

Horses do not wake up with an intention to misbehave, they are not capable of 'choosing' a behaviour knowing the consequence, but instead of listening to the scream, or hearing the whisper, it's quicker to put on a flash, change the bit, tighten the noseband, buy a supplement and give them a label.

Listening properly requires us to question ourselves - our riding, our management, our expectations - and that’s the bit people really don't like.

None of us are perfect, I'm certainly not, but I'm learning and I don't intend to every stop. The moment you really start paying attention to your horse, you realise just how succinctly and discreetly they communicate.

If you hear the whisper, they never have to shout.

04/08/2026

Want to correct your horse's kissing spines without surgery?

Surgery for kissing spines only creates a false space and does nothing to address the true cause of the spinal collapse.

We've been managing and reversing kissing spines by addressing the underlying causes of spinal instability for the past decade. Dr. Taraba can localize and diagnose the actual reason your horse's spine has collapsed.

Once a complete diagnosis has been made, a treatment plan, including initial pain management and long-term rehabilitation, can be developed.

Message us, call, or text today to get your equine athlete on the road to recovery!
903.855.3179

03/29/2026

Does your horse feel “off”…decreased performance, subtle stiffness, or just not quite right…but your vet runs a standard lameness exam and says “I can’t find anything wrong”?
You’re not imagining it.
And you’re not stuck with guesswork.
Here’s the hard truth most vets won’t tell you:
Traditional jogging and nerve blocks have serious limitations.
-Your horse needs an obvious limp just to compare gaits before and after a block.
-Subtle injuries (like mild suspensory lesions) get missed until they get worse.
-You never really know exactly what’s being blocked.
So your equine athlete stays frustrated… and so do you.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Dr. Taraba has spent the last 25 years perfecting a complete musculoskeletal palpation exam that finds painful areas and injuries earlier and more accurately than nerve blocks ever could.
- Highly sensitive: catches issues before they become obvious lameness
- Extremely specific: he can isolate individual structures effectively
- Works in areas nerve blocks can’t be used
Combined with advanced imaging, Dr. Taraba delivers the precise diagnosis other vets miss… so you finally get a real treatment plan instead of more dead ends.
Horse owners and trainers across Texas keep saying the same thing:
“Dr. Taraba found what everyone else overlooked — and my horse is performing better than ever.”
If you’re tired of hearing “nothing’s wrong” while your athlete isn’t firing on all cylinders, it’s time to change that story.
Book your horse’s comprehensive musculoskeletal evaluation today and get the answers and results your equine athlete deserves.
📞 Call or text Dr. Taraba directly at (903) 855-3179

03/26/2026

Back pain in horses is usually a multi-faceted problem with contributing factors such as: kissing spines (inadequate support for the thoracolumbar spine), injury or arthritis in spinal facet joints, muscle tears, sacroiliac pain, and hindlimb lameness. Diagnosis of the causes of back pain must identify all of the contributing factors in order for a comprehensive treatment plan to be made.

While simple to diagnose and a significant source of back pain, kissing spines is always accompanied by other issues like facet arthritis or injury, sacroiliac pain, etc. If treatment is only directed at the dorsal spinous processes, other sources of pain will still be present. This is why a complete exam with ultrasound of the thoracolumbar spine is necessary when treating equine back pain.

Correction of hollow back posture is another crucial part of supporting any pathology in the horse's back. Hollowed posture is due to inadequate support for the spine and leads to arthritis of facets and kissing spines. In order to train a painful horse to collect the hind end and lift the back, a complete diagnosis needs to be made. Many times, following adequate diagnostics, injections in the sacroiliac joints and damaged facet joints are needed.

02/01/2026

In addition to the features we already had, I have just finished coding to add in all of the incentive programs that I am aware of in to the system. There are so many it’s hard to keep track, but if you want me to add anything else, please reach out. I have added integration for all of these incentives in the breeding reports and stallion features page.

Here are the 23 incentive programs organized by discipline:

Barrel Racing (7 programs)

Future Fortunes
Pink Buckle
Ruby Buckle
Riata Buckle
The Payout
Royal Crown Incentive
WPRA Barrel Futurities

Cutting (5 programs)
NCHA Super Stakes
NCHA Stallion Stakes
Mercuria/Metallic Cat Incentive
Breeders Invitational
ACHA Incentive Program

Reining (4 programs)
NRHA Futurity
NRHA Sire & Dam Program
NRHA Derby
Stallion Service Auction Stakes

Reined Cow Horse (4 programs)
NRCHA Stallion Stakes
NRCHA Snaffle Bit Futurity
6666 NRCHA Stakes
NRCHA Derby

Ranch Riding (1 program)
AQHA Ranching Heritage Challenge

All-Around (2 programs)
AQHA Incentive Fund
APHA World Show Incentives

01/05/2026

Did you know that EPM is not the only thing that causes neurologic problems in horses? EPM isn't even the most common cause of neurologic dysfunction in our equine athletes. Traumatic injury of the cervical spine (most commonly from setting back when tied) is a much more common cause of "clumsiness" in horses.

Every horse that has a halter on has had some degree of whiplash during or since halter breaking. We tie horses' heads to objects that do not move, and many of them end up hanging themselves. This creates various degrees of traumatic injury to the cervical spine, especially the facet joints.

The pictures show a normal articular facet in a horse's neck along with some examples of common injuries. These injuries affect the spinal cord, as well as spinal nerves, and can cause a horse to show signs of ataxia (incoordination).

Any time a horse has been treated recently for EPM, but is still showing neurologic symptoms, the neck should be evaluated and imaged. EPM is very easy to treat with toltrazuril or diclazuril. If you are being told that you need to keep treating for EPM month after month, something is being missed.

12/29/2025

Useful app!

We are excited to introduce a groundbreaking resource tailored to the unique needs of American Quarter Horse breeders.

This innovative platform offers a one-stop-shop for researching genetics, performance reports, and potential outcomes.

As a special introductory offer, new users can enjoy a complimentary one-week trial, and select stallions will be featured free of charge.

To showcase your stallion, please contact the page. A modest fee applies for non-selected stallions.

Our objective is to establish this resource as a premier destination for Quarter Horse breeding operations of all sizes.