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Halfstep

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Well, good and bad really. Lower hock joints clean and completely free from arthritis. However, on the bone where the lump is (upper hock joint), they saw a tiny chip of cartilage which had been broken off. It is assumed that the horse smashed his hock directly onto that bone, and chipped off the cartilage. The soft swelling was synovial fluid caused by the trauma.

So he's having surgery again. Arthroscopy under a GA to remove the flap of cartilage and make sure there is no more trauma not visible on the xray. Prognosis is good, especially as this has been caught early, is trauma related (not OCD), and the horse is sound. I'm dropping him off on Wednesday evening and surgery is scheduled for Thursday afternoon. He'll stay in all weekend. I'm away from Thursday until Monday anyway so at least I'll know he's in good hands.

It could be a lot worse. This is fixable and not chronic. But I have to admit I'm rather upset.
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It could be a lot worse and it sounds pretty positive from what you have said... well done for getting him seen so quickly though! I don't know much about this injury but I suspect it would have only become worse if you had left it.
 
Thanks. He managed to stay injury free for a total of two months this time. He was supposed to be my potential GP horse, but he is so terribly accident prone. This will be his second GA in a year - the first was to remove bone chips when he fractured his splint bone. Both injuries are so stupid. I just pray that he comes through the surgery ok.
 
Sorry to hear your news but it does sound as though the prognosis is really positive.

Hope everything goes according to plan and wishing him a speedy recovery.
 
Omg you poor thing, what a nightmare
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Like you say, it could be a lot worse but GAs are always scary. Oskar has had way more than his share of bad luck.
 
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Thanks Boss....

Do you still want to do pictures later?

x

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If it has stopped raining/isnt quite so windy! I really want to get some with the sun out but figure that may not happen this week.... We can always try tomorrow/Wed if nec
 
Is he having treatment with Tildren or anything? A girl at my yard, her horse got kicked in the hock and ended up with similar issues as yours. They treated him with one dose of Tildren and within days he was better - now going from strength to strength.

Star is hopefully having that treament after vet has reassesd her tomoz - she has the start of spavin in her lower right hind
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I know about Tildren, but it wasn't recommended in this case. They said the arthroscopy had such a high success rate that they prefer it to using Tildren, which is fair enough I suppose.

Good luck with Star. I hope it goes well. My friend's horse was successfully treated for a bone cyst with tildren - so fingers crossed for you.
 
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