Bone chip removal

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Patterdale

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One of our ponies has been a bit off her game lately, so I got the vet here today. Her fetlock was painful when flexed, and on x ray they found a bone chip on her fetlock.

I plan to get it removed as it is obviously causing issues. Has anyone any experience of this please?

She is a very much loved pony and we want to get her right
 
It’s quite expensive. 😬
I had a rough price given today for a fetlock bone chip.

A horse I know who had a chip in his knee had it removed and was absolutely fine, recovered very quickly and was sound after.
 
My pony had a bone chip removed from her hind leg in 2024. Recovery lasted about 3 months with box rest and frequent dressing changes which the vet did initially as she needed sedation but later I did it when it wasn’t as painful for her and she would let me do it. She recovered completely so it was well worth it.
 
Yes. Ex racer had it done years ago. Quite a few fragments were removed. Rehab was long but successful. It was covered by insurance and was around £4k and will be more now I assume.
He did get arthritis later in that joint which was managed.
 
Yes one of my endurance horses had a couple of bone chips removed from his fetlock and went on to complete FEI 120km rides without any issues, insurance paid but can't remember how much it was.
 
Patterdale said:
Thanks very much - what was the cost out of interest?
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I think it was just over £2k. The vets were very economical as she wasn’t insured on that leg. She didn’t have a general anaesthetic and she stayed at the vets for 3 or 4 nights. There were quite a lot of vet visits afterwards to check on her recovery and change dressings. My vets were fabulous and I can’t thank them enough.
 
Dex had surgery to remove an OCD bone chip in his stifle in June - resultant invoice as below + £500 full set of xrays beforehand + £100 post op visit + £300 medicating the joint 3.5 months later

Recovery was fairly linear apart from when it got fluidy and he was a bit short 3 weeks ago, 2 weeks full box rest, 3 weeks increasing the size of pen turnout and then a slow measured return to work. No expected ongoing issues, however he doesn't have any arthritis or cartilege damage apart from a fairly insignificant crack, if there was bone on bone or signif cartilege wear then the prognosis would have been very different. I didn't ultrasound to look at this beforehand as they had to operate anyway so it was just extra money for not much return.

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When baby spice demolished his sesamoid he went in to Rossdales to have 3 chips removed, which maxed out our insurance limit of 6k in a matter of hours 🙈 I can’t remember in the end if he had all 3 removed and ended up with one left in as it was lodged in his suspensory branch, or if it was only 2 removed and the 3rd was the one left in. Would have been about 4 years ago now so guessing it might be a bit more these days.
 
Yes that’s how mine was done. They had a lot of digging to do through a lot of gristle and scar tissue as it was on the site of an old wound. Maybe standing sedation is why my costs were lower. I’ll try to post pics
 
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My previous horse had a bone chip removal from her hock. That was probably 15 years ago and cost 4k then so I'm quietly pleased and surprised fees haven't really gone up. How do vets survive though? This was at rvc
 
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