Bone cyst - any help please?

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meesa1

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At the start of this week, my 11 year old Trakehner was sent to Newmarket to have some intermittent lameness invesigated. The lameness occurs when he is in regular work and tends to occur when he first comes out of his box in the morning and after cooling down post-work. He had a bone scan today and I have been told he has a bone cyst (is this what OCD is?) on his humerus. The vet was not overly optomistic about his prognosis saying they would try a series of injections and a period of box rest, between 3 and 9 mths, before scanning again. When I asked if he would return to work (eventing at pre-nov/low-end BSJA) vet very-matter-of-fact told me this is unlikely. I feel devestated - I expected at the worse maybe early arthritis or at least something that could be treated. Does anyone have any experience of this and in your case, what the prognosis was? Do these things worsen over time? I just find it hard that even when he is lame, after an hour out in the paddock he comes in completely sound & up for anything, and when he is particularly sore a sachet of bute sorts him out. Sorry to ramble but just feel sick to the bottom of my stomach as only had him a year and just recently we've really clicked. Any replies would be much appreciated x
 
A friend in Ireland had a SJer that suddenly started stopping, she as competing sucessfully at 1.30 and was based with an international rider. Various tests were done by her vet and no problems were found. The german team vet was visiting the yard where she was based and looked at the horse, it had come from Schockemöhles and he had known it then. He diagnosed a bone cyst in the fetlock, the horse actually went to his clinic in germany to be operated on and was back in work within a month, returning to a full competitive career at the same level.
Whilst I know this is not a lot of help to you I hope it illustrates that this is not necesssarily the end for the horse.
 
Thank you for those. Chazza I had seen the H&H web pages but not the Ranvet and that explained quite a bit for me.

Although the vet doesn't seem keen to operate, thanks for that jane_lou - I feel a bit more positive. Im going to go and see the xrays and discuss it further with the vets at Newmarket at weekend; if he was consistently lame I could understand the negative prognosis but he only occasionally shows lameness, never when being ridden, and it goes within a matter of hours. The vet said he's only in pain when he's lame, the other 20-odd hours of the day he's not in any discomfort - just seemed quite drastic to write him off unless its set to get worse
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My horse had a small bone cyst in the fetlock a few years ago- he received 2 x courses Adequan joint injections which made him back to better than normal! he was box rested for approx 6-8wks and just gentle walking for that time, after that we slowly brought him back again and 4 months later I had him back in full work and competing BD working at Medium level. Has never looked back since then or had any further troubles with this! The prognosis in his case was excellent. Good luck with everything.
 
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At the start of this week, my 11 year old Trakehner was sent to Newmarket to have some intermittent lameness invesigated. The lameness occurs when he is in regular work and tends to occur when he first comes out of his box in the morning and after cooling down post-work. He had a bone scan today and I have been told he has a bone cyst (is this what OCD is?) <font color="blue">No. OCD is lesions in the bone, and the bone may break off into fragments - my horse has just been diagnosed with this. </font> on his humerus. The vet was not overly optomistic about his prognosis saying they would try a series of injections and a period of box rest, between 3 and 9 mths, before scanning again. When I asked if he would return to work (eventing at pre-nov/low-end BSJA) vet very-matter-of-fact told me this is unlikely. I feel devestated - I expected at the worse maybe early arthritis or at least something that could be treated. Does anyone have any experience of this and in your case, what the prognosis was? Do these things worsen over time? I just find it hard that even when he is lame, after an hour out in the paddock he comes in completely sound &amp; up for anything, and when he is particularly sore a sachet of bute sorts him out. Sorry to ramble but just feel sick to the bottom of my stomach as only had him a year and just recently we've really clicked. Any replies would be much appreciated x

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I'm sorry the prognosis is so poor for your horse. Sadly, lots of us are in the same boat.
 
I also meant to add a cpl of things- that we've kept him on Newmarket Joint Supplement too, and I swear it's helped him and that I've found the condition to flare up in muddy conditions - by flare up I don't mean that he's gone lame, but his leg just goes ever so slightly fluidy, but its never been anything to worry about, so I'm just careful he doesn't go in thick mud/heavy going. The more work he's done the better he's been. Hope that helps!
 
Thanku for all replies. After speaking to vets again today they're going to try a series of IRAP and re-assess in 3months. Having read up on IRAP seems to be lots of success stories on this so not giving up just yet. He can still be turned out in a small area so its not like he's on total box rest either as this would drive him potty! Thanks again for taking the time to reply, K27 the vets did mention supplements so will keep Newmarket Joint in mind x
 
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