Swollen hard lump on hock?

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EmmaAndSummer

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The hard jellyish lump is in the middle of hock... not curb... any ideas think he was kicked but the swelling of the hock has gone down just left with that lump...? Not my horse just wondering to give her advice.. thanks
 
I think its a bone spavin of some sort. I have got this off a website for you telling you where about on the hock each type of spavin is.

This means means new bone growth - usually in the form of a bony lump. You can feel a bone spavin - it'll be a hard lump on the inside of the hock - but not all bone spavins lead to lameness, so it's always a good idea to have some x-rays taken. Those can tell you exactly where the lump is, and how much damage there is. The lump can cause some lameness, but it's also very possible that the lump is a result of the problem that is causing the lameness. Bone spavins - new bone growth - are usually the result of arthritis or some other condition that causes the cartilage to wear away.

"Occult spavin" or "blind spavin" is just a form of bone spavin. Again, it's usually the result of arthritis slowly destroying cartilage - after a while, instead of cartilage-covered bone ends sliding past one another, there are bare bone ends scraping and rubbing against one another, and that's when (and where) the body starts to lay down new supplies of bone.

With an occult spavin, it's the lower joints of the hock that are involved. The damage and the bone growth happens between the bones that make up those lower joints, and that's why there's nothing you can see or feel on the outside of the hock.

There are a couple of other types of spavin. A hard lump on the inside of the hock toward the front is called a "jack spavin". A "bog spavin" is a soft, sometimes even squashy, swelling higher on the hock, to the inside of the leg and toward the front of the hock. Bog spavins can be large and highly visible, and make horse-owners very nervous, but they're just lumps - not lamenesses. A horse that steps into a hole can develop a soft lump where tissue was pulled and slightly damaged - just as you can develop a soft lump if you take a bad step and "go over on" your ankle.


Hope that helps x
 
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