Bone spavin in horses, or osteoarthritis of the distal tarsal (lower hock) joints, is a "common cause of equine lameness, resulting in lost training days and limiting affected horses' careers," says James Carmalt, MA, VetMB, MVetSc, FRCVS, Dipl. ABVP, ACVS, associate professor of Large Animal Surgery at the University of Saskatchewan, in Canada. He discussed the results of a recent small study on fusing those painful lower hock joints at the 56th annual convention of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, held Dec. 4-8 in Baltimore, Md.

"Usually these horses are managed with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (such as phenylbutazone, or Bute) initially, and/or corticosteroids," Carmalt said. "But there comes a time when medical management is no longer working and you need to think about doing something more permanent or retiring the horse completely