Bone Cysts

[Dynamo]

Has anyone here dealt with bone cysts on their performance horses? What was the outcome?

[shanky]

One of my horses had a cyst near his shoulder. After about six months of rest, post-diagnosis, he was serviceably sound for 3 feet. Vet said if we wanted more improvement, we could START by injecting the joint (although we were not hopeful since the cyst was not articulating with the shoulder/communicating with the joint...) If that didn't work, there were more invasive things she could do in an attempt to get him back to where he was before the cyst began bothering him.

The joint injection made no noticeable difference in his soundness. Rather than put him through more nonsense, I retired him. He couldn't be happier than he is now.

[rhymeswithfizz]

Yes - I have one who was diagnosed with a bone cyst in his navicular bone. It did not show up on regular xrays, only digital. He was sound as could be, eventing training level, then one day he was 3-legged lame. The bone had worn away just enough that very suddenly that cyst was tremendously painful.

Sadly the only thing we could do was to make him more comfortable - the location made the cyst not removeable and not treatable. So we chose to nerve the heel (back 1/3 of his foot) and retire him. He putzed around the trails for a while, now he is fat and happy in my backyard.

[Dynamo]

Anyone else? Has anyone heard of successful outcomes?

[Dynamo]

Wow, so few responses! Are bone cysts that rare in horses?

[twofatponies]

My 18 year old mare has a cyst in each stifle. It first began bothering her (i.e we discovered one of them) when she was about 14. Over the last two years they both began bothering her (i.e. we found the other one!). I have injected her three times. The injections work like a charm. I don't remember exactly what the vet uses (there are several options - she said she was using the shorter acting one because the longer acting one can cause more joint damage in the long run).

I usually see the cysts acting up in a very obvious way - all of a sudden she'll either start moving not-so-well in a vague way behind, or she'll come up very lame in one hind or the other. We inject, then in a couple days she is super and goes fine for many months. (ETA: her work now is 90% trail riding, distances of 3-7 miles, w/t/c; we keep the ring work on the light side and infrequent, though she doesn't seem bothered by it, I don't want to unduly stress the stifle joints by doing too much collected or tight-spaces work.)

I know one guy who had a horse that was quite young and promising for competiiton, who did the stem-cell injections/surgery on a stifle cyst, and it worked really well. The horse is back in competition. But it is a very expensive procedure.

[DraftHorsePower]

They are not very rare at all actually. We recently had a full set of x-rays done on my sale horse, who has been completely sound his whole life, aside from the usual retard moments, and never on "joint in question". The vet almost didn't shoot his stifles because he flexed completely normal on them, but we wanted a full set. So he took films of the stifles... and bam... huge surprise, 2 bone cysts on his right. Bizzare. Horse has never reacted on them... doesn't flex positive on the joint. Vet said there's a very good chance he will never be bothered by them. Horse is 11, jumps 5' courses, and has obviously always had them. Weird. Anyway, we didn't lose any interest on the horse... got a lot of "eh, we've seen soooo many top horses with those that just don't ever bother them". He occasionally gets a round of Adequan just because we know about them now, but most mid-life jumpers should probably be getting that anyway, imo. Anyway, he seems to have found his new person, so I'm a happy camper and so is he.

I hear the surgery only runs about $5-8k and is usually quite sucessful?

[DownYonder]

I have heard of it in several horses. One had an on-again, off-again, hard-to-pinpoint soundness issue for several months, but numerous vet work-ups could not determine the exact location. The horse finally went for a full body nuclear scintigraphy (bone scan), which revealed something in his elbow, and digital rads then confirmed the presence of a bone cyst. I believe the cyst was treated with a 3-dose series of monthly cortisone injections, and the horse did 90 days of stall rest and hand-walking. He then went back to work and has been sound ever since (is now doing PSG work).

Another dressage horse had symptoms same as the first (on-again, off-again, hard-to-pinpoint soundness issue), except his was more readily apparent to be in the hind-end. Digital rads taken several months apart by different vets did not reveal anything suspicious, and blocks and ultrasound were also inconclusive. MRI revealed a tarsal bone cyst, and the horse was treated with hock injections (steroids) and a full IV dose of Tildren, plus stall rest/hand-walking for 90 days. This horse was just diagnosed so his prognosis is a bit uncertain at this point, but his team is “cautiously optimistic” about his chances for full recovery.

I also know someone that had it diagnosed in the front fetlock of her jumper mare. I don’t know how they found it or how they treated it, but the mare did return to light competition as a hunter for a few years before being bred.

[jvanrens]

T
I hear the surgery only runs about $5-8k and is usually quite sucessful?

Only! :eek: You obviously live in a different tax bracket than I do. :winkgrin::lol:

My Appendix QH has a cyst in her left hind fetlock. It was very obvious when she jogged slowly (she's my all purpose horse) , then she'd stab her toe and her canter/lope could be a little wild on that lead. She was diagnosed with regular x-rays after much frustration trying to figure out just what the heck was wrong, when a friend of mine who has a mare with a bad ankle noticed Dancer was twisting her left fetlock like her mare does. She's much better on joint suppliments and MSM and is going strong at 15 YO. We haven't been doing over fences work for the past few years, if we were I'd likely have had her injected by now for additional support. Every now and then there's a bit of toe stabbing, but just for a few strides, and usually after she's been doing a rodeo show in turnout. :mad: