What Causes Bone Spurs?
Hi! I am vetting out a horse tomorrow. He is a 6 year old, 17.2 hand thoroughbred gelding. He has big bone but a small girth. When he was young he got kicked in his hind leg. Do you know if that could cause him to develop a spur in his hock? Please email back with any sites or info you can give me. Thanks.
A bone spur is technically known as an Osteophyte. They are rare, but are usually caused by injuries. They can lead to problems, such as arthiritis, later in life. Sometimes bone spurs can cause no problems at all, but on the other hand, sometimes they can be very painful.

So yes, it could have been caused by a kick to the hind leg, or a different injury.

Here are some websites you may find helpful:

Very technical, but helpful.


This is the story of a horse with a bone spur in the knee. You need to scroll down quite a bit to get to the relevant part-- push Ctrl + F together to search the page for "osteophyte"

They are trying to sell a product, but some of the information may be helpful to you. I have no knowledge of the product they are selling, however, and do not know if it is credible or works at all.

I found this on another website:

"Abstract: Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis seen in veterinary medicine. The term degenerative joint disease (DJD) is used synonymously. It is a slowly progressive disease characterized by joint pain, cartilage degeneration, and osteophyte production. The severity of clinical signs may range from subtle lameness only observed after heavy exercise to constant, debilitating pain. As such, there is not single treatment regimen which is appropriate for all animals. Additionally, each animal's response to medication, particularly nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), is unique: they may respond well to one NSAID but poorly to another. Therefore, appropriate nonsurgical management of degenerative joint disease may entail weight reduction, exercise modification, NSAID medication, chondromodulating agents, and a significant time commitment to determine a balanced treatment plan which is effective for each animal. "




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