This is a companion piece to the article on chronic arthritis or degenerative joint disease. To understand this article the one on DJD should be studied first, see: Arthritis and DJD an Overview.

As degenerative joint disease progresses the cartilage in the joints wears away exposing bone to bone. If the joint is one of very low motion it is possible for the bone to fuse across the joint stabilizing the structure and improving the lameness. This fusing process is called arthrodesis and can be a natural process of severely effected low motion joints. Since these joints do not contribute substantially to the movement and bending of the leg their fusion does not effect movement noticeably yet can relieve the pain of the arthritis. By surgically or medically fusing these joints with degenerative joint disease you can hasten the process and often return the horse to usably sound. This article discusses the procedures and presents the result of the past 25 years of scientific studies on this procedure.

Degenerative joint disease is generally a debilitating disease that can be difficult to manage and for which there is no medical cure but arthrodesis offers the hope of returning a horse to usable soundness. Usual Candidates for this procedure are:

• Horses that only have DJD of the joints that are low motion.
• They do not have significant permanent lameness from other areas.
• They are in otherwise good health but because of the DJD can no longer meet the owners goals with other therapies.

Of course not all joints are low motion but some of the ones commonly effected with DJD are:

• Bone Spavin: DJD of the distal intertarsal, tarsometatarsal joint
• Ring Bone: DJD of the proximal interphalangeal joint
• Wobblers: Cervical vertebral instability

There have been some cases of arthrodesis of both the shoulder and coffin joint. These are salvage procedures resulting in a permanent alteration of the gait, but in some cases have permitted horses to return to a reasonably pain-free and pasture sound life.