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Condylar Fractures - how to treat this common injury in racehorses

By James Tate BVMS MRCVS
First Published: 07 December 2009 - Issue Number: 28

Condylar fractures are arguably the most common type of fracture suffered by the thoroughbred racehorse. However, veterinary surgeons have given them a slightly cryptic ‘pet-name’ so that many do not understand them quite as well as they would like.

They are simply fractures of the lower cannon bone that extend into the fetlock joint and there are two types – outside or ‘lateral’ condylar fractures, and inside or ‘medial’ condylar fractures.

Fractures of the cannon bone are the most common fracture of the racehorse, accounting for 23.4% of the 111 fractures in the study reported by Ely et al. in the Equine Veterinary Journal in 2009.  By far the most widely seen type of cannon bone fracture is the ‘condylar fracture’ of which the front legs are more usually affected than the hind legs and outside or ‘lateral’ condylar fractures are seen more frequently than inside or ‘medial’ condylar fractures. In fact, severe, displaced, lateral condylar fractures are the most common cause of equine fatality on the racecourse (Parkin et al., Equine Veterinary Journal 2005).
Clinical Examination
Unsurprisingly, the severity of the fracture determines the level of lameness and the amount of swelling associated with the fetlock joint and lower cannon bone. Injuries can be caused by repeated stress or a single event but there is usually a specific time when the fracture becomes apparent. For example, a severe displaced condylar fracture is usually found either during or shortly after exercising o...

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