Prevalence of osteochondral lesions in the fetlock and hock joints of Standardbred horses that survived bacterial infection before 6 months of age.

Standardbred horses that survived bacterial infections before 6 months of age had more osteochondral lesions than literature comparison cohorts at screening age. The implication was that some of the lesions in this group were caused by bacteria. It may become necessary to develop methods for differentiating between acquired, septic and aseptic, heritably predisposed lesions.