Horse people: need advice about vetting

BostonBanker

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#21
I just got home from work, and this was one of the first things I started thinking about! I'm so excited for you - clearly, I don't have a lot in my own life:rolleyes: .
 

Roxy's CD

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#22
I'm late to give advice on the vetting, just like to say that I agree fully with BB when it comes to QH's who are notorious for having horrible front feet.

BUt it appears all is well, he's a gorgeous boy and I wish you luck and many a good trailrides! :)
 
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#23
Well, I did hear from the vet--front feet X-Rays are great. I didn't even think he was doing stifles (almost makes me wonder if he meant hock...I should have questioned him more closely...), but I guess maybe he did and he said on one stifle there is a very very tiny OCD lesion. He said he doesn't think it should be a problem or need any treatment, but he wanted to make me aware of it and will note for my vet to take a look for her opinion when she sees the films. The horse shows no, swelling, or unsoundness at all even after flexion etc. So, of course I wish they had been 100% clean, but the vet did not seem overly worried about what he saw. I know there is no such thing as perfection when it comes to horses. I think I can live with this---I understand small OCD lesions can completely resolve on their own. So, I will be curious about what my own vet says, but I think it will all work out fine...Bostonbanker, your horse has had no ill effects from his little bit of hock OCD as 3yr old right? What did your vets have to say about it at the time? When you X-rayed him later had the lesions disappeared or had they just remained stable with no changes?
 

BostonBanker

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#24
There were OCD lesions in both hocks. There were two main reasons that I went ahead and purchased him anyway. The first is that all the lesions were located away from the articulating parts of the joint. Because of this, the vets (I had three or four look at the x-rays) all agreed that, unless some sort of trauma caused the lesion to break off, they would never cause problems. I also looked into the corrective surgery. It is relatively inexpensive (1k to 1500/hock), and has a very high rate of success. So, I decided that if he did need the surgery, I would be willing to do it. If I remember correctly, the rate of success decreases as you move up the leg (ie, fetlocks are better than hocks which are better than stifles), so you may want to double check that your vet was referring to the hock.

I did a ton of research into OCD, both for purchasing Tristan and for a paper in college. There was an amazing study done by the KWPN (the Dutch studbook in Holland) about it; that may be worth trying to look up. Basically, I think most experts agree that there are a whole lot of horses wandering around with OCD that nobody is aware of because they've never been x-rayed.

When we re-x-rayed Tristan, the lesions were still there but had not changed. I think he was about 6 then. Most of the research I found said that lesions may come or go when the horse is young, but they are usually "set" around 6 or 7. I did choose to hold off on jumping Tristan much before then (never a bad idea with a warmblood, anyway), and had the hock checked before he did much. Of course, in the span of those years, I fell in love with dressage anyway:D . Tristan did do a fair amount of jumping under a friend of mine, who got him jumping 3'/3'3" courses, and he never had a hock issue.

I did do joint supplements for a few years (probably age 7 - 9), until I started reading a lot of studies that suggested oral supplements don't do much. I use Legend injections now when he is working hard, and had his hocks injected last winter. There wasn't much fluid in them, but I did see an improvement in how he used his hindleg following the injections; I may repeat them soon.

Yikes, that was a lot. Anyway, I chose to take the risk despite the OCD lesions, and it has worked out well for me.
Tristan at his first hunter show
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#25
OMG, OMG, OMG! He is Gorgeous!!! I'm drooling over here! How did he do? He really looks like he uses himself well over a fence.

Thanks for telling me about your research. I PM'd you before I got to read this, so you can disregard if you don't want to repeat yourself LOL!. I am going to try and clarify about hock vs. stifle--of course once he send the films to my vet I'll know anyway...."sigh" there always has to be some little thing to spoil peace of mind---but thats the nature of dealing with horses--my gut is telling me not to worry--but there is just so much that can go wrong with these critters!
 

BostonBanker

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#26
How did he do?
Hehe. Tristan was reserve champion! The show was in July, and he hadn't jumped a single fence since April. Not the greatest way to get your horse ready for a show, but it was sort of a last minute thing. Bless him, he has the greatest attitude in the world about jumping.

I don't know that any horse would ever pass a vetting 100%. It really does sound like a minor issue, but see what your vet has to say.
 

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