I have a lovely two-year-old Dutch gelding.
Nice straight legs, never any effusion or swellings of any kind. I am considering doing a basic set of radiographs, but I’ve heard conflicting things about OCD at this time. I know that the race horse industry routinely does radiographs and surgically removed any OCD lesions image|450x500 around this age, but I’ve also read that they frequently resolve spontaneously over the next year or so.
What do the experienced breeders have to say about this?
Well, I’m in the TB industry, so we do xray youngsters for OCDs (and other problems) when they’re youngsters. First xrays are usually taken early in their yearling year (Feb/Mar). The next set will depend on whether the horse is going to a sale–and if so, which one–because xrays will be required at that point.
If we’re planning to sell a youngster, we may fix an OCD, depending on the vet’s opinion on whether or not it will resolve over the next half-year. If we’re planning to race, we leave them alone. So far, (fingers crossed!) the OCDs we’ve had, either resolved or had no impact on the horse’s ability to do the job.
(Obviously my experience is only with TBs.)
Interesting! This guy is part of the family. It seems like I should wait until he’s ready to be started then.
Some types of lesions will disappear but others won’t. May be worth taking rads now so you have the option to address any more significant ocds before they can cause more significant damage.
But… how does one know if you’re looking at a lesion that will resolve without intervention, or one that needs “help”? I’m not excited about surgery unless required.
You can always choose to monitor an area over time and not jump right to surgery. Your vet team would be able to provide guidance based on the location and type of lesion. OCDs are talked about as if they are one thing, but the term is often used incorrectly to describe a bunch of different types of bone de defects.
I already tried to post this once, hopefully it doesn’t show up later and I look like I am going senile! Anyway I think the decision to xray an asymptotic youngster is up to you. I would never operate on an asymptomatic horse though unless like Laurie said it was a sales horse. Too many of them end up being nothing to operate on a sound horse. I would do a course of Adequan and maybe add some OCD pellets if I did find lesions on a sound horse.
All good points. A baseline would be useful to track any “developments”…
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