I am going to be having a horse vetted this week. It is a 6 yr old Oldenburg…dressage prospect. In addition to the usual feet/leg radiographs, I will also do neck. Are there any degree of changes that would be acceptable or should neck be completely clean? I have had problems in the past with arthritic necks and don’t want to deal with it again! But also don’t know if some mild changes are common and don’t really affect the horse.
I dealt with cervical arthritis with my last horse. He was 6. When I vetted my new horse (5yrs old), I would have passed if he had not xrayed clean in the neck. Ymmv.
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In addition to arthritic changes, I would (personally) ensure the vet radiographs the C6-C7 vertebra to rule out ECVM (equine congenital vertebral malformation). If you wish to avoid arthritis in the neck, the radiographs should show no bone changes.
Best of luck.
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+1 to this.
If you’re going to xray the neck for arthritis and also want to check for malformed processes, there’s a particular protocol that needs to be followed to see anything.
https://www.ecvmallbreeds.com/wat-is-ecvm
and instruction on how the xray needs to be to check for the malformations - https://www.ecvmallbreeds.com/_files/ugd/c73cb2_67b82829d36440a9a31a1987d96a7131.pdf
More reading:
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