OCD Lesion in Young Horses

[WildGooseChase]

Hello All,

My filly has been looked at recently for an OCD lesion in her right knee. My vet is optimistic and wants to do x-rays later in the summer. She is about to turn 2, and apparently they don’t show as well on film when they are that age. He advised solo turnout as long as she is not running herself ragged, which she is doing well with, and no “forced exercise.” I have followed this closely. He believes her lesion was caused by her growth rate (she grew quickly and has incredible musculature for a filly her age and workload), and the fact that she had an injury to the knee. She was already at risk for them due to her growth patterns, but the injury was icing on the cake, so to speak.

For those of you with horses that have OCD lesions, what was long term prognosis like? Did your horse go on to have a career undersaddle? Or were they limited? Goose has her forever home with me, but I would like to hear others experiences with these lesions.

She is grade, I picked her up from a slaughter lot in October of 2017 when she was estimated at 4 months old. I have no history on those 4 months previous but she was in terrible body condition when I purchased her. Covered in fungus and a bag of bones…

[redpanther]

Hi WildGooseChase,

I’ve had 8 horses with OCD lesions. My first one was diagnosed at 7 months, and I believe we did the surgery as a yearling. He had really boggy hocks. It looked like someone stuck a foot ball in sideways there was so much fluid. He was never lame, but had floaters so we did the surgery on both hocks. The swelling never went away but he was never lame before or after. He is 11 this year, and still going strong.

I was hesitant to do the surgery again after that, but I have done it 4 more times, and their hocks look great.

Where is her OCD lesions? Does she have swelling currently? Did your vet discuss surgery?

[goodmorning]

I would remove them. It’s fairly routine & turns out well.

[enterata]

No experience with OCD lesions at the knee but I had a horse get them on each hock as a 3 y.o. They were small but were floaters. Had them removed, very easy recovery and as soon as he was cleared, I started him under saddle. I used him as a lower level dressage horse and he was always sound. At around 15 years old, he began to have some arthritis and needed hock injections every year or two but I never felt it was related to the OCD lesions.

If I were you, if you have the means, I would wait til the vet feels it needs to be removed and just get it done.

[WildGooseChase]

@redpanther

Hi WildGooseChase,

I’ve had 8 horses with OCD lesions. My first one was diagnosed at 7 months, and I believe we did the surgery as a yearling. He had really boggy hocks. It looked like someone stuck a foot ball in sideways there was so much fluid. He was never lame, but had floaters so we did the surgery on both hocks. The swelling never went away but he was never lame before or after. He is 11 this year, and still going strong.

I was hesitant to do the surgery again after that, but I have done it 4 more times, and their hocks look great.

Where is her OCD lesions? Does she have swelling currently? Did your vet discuss surgery?

She does have some minor swelling currently, vet has not discussed surgery yet. He would like to do x-rays on the knee for a more definitive diagnosis. Apprently, due to her estimated age, he said it is best to wait a few months so he can see them better on film. Her estimated age currently is 22 months, so just under 2. He said between 2.5 and 3 is when they show up the best if they are there. I am sure if they do present as he is thinking, we will discuss surgery. He was confident about the whole thing.

Thanks so much for the help. I have never dealt with this before

[WildGooseChase]

@enterata

No experience with OCD lesions at the knee but I had a horse get them on each hock as a 3 y.o. They were small but were floaters. Had them removed, very easy recovery and as soon as he was cleared, I started him under saddle. I used him as a lower level dressage horse and he was always sound. At around 15 years old, he began to have some arthritis and needed hock injections every year or two but I never felt it was related to the OCD lesions.

If I were you, if you have the means, I would wait til the vet feels it needs to be removed and just get it done.

The vet did mention a bit higher risk for arthritis in the affected joint, but way later on in life. He was confident about the whole thing. He wants to do x-rays in a couple months to get a clearer picture. Sounds like I need to save for surgery! haha

Thanks!