I wouldn’t do it on a resale - too much risk and too many buyers who will pass. It is not that there aren’t some OCD’s in locations you can live with, or many with successful surgeries, it is that buyers don’t want to assume the risk or want a substantial price reduction. And a certain percentage walk at the first sign of OCD, without vetting or investigating further. And if you buy the horse and do the surgery pre-resale, than you are assuming the cost and the risk of a successful surgery. I looked at a gorgeous young mare showing in the baby greens who was sound but had OCD surgeries as a yearling on both stifles and a hock, but one of the stifles was left with pretty significant effusion in the joint post-surgery. We passed on the advice of the PPE vet and our vet, and the mare is still for sale after many, many months. So, if I were you, I would not take the risk on a resale.
Bent Hickory, that’s a great link. And you are absolutely right, the TB industry does not care that much about OCDs if they have been taken care of uneventfully prior to a sale. If they exist on the horse’s films at the time of sale, they will definitely result in a lower price tag and someone could get a great deal.
There is a difference, though, which is that TB breeders and their vets are experienced dealing with OCDs and tend to screen all of their young stock at a set age so lesions are caught and treated at an optimal time (which improves prognosis). Also, the vets are very experienced with these lesions (because they do so many screening X-rays) and know which ones will go away, which ones need to be operated on. The surgeons do a LOT of OCD surgeries, so they tend to have better results and fewer complications.
In the WB world, fewer breeders do screening X-rays and more OCDs are caught either when a problem develops, or when a horse is for sale at a larger price at age 3-5. That can be a very different situation than an asymptomatic lesion being picked up on at 18 mos.- 2 years.
AmmyHunter, OCD prognosis is different based on the location of the lesions. A history of a large stifle OCD might not be comparable to bilateral, asymptomatic hock OCDs. This is why you need a vet’s advice.
Though, as I stated before, I agree with the advice to pass.
[QUOTE=BeeHoney;8616155]
AmmyHunter, OCD prognosis is different based on the location of the lesions. A history of a large stifle OCD might not be comparable to bilateral, asymptomatic hock OCDs. This is why you need a vet’s advice. [/QUOTE]
Totally agree with you and am well aware of that, but you are still going to have a lot of buyers who either don’t know that or don’t care, and will walk without giving any thought to where the lesions are located or what type they are. I vetted two horses with OCD findings, and we had multiple vets look and even reviewed the surgery records on the one and spoke with the surgeon. But unfortunately both of those horses ultimately had stifle findings we weren’t willing to roll the dice on, based on the vets’ advice, not just asymptomatic lesions in hocks 
Take it from me- do not purchase this as an investment horse. I had one with extremely minor OCD in the stifles and did the surgery thinking that without the lesions resale would not be a problem. I was wrong. Even though everything was clean and she was 100% sound as soon as people heard she had surgery they ran. Ended up having to practically give her away in comparison to what she was worth. Best of luck!
First question to ask would be, how special is this horse? People will put up with a lot for a winner. Run of the mill makes it trickier.
Also, it’s interesting to see how the American breeder is expected to throw this horse away but if the same horse was available in Europe, chips would be removed, horse would be off to start his career, and might very well later end up with an American buyer.
Food for thought!
How special can an unstarted 2 year old be? IMO US breeders are not “expected to throw the horse away”. That’s their choice, nobody is forcing them. Fact many good US breeders do remove the chips here in the USA. You just don’t get the casual, backyard breeders unwilling to honestly evaluate prior to offering for sale so often in Europe.
Wow. Thank you all for the candid advice and input. You have confirmed what has been my gut all along. I’ll be passing on this one.:no:
http://www.horsemagazine.com/thm/2012/10/breeding-philosophy-with-jan-greve/
It really depends on if you want to invest or what the prognosis is.
I do not believe it to be genetic-rather very poor nutrition and care for mare and baby.**don’t know what kind of a difference that makes in outcome. I’m a little worried about the other potential issues that could crop up from poor care over the first developmental years.
Are you assuming or is this known? Sad if they were mistreated.
Some young horses have sketchy x-rays and are fine as adults. This is more common than you think.
