Bog spavin in a 2 yr old

[jjsblackhorse]

Hi,


I bought a 2 year old British warm blood gelding med weight standing about 15.2 predicted to make 16.2+ he was checked by the vet just after purchase no issues. 5 weeks later developed a bog spavin in one hock, investigation showed fragments in the capsules of both hocks fragments removed from both.

Has anyone else got any experience of similar condition in a young horse?
How did the recovery go?
What sort of progress and recovery?

Any thoughts or feedback gratefully received as he is a nice little horse and I am wondering what sort of future he will have.

Thank you.

 

[JanetGeorge]

Bog spavin is normally just an outward sign of something 'going on' in the joint and - on its own - rarely causes lameness. The fragments in your chap's hocks was almost certainly due to OCD. He showed symptoms so quickly after you bought him that removal of the fragments SHOULD give you a complete recovery BUT - have the vets advised you to be very careful about feeding him too well? I would be keeping him on quite a strict diet for the next 12 months - plenty of hay/haylage and a good min/vit mix - but not much else!!

OCD is a 'growth' disease - fast growers, ones wo are fed a bit too well, and possibly a hereditary element other than the fast growth rate (which is definitely hereditary!) I operated on a 2 year old about 7 years ago now - he has remained 100% sound.

 

[jjsblackhorse]

Hi,
Thanks for the reply it is very helpful and gives me hope.

You are correct he is growing fast, on arrival I kept him in for a few days then once I had done the poo sample and no issues arose and he had had time to meet the others through the bars. He was put in a round pen next to the others for short periods then integrated with one other and within 5 days was out 24-7.

I feed Thunderbrook base mix and their herb chop and grass nuts. He gets 320g of the base mix, a handful of chop with some soaked Emerald Green grass nuts about quarter of a runny stubs scoop and a quality joint supplement once a day. If he is in he has adlib hay, but 2 years old and soaked and I split the feed over 2 meals! Is this about right or should I drop him back to less do you think?

This is the first baby horse I have owned, as previously picked up ex race horses or other peoples problems who tend to do well here as no pressure hacking, hunting a bit of RC but nothing too serious. So any advice or thoughts gratefully received.

Your 2yr old did the swelling ever go away?

 

[JanetGeorge]

I'd drop the concentrates in half (or less.) If he gets NOTICABLY lean then you could ease it up a bit. My own 2 year olds - mainly pure ID and a couple of sport hrses - get no concentrate at all. They're in a big fied with plenty of grass - and I give them a Rockies Mineral block regularly.

Our chap who had his hock done lost the swelling entirely - he had a net ftting (shaped to the hock and zipped up) which he wore for about 8 weeks after surgery. He was so good that when it came time to vet him (the buyer knew he'd had the surgery - as did the vet) the vet was somewhat embarrassed that he couldn't remember which leg - and after 5 minutes of careful examination of both hocks, he was still none the wiser!

 

[Clodagh]

My youngster had a huge hock caused by OCD and had chips removed. He was a yearling. The swelling went away during his rehab. He has got scars from the pressure bandage, which is a shame, but that is the only sign you can see to show he ever had a problem. He is 4 now, so still young, but sound as a pound and no swelling.
I fed him no concentrates at all, ever, ad lib forage and good vits/mins.