OCD and Arthritis in WB's

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BigRed

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I am about to take the plunge and buy a young Hannoverian Mare. I have only had TBs and part TBs before. She is a lovely horse and it will wipe me out financially to buy her. I am very nervous about the issue of arthritis/OCD in these horses. Can anyone offer advice about whether I am worrying unnecessarily. My vet says I should not have x-rays done because they just open a whole can of worms.
 
If it is an expensive horse I would always personally have xrays done, hocks, fetlocks and feet, stifles too if you can afford it. Any decent vet should be able to differentiate between clinically significant and insignificant xray findings. :)
 
As far as I understand it (from having a bilateral stiffle OCD horse) x-rays will not show up cartiledge problems, so I am not sure they will help you there.

Are WB's more prone to OCD? Ortho vet at the time suggested a straight hock might be a pre-disposing factor, but I am not sure whether WBs are more straight hocked than other breeds (my chap was a British sports horse by Welton Apollo).

As for other problems, I am hearing of more people opting for MRIs for navicular, although the question of comparisons over time comes up as much as it does with x-rays. Can't really offer anything else constructive, hope the mare passes the vetting! :)
 
Booboos you are right, cartilage wont show up on Xrays, which is an indicator of OCD as cartilage fibrilates and is damaged by reduced blood supply and/or trauma.

Now then, I bought my dutch wb mare 3 years ago. She had a 5* vetting and was given the all clear, so insurance is all good for us. However, 5 months later she becomes very lame on her back legs. So straight to the vet, she is nerve blocked and Xrayed. Xrays showed OCD fragments of bone in both hocks and her right stifle.

So, she is sent off to Newmarket for surgery on both hocks and both stifles (OCD is a bilateral disease). 6 months after that she has done her box rest, rehab and is back to normal work. 2 years after the operation we have dressaged (BYRDS), SJ,XC hunter trialled, beach rides :) and pleasure rides of up to 12 miles. She is (touch wood) 100% and now theres no stopping us.

So, in terms of xrays, although I have been bitten by OCD, i wouldnt get them. Get her the vetting required for insurance purposes and make sure she is covered (as I would do for ANY horse). This makes sure you are secure for anything that may happen not just OCD.

Yes WBs get OCD more than any other breed, but TBs also get it. WBs are known to get OCD for a number of resons, the most common being growing too quick, not haveing the maturity in the joints to cope with excessive weight/ ridden work at a young age.

But, dont be paranoid that as you have a WB they will automatically get OCD issues, but it IS good that you are aware of OCD. This will mean you can manage your WB in such a way that OCD risk is reduced by a huge amount.

Sorry its so long but my dissertation was on this subject and is something I can relate to. Hope it helps, put your mind at rest and make sure you enjoy your horse.
 
i am now bitten by the OCD and scared of it. my 8yr old Welsh Cob was diagnosed with bilateral OCD in March. He's had arthroscopy and 5mths off now and is still lame.

i dont intend to buy anything under the age of 8 again in a hurry. i'm hoping that i'm safe with anything over 8 at least with regards to OCD although I know there's a million other things that could go wrong.
 
I can understand why people don't want to go through the nighmare of OCD (my boy did op, 9 months box rest, gradual return to work, at 12 months pronounced fine, at 18 months lame PTS, so it couldn't get any worse than this!), but I have bought 3 horses since with no x-rays (all 3 WBs) and not given OCD another thought. OCD happens but so does colic, sarcoids, ulcers, breaking a leg in the field, behavioural problems or just not clicking with a horse, so I tend to be more fatalistic about horse purchases!
 
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