OCD/DOD

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sianhilbourne

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I think my horse has OCD. has any got any experience with this condition.

He is a 4 year old gypsy cob who was wild until 1 1/2 year ago, so he didnt get fed appart from grass until then. Although I dont 'feed' him the grass has been good this year and he's gown more than I'd have expected. He is lame & has swelling in his stiffle joint.
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I've had some probs with my vet, but no I've changed vets & the new vet seems pretty good, and she's comming tomorrow to try to x-ray him on the yard (not ideal I know but after 2 attempts to get him to the vets, failed to gt him on a trailer & he fell over & cut his leg in the lorry 5 mins from home) so fingers crossed we can get some good x-rays tomorrow & he can be diagnosed ASAP, preferably before chrstmas so we can get a weeks box rest out of the way while I'm off work!

if anyone has any experience with this any info would be great!

What 'd really like to know is what it means long term if he does have it.
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Poor you! Hope you get it sorted out.

Gypsy cobs are noted for both ocd and stifle problems in general... like locking stifle.

Gypsy horses were traditionaly kept on poor grazing... kept poor you might say. This is out of neccecity, ie, cheap grazing! The sort of places that would horrify most horse keepers. However, the bonus of this is that the horses mature slowly, thus avoiding such problems.

I was worried when I got my grass analysis back last week, the sugar is still sky high. This summer my grass was equivilant to pasture mix! This is just due to the funny weather we have these days, we don't go overboard with fertiliser or anything. I know what you are up against. I yarded my heavy horse youngsters this summer simply because I was so worried about them being forced by the grass.
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My old JA pony had OCD in his coffin joint. It meant we had to retire him from BSJA as when we made a sharp turn going into a big jump in a jump off situation he would hurt & then put a stop in, however it was perfectly controllable & we were able to keep doing lower level local jumping, hunter trials & fun rides for over 10 years after he was diagnosed until he was eventually PTS with intestinal cancer at the age of 25. He would still occassionally pop over the odd huge jump for fun with no ill effects from the OCD!

Don't despair just yet. There are things that can be done (especially if you are insured...) and alot of conditions like this in my experience can be controlled if you talk to your vet and are sensible about the horses work load. A good vet might well mention arthroscopies or cortisone injections.
 
my horse was slightly lame and last jan my horse was x rayed and found to have OCD..i was very upset and thought the worst. The vet said that my horse needed this and that and the bill could run into a lot of money, so i was totally deverstated as i thought id have to put the horse down. I got a second opinion from another vet who looked at the x rays did some various tests and procedures and sent the horse back to me. He is now competing at dressage at affiliated level, does some low level jumping, and is very happy in him self. He is on no medication but has to be worked everyday even if its just 15min walking otherwise he gets very stiff and trots up lame. But touch wood everything we have done with him has worked. Try not to worry to much, im sure every thing will be fine x
 
one of mine got OCD in stifle joints as a 4-5 yr old (event bred 7/8tb x id), had gamma scintigraphy to diagnose.
she went on to event for years to Int level, it never bothered her and she was never lame, is still going strong (now 15ish) as hack and dressage horse.
the only problem it ever caused was that the farrier had to shoe her back feet holding them very low to the ground, she couldn't stand with hindleg lifted high for an extended period of time.
 
Well, x-rays didnt show anything, so now I have to try to get my horse to the vets, and he doest travel well, in fact he likes to sit down, oh it's going to be an adventure! NIGHTMARE esp over chrsitmas!
 
Have you tried liberal amounts of ACP? We had to get D to the vets earlier this year and I was really worried but after 10 ACP she travelled like a pro
 
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