Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD)

[Bright_Spark]

Does anyone have experince of this?

Amber has it confirmed in her hock. She was lame but a bone chip has been removed so I am hoping that she will be sound now.

Does OCD only affect one area or can it affect all or some of her joints/bones? I ask because she can be quite clicky at times (mainly if stabled).

Would it be passed onto her foals? Having lost her first foal to a joint infection I wonder if that was just bad luck or if its genetic with Amber?

 

[Paint it Lucky]

Is she quite young?
It can be due to nutritional deficiency of certain minerals, but is more often due to foals being fed too much, so growing quicker than their bones can cope with. Possibly this may have happened with Amber; foals are often fed a lot when young to make them grow quickly so they'll sell easier but really this is detrimental to their long term health. Equally mares fed high energy feeds when pregnant can cause their foals to grow too fast.
Apparently copper is good to feed to mares whilst pregnant to be passed on to their foals to help lessen risk of OCD.

The above is all from my equine degree nutrition notes, hope it helps. They say that though OCD is not heritable, a tendancy to grow quickly (thus predisposing to OCD) is. Also it is likely to affect more than one area when present (sorry to be the bearer of bad news!) but generally only occurs in young horses, once her bones stop growing (around 3-4 years (ps: what breed is she?)) the OCD will also stop though obviusly if it's made changes then these will last longer, though bone does remodel itself over time so even the current changes should right themselves if she is allowed sufficient rest.

I am sad to hear about her lost foal. If you plan to breed from her again I would ensure you don't overfeed her during pregancy (especially at time of conception), watch her weight carefully and avoid execess energy, but do supplement her on vitamins and minerals, but try to find a supplement specifically aimed at pregnant mares rather than a general one as some vits/mins can be detrimental to foal health if fed in excess. Once the foal is born keep a careful eye on it's growth rates, avoid supplementing it's feed for several months, mares milk alone will be fine for it (and again don't feed her too much energy as this would pass to the foal in her milk). Obviously it's ok for foal to start eating grass when it wants to but don't offer creep feeds, they're really not nessecary unless it has a weight problem or the grazing is very poor. So long as you monitor foals growth careful and don't let it grow too fast then you should be able to avoid OCD. Joint infection generally has other causes and isn't genetic so this was just unfortunate and shouldn't happen again.

Sorry this was such a long post! Hope it is useful though, I am currently in the third year of an equine science degree and our nutrition lecturer is excellent so if you want anymore info please pm me and if i don't have the answer I will ask her!

From Alice

 

[polaris]

OCD is thought to be a predisposition rather than genetic though there are tendancies. It is advised never to breed form anything that has had OCD. We had a Trekhaner at our yard destined for Prix St. George level and at 3 was operated on for the same OCD as yours. It was branded loss of use by it's owner as it might/ might not achieve anwhere near that . The mare was sold on and went on to do fairly good dressage. Ocd can affect pretty much all the joints and is often bilateral. Clicking doesn not mean OCD is present. a VERY good supplement will help but will have to be given probably for life.

 

[Apalacia]

Hi,

I have actually just had my 6 year old Irish recover from this (so to speak - recover)...she has just had her lower hock joint drilled out in order to fuse and make new bone.

I had tried several different treatments before I opted for the surgery including injecting the joints which I found didn't really help. However, due to the problem, she was only about 2/10 lame, which doesn't sound much, but when the horse is a clutz anyway...haha,she would trip on anything.

With regards to breathing, her surgeon at Liphook said that there are several different factors. It is either genetic (in which case it is a recessive allele and therefore 50% change of it being hereditary), it could be from a injury, nutrition or it could be from them having been broken in too early.

If you need any further information on this, let me know especially if it is of the lower hock joint. Also, is it in both legs (as mine was) or only one?

 

[aran]

I agree with apalacia - it is either genetic, due to injury, or due to nutrition. Huamns get it to - my surgeon operates on a lot!
You usually only get one OCD defect/fragment in the joint but it is often bilateral. You don't often get them in different joints though - mainly the hocks/stifle/elbow or shoulder. If left untreated there is an increased risk of early onset OA but if treated the horse can go on to have a full career.

The prognosis is better if the OCD is in the lower hock joints - not the top, highly mobile one? which hock joint if affected?

 

[mitchellk]

Polaris- what very good joint supplement would you recommend out of interest?

 

[tisch]

My horse has 2 OCD bits of bone in his hock, or so they think. He has a old indury there, I am waiting for the vet to call so we can sort out a op for him. My vet said its only key hole so thats lucky.
Sorry i can`t really help you with your question, but i have sort of the same problem, and i hope your mare recovers well x

 

[Bright_Spark]

Thanks for all of your replies.

Amber is a 4yr old TB. She was bred for racing,but never raced (however I have had some information that has made me wonder if she was raced or at least in training).

The OCD was only found in her right hock and a bone fragment was removed. Apparently her bone had kept growing when everything else had stopped- resulting in the fragment (hope that makes sense).

 

[polaris]

Hello Katy1 sorry I have only just been able to get on now due to the Proxy error...
I thoroughly recommend Synequin as we have a giant breed dog that was operated on for OCD of the shoulder at 10 months old. He is a working dog and exercises a ridiculous amount crashing/jumping etc. He is now 5 and there is no sign of any real deterioration to that joint as he has been on the canine equivalent Synoquin. I really recommend the stuff. Used extensively in zoos for larger animals like Tigers and gorillas...( even saw it on animal park being used on the telly!)

To prove a point...This picture was taken yesterday of our pooch.
His OCD was front left.

Log is around 2 ft wide and 1-2 ft high!