Swollen Hock in 2yr old

restless hare

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Would love to hear from anyone who has had experience of Hock Bog spavin/OCD in their young horse. There seem to be lots of older threads from many years ago. My 2yr old Friesian saw the vet before Christmas and is now waiting for x-rays. The vet suspects OCD and that surgery will be needed. The hock at times is huge but this is not consistent. Sometimes the swelling reduces but doesn't disappear entirely. He shows no lameness or pain on examination. He has been very slow to mature but went through a sudden growth spurt 2 months so this may have triggered the problem. I'm keen to hear of people's experience with young horses in particular, the cost of their surgery if this was necessary and the outcome.
 

Midlifecrisis

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I’m quite prepared to be shot down for my opinion but I wouldn’t want to do anything invasive at this young age. If no pain reaction or lameness I would turn away to continue to grow and mature.. Friesians seem to mature slowly...keep a diary about swelling and see what happens.
 

restless hare

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I’m quite prepared to be shot down for my opinion but I wouldn’t want to do anything invasive at this young age. If no pain reaction or lameness I would turn away to continue to grow and mature.. Friesians seem to mature slowly...keep a diary about swelling and see what happens.

This was very much my initial view but then I also want to believe he can grow out of it. My husband thinks the same though. I have just got very jumpy after a lot of what I've read has suggested that if we don't operate he will end up crippled with pain later on, it seems like such a gamble. The hock inititially seemed swollen a couple of months ago, but then went back down and was just a bit puffy, then a couple of weeks ago it was massively swollen again. I have monitored it on both box rest and turnout and it seems to make little difference, however, since changing fields 3 days ago (no mud!?!) the swelling has gone down. This also co-incides with me reducing his feed as I was worrying that I might have caused the growth spurt by feeding too much protein. I'm waiting to hear from the vet regarding when they can x-ray as she seemed sure it was OCD but nothing is certain and I think the very slow growth and enormous bone in Friesian horses can possibly lead to thinks looking more drastic! (The none-swollen hock on the other leg looks massive anyway). Thank you for your response.
 

Denver23

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Hi, just reading through OCD related threads and wondered what the outcome was for your horse? Did you have the surgery? Really keen to get some insight into people's personal experience with OCD particularly with regards to surgery costs, aftercare and outcomes etc. Thanks
 
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