Xrays - what do you see?

[Bellaboo18]

I just wondered if anyone could talk me through these hock xrays?

I honestly haven't got a clue what I'm looking at.

I wont say what the vets opinion is yet.

Thanks

 

[ycbm]

I think i can see partial fusion/total cartilage loss in places but I'm not great on hock x rays.

I hope whatever it is can be treated.
.

 

[ycbm]

I think i can see partial fusion/total cartilage loss in places but I'm not great on hock x rays.

I hope whatever it is can be treated.
.

To explain, my understanding is that each of the left to right "joints" in the hock should have a clear uninterrupted black line, showing where the cartilage that won't show on x ray, is.

But I am no expert on xrays and particularly not hocks.

 

[Bellaboo18]

To explain, my understanding is that each of the left to right "joints" in the hock should have a clear uninterrupted black line, showing where the cartilage that won't show on x ray, is.

But I am no expert on xrays and particularly not hocks.

Thanks for replying and explaining. I'll see if anyone else replies. I don't even know where to start and google isn't being much help but what you've said makes sense.

 

[HelenBack]

I see narrowing of the joint space/ partial fusion too but I'm no expert either. My own horse has hock arthritis and I've been talked through his x-rays but I still find it difficult to comprehend anything beyond the very basic.

 

[HorseMaid]

I think fusion too. My friends mare's xray looked similar where the lower two joints had started to fuse. My understanding is there should be a clear space between the joints?

 

[Cowpony]

Well I couldn't even tell it was a hock so I'm not going to comment!

 

[Bellaboo18]

Well I couldn't even tell it was a hock so I'm not going to comment!

I did wonder when I posted the thread if the first response I'd get would be 'that's not a hock' ??‍ I'm completely clueless! You've made me feel better.

 

[Sail_away]

Again, not a huge understanding but from what I know there should be ‘clean’ lines in between the bones of the hock joint which you don’t have there. I’ll also say (hesitantly) that there appears to be bone spurs on the outside of the lower part of the joint where the bone has been irritated and grown. I hope someone more knowledgeable can help here but I wonder if you could get another vet’s opinion on them if you’re unsure?
I will say that they’re significantly further advanced than my gelding’s were with mild hock arthritis. I hope it ends up being fixable for you.

 

[spotty_pony]

I'm no good at reading them I'm afraid but if they are fusing that isn't necessarily a bad thing - usually once fused they are more comfortable, the difficult bit is getting them comfortable enough to be able to put the work in to get them to fuse.

 

[Regandal]

I agree, there should be bigger gaps between the bones, not sure if there’s any fusion though.

 

[Regandal]

My gelding recently had his hocks injected, when the vet was pointing stuff out to me it seemed obvious. Not so much now though.
Got these on google, bottom one is a fused joint.

 

[Bellaboo18]

Thanks for all the replies. So these xrays were taken back in June and the vet said they show the slightest change, so slight that she didn't even want to mention it. Pretty much a direct quote.
Shes a lovely mare that was basically dumped before I had her so quite a few things materialised when I started to bring her in to work. I'm working through things as we find them but I was wondering if to get a second opinion on these xrays. After hearing others opinions that'll be my next thing to do.
Thanks