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Discussion on Bad x-ray prepurchase examen
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Member:
marjabe
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Posted on Monday, Mar 5, 2012 - 5:16 am:
Last friday we had a prepurchase exam of a horse we have for sale. It is our own breed, 4 year old QH gelding who lost his mother at 2 weeks old causing colic.
The clinical exam was just great everything was good, flextests etc.
The buyers asked for 28 x-rays and they started very good also till the 16th x-ray...
The problem is very clear (osteoarthrite in the hock), everybody was disapointed of course, even the vet that did the exam because he also really liked the horse...he said this horse is going to be very lame within 2 years...
When you see this x-ray what do you think are the prognosis and or possibilities for this horse (he was never lame) or are there no options? Is it maybe operable?
Thank you for your time
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Mar 7, 2012 - 5:33 pm:
Hello marjabe,
That is quite a remarkable case of osteoarthritis in at least the distal intratarsal and tarso-metatarsal joints. There is a suggestion that the proximal intratarsal may also be effected and if so may indicate this might spread to the all important tibio-tarsal joint that is responsible for most of the joints movement.
Since this horse is 4 and has never been lame I wonder if these joints were not fused at birth or shortly after. Though you can see the joint spaces in the above view this can be misleading. Fusion of the joints would account for the soundness despite the remarkable changes.
If the problem is confined to the distal two joints soundness may be possible and would give you a guarded to fair prognosis for soundness at some level of work but if the proximal intratarsal jt is also diseased the prognosis is at best guarded for continued soundness. Other views of the hock would be helpful. For more on all this see the Osteoarthritis subtopic in the article
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Diseases of the Upper Rear Limb » Overview of Diseases of the Hock (Tarsus)
DrO
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