Developmental Orthopedic Disease (DOD)
Developmental Orthopedic Disease is a complex of situations that all converge on a single target: the conversion of cartilage to bone.
Failure of this process results in:
- Osteochondrosis (OCD) and can have several clinical manifestations:
- Physitis
- Joint cartilage defects
- Cervical malformation (a wobbler syndrome)
- Contracted tendons
Symptoms:
- "Bumps" on the knees, fetlocks and hocks.
- Swelling in the joints.
- Swelling in the cervical area or movement changes.
- Enlarged fetlock joints and upright stance.
Treatment:
- Mild and nonabusive dietary restrictions. If you go to extremes and feed rough hay and no concentrates at all, which was believed to treat the problem, you can have 2 unproductive results:
- Foals that when they do start to grow, do so at a fast rate and end up with contracted tendons.
- Or, they will lose their genetic potential for maximal growth.
- If we BALANCE the protein, energy, vitamins and minerals, we can keep the foals on track for their genetic potential for growth without sacrificing the animal in any way. (Approximately 100 % of NRC)
- Watch when feeding just alfalfa hay that the calcium/phosphorus ratio is in line. (1.2-1.9:1). It won’t be on all-alfalfa hay (1.5% Ca).
- Match your supplement to the forage; don’t feed an alfalfa supplement with a grass hay and vise versa.
- They cannot digest all hay, especially poor-quality hay.
- Starch-rich meals may influence DOD because they are broken down so rapidly; possibly feed a fat source.
- Fast-growing foals can develop DOD by 2 months of age just from mare’s milk; a balanced creep feed may help.
Bone and joint problems can occur after 2 months and after rapid growth spurts. Ways to transition through these times:
- Use multiple exercise times, not just once a day.
- Warm up and cool down.
- Do not do repetitious work patterns. Keep him going forward, not in circles.
American Association of Equine Practitioners
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