I recently found out that my 4yo gelding has a degenerative hock
joint. This really bums me out as I was looking forward to him being my up
and coming endurance horse. I have raised him since he was weaned.
My mare that I ride now is 15. I was hoping to slow her down in the next
couple years while bringing the gelding on slowly.
My vet diagnosed the problem a couple weeks ago after taking some x-rays of
the hock joint on the right rear leg. His recommendation is that I turn
the boy out for a year and leave him alone. He is hoping that the joint in
question will fuse and hopefully he will be a usable horse. Right now the
vet is only giving him a 50/50 chance of that happening.
In my mind I am thinking that even if the joint does fuse that I will
probably not use him for endurance at all. But I am hoping that he might
be come a nice pleasure trail riding horse. He is a very sweet boy.
Anyway I was just wondering if anyone has gone through this kind of thing
with a young horse and if the out come was OK. I have limited pasture and
don't feel like I can keep this horse if he is permanently lame. So am not
looking forward to making a decision about his future if the joint does not
fuse.
