Bone

The aim of this study was to determine whether horses with a proximal palmar/plantar first phalangeal osteochondral fragment (POF) had comparable racing careers (prior to and following surgery) to horses without this fracture. A retrospective cohort study included 174 Swedish Standardbred trotters with osteochondral fragmentation in the palmar/plantar fetlock joint and 613 radiographically negative control horses presented for prepurchase examinations. Medical records and radiographs were examined for each horse.

The aim of the study was to use spatial and multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) to describe and compare the regional proportion and spatial pattern of volumetric bone mineral density (BMD_v) values within loaded regions of the plantar metatarsal epiphysis of young horses in race training. A single 2 mm transverse peripheral quantitative computed tomography ‘slice’, 10 mm proximal from the distal limit of the sagittal ridge of the distal metatarsal epiphysis was obtained from 14 2-year-old Thoroughbred fillies (7 exercised and 7 controls).

Summary
Reasons for performing study

Radiography is commonly used in clinical practice but agreement of reporting of radiographically detected orthopaedic findings in horses has rarely been studied.
Objectives

To assess agreement within and between observers for reporting of orthopaedic findings on presale radiographs of Thoroughbred yearlings.
Study design

Retrospective analysis of archived radiographs.
Methods

Two Quarter Horses were examined at the Washington State University Veterinary Teaching Hospital with forelimb lameness. Case 1 was a 4-year-old female with a 4 month history of intermittent forelimb lameness that had partially responded to oral anti-inflammatories. The horse was in full training and actively competing in cutting. Case 2 was a one-year-old filly bred for cutting that presented with a right forelimb lameness of 3 weeks’ duration, which was not responsive to oral anti-inflammatories. The horse was not in training.