Although it may share the same abbreviation with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), Osteochondritis dissecans (OCD) has absolutely nothing to do with its mental disorder counterpart. The somewhat common developmental disease that typically impacts horses of all shapes and sizes has a particularly serious impact by virtue of the damage it does to the horse’s abnormal tissue, and can lead to local detachment and facture of the cartilage and bone.
Generally speaking, the causes of horse OCD are multi-faceted and cannot be limited to any one thing. However, the following are known to increase the likelihood of a given horse coming down with the disease: speedy growth and a particularly large body size, diets featuring a particular emphasis towards on an imbalance of trace minerals, low-copper diets, bad genetics, hormone issues and various forms of trauma.
Because of all of the things that can contribute to horse OCD, the disease occurs relatively often. Generally speaking, clinical prevalence of horse OCD is somewhere between an estimated 5 to 25 percent. However, in several abnormal cases, development can be as high as 60 percent within particular groups.
Typically, OCD can be found in horses as early as five months into its life. By the same token, it can be found as late as approximately 3 years of age, the late point of skeletal maturity. The most common sign of the disease is effusion in the joint of a young horse. It can occur in pretty much any of the horse’s joints, however, the hock, stifle and fetlock are most often hit the hardest and most often. The shoulder is usually hit the least frequently, all things considered.
So, again, despite sharing an abbreviation with obsessive-compulsive disorder, horse OCD has absolutely nothing to do with the powerful and debilitating human mental health disorder.