Any help/ideas please......vets stumped

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Cheiro1

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In vet too as not sure where is best....

I am posting on behalf of a friend who is really worried about her horse and could do with some ideas.

Last Tuesday he was brought in and was happily grazing when caught, he was taken into his stable and lightly massaged over his back for 15-20mins which is done daily anyway and was falling asleep all droopy and happy. Went to the front of his stable to get a carrot to do carrot stretches which are again done daily (didn’t leave the stable) and he'd raised his head and jerked upwards slightly as if flies were bothering him.
He then was reluctant to stretch left but did it comfortably and then could not turn right or put his head down. Vet was called as seemed to be in quite a bit of pain from his body language, vet was totally stumped couldn’t find anything obvious and gave anti inflammatories. In the morning he was fine and normal. The following night (Wednesday and friend didn’t massage or do stretches as wanted to see if this had exacerbated it ) she just popped him in after getting him in from the field where he was again grazing and he again did the same. Left him overnight and didn’t call the vet and he was fine in the morning with no drugs given.
Thursday feed and hay was on the floor ready when he went in and he was totally fine, Friday she did the same and again he was fine. Saturday she went to bring him in to have his back done (McTimoney, but new practitioner to her) and he was standing in the field like it and the treatment didn’t help but after being turned back out for 10mins he was again normal so around 1hr in total. Sunday night he did the same thing when his feed was not ready and waiting and she run the vet again and vet prescribed 10days of a Danilon trial to see if it helps solve the problem and she picked that up today. When she brought him in tonight he again did the same, she stood holding his feed up for him to eat to ensure he got the drugs.

Every morning he is fine even if he has gone to bed doing this ‘thing’ it is totally random with no clear pattern other than it seems to be when he’s brought in and left to stand for a little bit but then it happened in the field during the day the other day too.
He can’t fully turn to the right and can’t lower his head. He stands with it raised and jerks it upwards on occasion. He shudders at the withers when he jerks up and can become reluctant to move and when she walks him out of his stable to make him move (rightly or wrongly please don’t criticise her) he walks backing right off the head collar, first thought of hers is possible trapped nerves but is in two minds as it is so random and inconsistent. The only thing she can think of that might’ve triggered it is a visit from the dentist the day before this behaviour was first displayed as he’s a bit of a shite for the dentist. So EDTs.....any ideas on that front?

Any help or ideas is greatly appreciated.

Sorry its long.
 
From reading it, it sounds like a trapped nerve - could it be that his massage has made him really relaxed and then when he's made a sudden movement, the nerve has trapped??
 
Thank you so much for your reply.

Do you think the 10 days of danillon will help? or does she need to call in other measures? :)
 
Trapped nerve!

Your vet with your manipulator should be working together on this (if they are not already)

A little bit of box rest and light hand walking, feeding from the floor.

A blood test wouldn't go a miss as well.

Friends horse had this and he seemed to have a small infection (may have been unrelated but vets were stumped at first) Horse had muscle relaxants to help him move about

Good luck and keep us posted
 
Sound like possible muscle spasms?- when he's been doing his exercises maybe he has overstretched himself, i.e above and beyond his normal 'range' of movement. Hopefully he will get better of his own accord but if not I'd get vet to refer to physio for a thorough check up and also get them to pay attention to poll and atlas joint. Also what feed is he on? could be a weird form of tying up?- only a thought though!

Also Magnesium is good for relaxing their back muscles

Good luck.
 
First point of call is the dentist, I would have called them straight away as they may have take off too much tooth and caught a nerve. Second port of call would be to ask the vet if this could have anything to do with the treatment and box rest from the previous illness when the horse was on box rest and booting out the stable.

A friend on here which I hope wont mind me mentioning deals in Bowen Therapy and she was asked out to a headshaker this came on suddenly after it had it's teeth done and never did it before and they couldn't find any cures for it, had all the vets and referrals stumped. She also couldn't really find anything wrong with it either.

Did the dentist use electric tools? Or newly sharpened rasps?
 
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