Any ideas? Non-specific symptoms?

[Texasstateofmind]

I have an 11 year old Percheron X (dutch warmblood/thoroughbred) with whom I compete at the local equivalent of Prelim/elementary affiliated dressage. He can be a little sharp but the other week he managed to dump me when he decided to buck and spin suddenly when asked for more bend in trot (twice, in fact). He came in the next day very sore in his back so we gave him a few days off and some bute and got his saddle checked (saddle fitter was already scheduled). He seems a little better but is still not quite right (yes - we have scheduled the vet to come for a work-up!) but I was wondering if anyone would add anything to the list of things to check out?

the list of things we've established is:

• 
  sensitive/reactive over SI/croup area rather than directly under saddle
  slightly girthy
  he isn't lame but seems unwilling to step under himself behind as much as usual
  far more spooky and tense than usual under saddle (we haven't had the same explosiveness we had the first day but I haven't really pushed him)
  unwillingness to bend (right bend has long being a bit of an issue for him but not to the extent of misbehaving when asked for more).
  We've also noticed some loss of top-line musculature (he's been very slow to build this generally).

He's had his saddle checked, saddle fitter felt his saddle was now too narrow so I'm riding him in a different saddle which she claims fits (I HATE it but that's a whole different thread). Teeth checked and were fine, had chiro and acupuncture done and he was far more reactive to the acupuncture than usual and she noted the SI sensitivity bilaterally.

On my list of things to check are: hocks (I believe this can often present as SI pain), stifles, SI, kissing spine, maybe ulcers (although other than the girthness he doesn't seem "ulcery") and given his breeding and the fact this all kicked off as we got the first flush of spring grass here in Texas, PSSM. Can anyone think of anything else? Or do those (very non-specific) symptoms shout a diagnosis to someone?

 

[Nudibranch]

All of those things are possible. I have one similar who has tested negative to pssm1, has no reaction to the pssm2 diet and has hock and neck changes on x ray. Also now reactive in SI. Unfortunately there ara a lot of possibilities so best wait for a work up and then you can proceed to x rays, bone scan etc as the vet thinks best. Pretty frustrating though.

 

[SEL]

Given the percheron in the breeding the PSSM test would be a quick one to rule in / out. My French draft x Appy is currently running up some nice vet bills after I got bloods run when she got very stiff and refused to canter to the left - bloods showed she'd tied-up.

I'd actually check for pssm before the vet visit - it's cheaper to test via animal genetics than the vet!!

 

[paddy555]

given your symptoms and Percheron in the breeding PSSM is the first thing I would check. My PSSM had a lot of non specific symptoms. In fact a lot of your symptoms.

You can easily test for type 1 and I would also blood test and see what the CK and AST levels are. Are you feeding high dose, natural vit E oil? if not I would do that. If PSSM he will require it anyway and his response to it may give you a clue. Mine got 8000 - 10000iu per day but with the size of yours more may initially be required.
I would also experiment with rugging ie keeping him constantly warm (that makes a lot of difference to mine and he is overrugged) and also daily exercise. If he is not good enough to ride then something like long reining, ponying him etc.

If you compete do you trailer him to events? That could cause problems for a PSSM horse.

There is a very good FB group for PSSM. Mostly Americans but we Brits learn from them.

 

[Texasstateofmind]

Interesting, thanks all. He is prone to heavy sweating (improved with added electrolytes) and is quite cold intolerant (which we have always assumed to be because he was bred in Louisiana). He also sometimes twitches like he is being irritated by flies even if there arent many about, this is sometimes a prelude to an explosion! We also already reached the conclusion that he is best when he is worked almost every day.

I think I'll go ahead and get the PSSM test done (since its fairly inexpensive) and adding VIT E to his diet even if something else does show up on the vet check. It wouldn't do any harm!

 

[Texasstateofmind]

I thought I'd do a quick update. We pulled a hair sample and sent it off to be tested and got the vet out to do a workup. He was as sound as can be in the lameness exam but she agreed he looked braced and unhappy in his back under saddle. We X-rayed his back and found that he had a narrowing of a couple of the vertebral spaces in the lower thoracic region with some remodelling but the vet thought it was unlikely to be causing much in the way of symptoms, but given he is very sensitive it's a possibility. She also agreed that with his breeding PSSM was a distinct possibility and was strongly in favour of switching his diet to low starch, high fat + vitamin E straight away. We are considering whether or not to inject his back or play a waiting game and see if the diet change helps. If the PSSM 1 test comes back negative we may go ahead and do a muscle biopsy to look for other myopathies.

So, frustrating in that there is nothing straightforward we can point to but we also ruled out that we missed something obvious!

 

[Slightlyconfused]

You can do a five panel test for the main muscle myopathies. Will save on the muscle biopsy as it can be a not very nice proceedure.

 

[ellie_e]

ulcers/ hind gut ulcers or acidosis