Any ideas welcome as getting very fed up

[Chianti]

Poor you, you have done a hell of a lot for your pony he is very lucky to have you. I can’t give any help but I’ve had thermal imaging before and it was very good, it picked out both horses issues which lead to one of them actually being fixed (in short vet kept saying my mare had hind end laminitis and I disagreed, thermal image showed a stifle hot spot which a chiropractor worked on quite fiercely and pony was instantly healed and never looked sore again since!)

Thanks. That's reassuring to know.

 

[Chianti]

You must be so frustrated

Yes. It's the way we get period when he seems Ok and then goes backwards.

 

[ester]

My first thought was a muscle myopathy too.

And also that doesn't seem to have made any real progress so I'd consider getting a different body worker/chiro vet/ to assess.

 

[SEL]

Is that the condition that can be diagnosed by checking DNA or is it blood test? He's a mini cob - traveler pony - he was bought at Appleby at 6 months- not by me. He only has December and January unrugged as he also has quite bad sweet itch!

So for a cob I'd start with a hair test for PSSM type 1 - they take DNA from the roots of the hair. That test is established and not in dispute unlike some of the other myopathy tests. It's also cheap and doesn't need a vet.

Animal Genetics UK. https://animalgenetics.eu/product/Equine?productCategory=4 &productCategoryName=Disorders

 

[Boulty]

Personally if your osteo is finding the same patterns of tension on multiple occasions I’d go fishing for problems. Would take guidance from them where they think might need imaging if they’ll give it & discuss with your vet or a poor performance workup by someone in a large referral centre experienced with subtle issues.

The orange one was becoming rapidly more broken & my GP vet couldn’t figure out why. (My physio & trimmer had some theories but getting the vets to see what they did was really really difficult) Long story short Tom Beech ended up looking at him 2 or 3 times & as there were issues that weren’t resolving we ended up at Liverpool uni having a lot of head, neck & back imaging done (Tom basically explained to them what he was feeling & they went fishing). We found issues at every single place that horse had tension that wouldn’t shift. That horse had ulcers maybe 6 months- 1 year before all this that I’d put down to beast from the east related stress but in hindsight they were a symptom of the larger problems.

May be worth a look into hindgut issues as well with what you’ve said. Fuzzball had suspected problems (we never gave them a proper label but likely acidosis as a reaction to going from no grass to fair amounts of it). He did a lot of weird stances with his hind legs / standing with them crossed over. (Initially I thought he had neuro issues) Ended up back with Tom at insistence of physio as she felt there were things in his back needing releasing deeper than she can work (again GP vets not really bothered/ interested). The main thing that’s helped has been diet & reducing grass intake but initially he was also on coated bicarb, milk thistle & one of the Ron fields gut supplements (would suspect oily herbs might do a similar job but unsure as it’s different herbs). He kinda just has the Ron fields as maintenance now as noticed a difference last time I stopped it. As well as standing weird & being reluctant to step his RH under / generally not moving as well as he can he also looked quite bloated after he’d been on grass & developed a weird, food aversion type relationship with hard feed (historically if I ever ran out of bicarb the weirdness about eating would return but he’s been a lot better since moving to a track & seems ok without it so stopped it a while ago as it’s expensive, well the fancy coated version is anyway & he wouldn’t eat the DIY version!)


Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of what’s going on

 

[Chianti]

So for a cob I'd start with a hair test for PSSM type 1 - they take DNA from the roots of the hair. That test is established and not in dispute unlike some of the other myopathy tests. It's also cheap and doesn't need a vet.

Animal Genetics UK. https://animalgenetics.eu/product/Equine?productCategory=4 &productCategoryName=Disorders

Thanks

 

[Chianti]

Personally if your osteo is finding the same patterns of tension on multiple occasions I’d go fishing for problems. Would take guidance from them where they think might need imaging if they’ll give it & discuss with your vet or a poor performance workup by someone in a large referral centre experienced with subtle issues.

The orange one was becoming rapidly more broken & my GP vet couldn’t figure out why. (My physio & trimmer had some theories but getting the vets to see what they did was really really difficult) Long story short Tom Beech ended up looking at him 2 or 3 times & as there were issues that weren’t resolving we ended up at Liverpool uni having a lot of head, neck & back imaging done (Tom basically explained to them what he was feeling & they went fishing). We found issues at every single place that horse had tension that wouldn’t shift. That horse had ulcers maybe 6 months- 1 year before all this that I’d put down to beast from the east related stress but in hindsight they were a symptom of the larger problems.

May be worth a look into hindgut issues as well with what you’ve said. Fuzzball had suspected problems (we never gave them a proper label but likely acidosis as a reaction to going from no grass to fair amounts of it). He did a lot of weird stances with his hind legs / standing with them crossed over. (Initially I thought he had neuro issues) Ended up back with Tom at insistence of physio as she felt there were things in his back needing releasing deeper than she can work (again GP vets not really bothered/ interested). The main thing that’s helped has been diet & reducing grass intake but initially he was also on coated bicarb, milk thistle & one of the Ron fields gut supplements (would suspect oily herbs might do a similar job but unsure as it’s different herbs). He kinda just has the Ron fields as maintenance now as noticed a difference last time I stopped it. As well as standing weird & being reluctant to step his RH under / generally not moving as well as he can he also looked quite bloated after he’d been on grass & developed a weird, food aversion type relationship with hard feed (historically if I ever ran out of bicarb the weirdness about eating would return but he’s been a lot better since moving to a track & seems ok without it so stopped it a while ago as it’s expensive, well the fancy coated version is anyway & he wouldn’t eat the DIY version!)


Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of what’s going on

Thanks. Where do you get the coated bicarb? We did try limestone flour at one point but the vet said it only had an effect for about twenty minutes

 

[Boulty]

EquiShure® - Saracen Horse Feeds

EquiShure®, a scientifically proven time-released hindgut buffer which supplies an encapsulated source of sodium bicarbonate to the colon and caecum, helping to stabilise hindgut pH and optimise digestive function.

saracenhorsefeeds.com

This is what I used with mine

 

[Squeak]

Personally if your osteo is finding the same patterns of tension on multiple occasions I’d go fishing for problems. Would take guidance from them where they think might need imaging if they’ll give it & discuss with your vet or a poor performance workup by someone in a large referral centre experienced with subtle issues.

The orange one was becoming rapidly more broken & my GP vet couldn’t figure out why. (My physio & trimmer had some theories but getting the vets to see what they did was really really difficult) Long story short Tom Beech ended up looking at him 2 or 3 times & as there were issues that weren’t resolving we ended up at Liverpool uni having a lot of head, neck & back imaging done (Tom basically explained to them what he was feeling & they went fishing). We found issues at every single place that horse had tension that wouldn’t shift. That horse had ulcers maybe 6 months- 1 year before all this that I’d put down to beast from the east related stress but in hindsight they were a symptom of the larger problems.

May be worth a look into hindgut issues as well with what you’ve said. Fuzzball had suspected problems (we never gave them a proper label but likely acidosis as a reaction to going from no grass to fair amounts of it). He did a lot of weird stances with his hind legs / standing with them crossed over. (Initially I thought he had neuro issues) Ended up back with Tom at insistence of physio as she felt there were things in his back needing releasing deeper than she can work (again GP vets not really bothered/ interested). The main thing that’s helped has been diet & reducing grass intake but initially he was also on coated bicarb, milk thistle & one of the Ron fields gut supplements (would suspect oily herbs might do a similar job but unsure as it’s different herbs). He kinda just has the Ron fields as maintenance now as noticed a difference last time I stopped it. As well as standing weird & being reluctant to step his RH under / generally not moving as well as he can he also looked quite bloated after he’d been on grass & developed a weird, food aversion type relationship with hard feed (historically if I ever ran out of bicarb the weirdness about eating would return but he’s been a lot better since moving to a track & seems ok without it so stopped it a while ago as it’s expensive, well the fancy coated version is anyway & he wouldn’t eat the DIY version!)


Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of what’s going on

Just wanted to add to this that I had similar experience with hind gut ulcers affecting a horses right hind and making him reluctant to step under with the RH and standing camped under. I also used Ron Fields and had great results. Often the treatment of stomach ulcers can make hind gut ulcers worse so because one is healed it doesn't mean the other is.

I tried the oily herbs with the horse with hind gut ulcers/ issues and although he blossomed with his weight and condition I thought they set him back in terms of his performance and comfort so I'd be slightly hesitant to recommend them in this scenario. One other thing was that I found one Physio made no difference to the horse despite her finding things she had worked on and improved where a different chiropractor really works for him so it might be worth trying a different bodyworker.

I hope you get to the bottom of what's going on. It sounds like you're really doing your best.

 

[Chianti]

Just wanted to add to this that I had similar experience with hind gut ulcers affecting a horses right hind and making him reluctant to step under with the RH and standing camped under. I also used Ron Fields and had great results. Often the treatment of stomach ulcers can make hind gut ulcers worse so because one is healed it doesn't mean the other is.

I tried the oily herbs with the horse with hind gut ulcers/ issues and although he blossomed with his weight and condition I thought they set him back in terms of his performance and comfort so I'd be slightly hesitant to recommend them in this scenario. One other thing was that I found one Physio made no difference to the horse despite her finding things she had worked on and improved where a different chiropractor really works for him so it might be worth trying a different bodyworker.

I hope you get to the bottom of what's going on. It sounds like you're really doing your best.

Thanks. I'll look at Ron Fields

 

[Hallo2012]

i think unfortunately he needs a big vet work up, nerve blocks etc and see if you can find the cause of the imbalance in posture (as i would guess that is linked to the ulcers)