Azoturia - advice please (long - sorry!)

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My mare tied up yesterday whilst out on a walk/trot hack. She'd been out for about an hour and had just trotted up the hill home when she seemed to suddenly become very lame. Daughter hopped off and looked for stones in feet, ran hands up and down legs - couldn't find anything outstanding, so walked her the last little bit home. (In hindsight I suppose she shouldn't have moved her, but she's never seen Azoturia before, and she was in sight of home - I don't think I would have expected her to call me to bring the lorry out to fetch her). By the time she was back on the yard she looked as if she'd broken her pelvis to be honest.........and I thought we might have come to the end of the road. Vet came as soon as he could and took bloods, although he also mentioned the possibility of a fractured pelvis. (She had a crashing fall XC schooling 2 weeks ago, and we did wonder whether she might have weakened something that had finally given way trotting up the hill - far fetched maybe as she had been sound as a pound everyday since, but she just looked so crippled!). Gave her large anti-inflam and pain killer jab and left some bute. Phoned at 10pm last night (bless him) to tell me her muscle enzymes were all over the place and she had obviously tied up. This morning you wouldn't have known anything had been wrong - she walked out of her box right as rain.

I thought I'd delve into the experience of the forum to hear all your views on how best to manage her from now on in. She's a delightfully stereotypical 15.2 chestnut ISH mare. We've had her 2 years, and I don't think she has a history of tying up - she's on loan and I get on very well with her owners - I'm sure they would have told me if she had a history of it. She's pretty fit - ready to go out PN eventing. Currently fed Alfalfa chaff, D&H Equine Sensitive, Bailey's Outshine & pretty much ad lib haylage. Has been out during day, in at night, just changed over today to night turn out. We are pretty meticulous about warm up and cool down as she had Kissing Spine surgery about this time last year followed by heaps of physio. She's been brought back into work very carefully and very slowly over the last months - her 1st competition was going to be at Keysoe next weekend. She's ridden 4 times a week - schooled flatwork once, 2 hacks, one walk & trot only, one with fast work incorporated, schooled over jumps once. Other 2 days she's either on horsewalker for an hour or lunged in a Pessoa and elastic band as per physio instruction. She has a day off a week - this was on Thursday, so she was schooled for about an hour on Friday without any problems. Nothing has changed significantly, although we ran out of haylage for a while so she was on soaked hay instead. New haylage arrived and she was started on it last weekend - so had been on it for 7 days before this tying up episode. I think she's in season if that has anything to do with it - quite difficult to tell because she's not all that obvious.

Following vet's advice (obviously) she's now on no hard feed, turned out as much as possible as she's repsonded so well to pain relief, on Bute for another day, and withdrawn from Keysoe (sob - have waited so long to get back into it after KS!!!!). He's coming back at the end of the week to take bloods again as we can't work her again until her enzymes have returned to normal.

So - any bright ideas as to why she tied up? Any advice on management going forwards? Any recommendations regarding feed? I was going to ring a few feed companies on Tuesday to see what they advise, but thought I'd pick your brains in the meantime as to feeds/supplements etc that have worked. I was wondering about Simple Systems?

Sorry it's so long - chilled white wine for anyone who got the end!
 
2 thoughts-
1) maybe she damaged some muscles when she fell?

2) You say shes fit but is she fit enough for the work you are doing?

Oh, and a third, do you feed electrolytes?

It could be just stress and the fact shes a mare (more prone), sometimes you cant pinpoint a classic cause unfortunately. However i i do feel the accident may be something to do with it?
 
Little Cob (13.3hh Trad Cob, seven years old, we've owned him for three and a half years), tied up totally out of the blue a few weeks ago.

LC is on a handful of Speedibeet (just to get vits in and Codlivine), has been out twenty-four seven for weeks now, hasn't had any competition, was worked steady and regularly and getting fit. There are a lot of hills round the yard, which we only moved to in January this year, so I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it, but he's worked on hills before with no problems so maybe not! So confusing :(

The only thing that was different feedwise was three days on Instant Response, which we put him on to get a bit of life into him, but then took him off when it sent him whappy :(. This was about a week and a half before the tie up episode.

Hope your girl comes right soon! Daughter is upset - this was to be her year on LC as daughter will be sixteen in October so out of ponies. I've promised her a ODE on my horse to try and make up for it. It's hard :(.

Oh, feedin oil is mooted as being the right way to go.
 
teddyt said:
2 thoughts-
1) maybe she damaged some muscles when she fell?

2) You say shes fit but is she fit enough for the work you are doing?

Oh, and a third, do you feed electrolytes?

It could be just stress and the fact shes a mare (more prone), sometimes you cant pinpoint a classic cause unfortunately. However i i do feel the accident may be something to do with it?
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It is possible that she damaged muscles in the fall - but I would have thought that we would have seen some sign of this over the last 2 weeks. I have been uber careful since the fall - I've trotted her up every day to check for any sign of unevenness and had yard manager and various other liveries check as well as second opinion (we have some real worry guts on our yard that would say anything was lame - event they thought she was fine!). She had big knees for a few days, but was never remotely lame - they were cold hosed and she had bute on advice of phone call to vet. Still could be possible though - I'll ask vet.

Yes - I do think she is fit enough for the work she's doing to be honest. As I say, she's been brought back in very carefully since surgery this time last year. She looks great, is correctly muscled all round and has managed everything we have asked so far without looking as if she is struggling at all. The fall she had was mostly rider error - daughter tends to be a bit tipped forwards and she fell jumping (or not!) a step out of water. I think as daughter was tipped forwards it made it hard for her to lift up when jumping out and she just stacked it on the step. When we caught her they were reunited and went on to continue the session jumping some quite meaty things for them and she didn't seem distressed at all. I'm not convinced that it's a fitness issue.

I don't feed electrolytes as a matter of course, but I do put them in a feed after she's done particularly hard work. She had them after the XC session, for example, and I always feed them after competing and travelling (she doesn't really like travelling very much and can be a reluctant loader). Maybe I should add them to her daily diet - does that help do you think?

Many thanks for the thoughts!
 
MrsMozart said:
Little Cob (13.3hh Trad Cob, seven years old, we've owned him for three and a half years), tied up totally out of the blue a few weeks ago.

LC is on a handful of Speedibeet (just to get vits in and Codlivine), has been out twenty-four seven for weeks now, hasn't had any competition, was worked steady and regularly and getting fit. There are a lot of hills round the yard, which we only moved to in January this year, so I'm wondering if that had anything to do with it, but he's worked on hills before with no problems so maybe not! So confusing :(

The only thing that was different feedwise was three days on Instant Response, which we put him on to get a bit of life into him, but then took him off when it sent him whappy :(. This was about a week and a half before the tie up episode.

Hope your girl comes right soon! Daughter is upset - this was to be her year on LC as daughter will be sixteen in October so out of ponies. I've promised her a ODE on my horse to try and make up for it. It's hard :(.

Oh, feedin oil is mooted as being the right way to go.
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I really feel for your daughter - my daughter (same age by the way) has waited for a year to be back competing after the KS surgery, and is gutted that we so nearly made it to Keysoe but are now so far away again...........

I already feed Bailey's Outshine - would have thought that had enough oil? I'm going to ring Bailey's on Tuesday to see what advice they can give. Will also try D&H and Simple Systems to get as much info as possible.

Good luck with LC!
 
I feel your pain! My boy ties up. If at all possible the best thing is living out. Mine has 24-7 access to his field & stable so can wander freely. With feeding go as high fibre & high oil as you can, cut right back on starch & sugar. Mine is just fed soaked spillers hi fi cubes & a pint of corn oil a day with ad lib hay. Soya oil is more calorific but my fusspot won't eat it.

A Vit E & Selenium supplement is usually advised, you can get your vet to check bloods for deficiencies.

Also, as mentioned above, electrolytes.

Mine ties up on haylage.

If you google Drs Beth valentine &/or Stephanie Valberg you will find loads of really useful literature.

Can you tell I've done my research :rolleyes:

Hopefully in your case it's a random 1 off. Drop me a PM if you want a chat.
 
I've had to deal with tying up for the last few years as my horse is prone to it.
At the moment, there seem to be quite a few strange attacks occuring - my vet (and I) think its due to the abnormally rich spring grass that is coming though.

Regards management - its a fine line between horses being kept out as much as possible but watching the grass intake as this can bring on an attack - my horse is never kept out 24/7, but is either in during day or night depending on the season. When she has got over her current severe attack, she will be going out at night and in during the day and may even be muzzled when in the field too. Her current attack is more than likely due to the spring grass and the fact that I didn't muzzle her early enough - I thought as the paddock is quite small and the grass very short that she would be OK. Learned from that one!!

Regarding feed - as little starch and sugar as possible. Hayledge is a definite no-no. Equine Sensitive is ideal - but I would re-think the alfa as this is high protein and that has been linked to azoturia too...

There is some suggestion that vit E & selenium can benefit although there is little actual scientific proof for this - but can be worth a go....what I would say here is that excess selenium can be toxic (I believe) so I would def. talk to your vet about this one.
Small amounts of Sodium Bicarb can be beneficial as this reduces the lactic acid production.
Horses prone to tying up should be in regular exercise - preferably every day or only 1 day off a week....and at least 15 mins walk to warm up and cool down when exercised...
Changes in weather can also help bring an attack on and it is definitely important to keep the muscles warm so use and exercise sheet in the winter when riding...

Azorturia can be caused by a multitude of things and tbh, you could rack you brain for the cause and never be sure....

A bit of info there for you, if you want to know anything else or have any questions just let me know!!
 
Forgot to add - one piece of good news for you, if your horse tied up yesterday and vet hasn't box rested her, her CK and AST must have only been slightly raised and therefore a very mild attack. So it shouldn't be too long before you are up and running again.

Unless your vet handles things very differently to those around here! My mare has been on box rest for 9 days now and it could be considerably longer unless levels have come down significantly when re-tested tomorrow
 
dont know if this is of any help but my mare suffers from azoturia quite badly.

i had to give her electrolytes and tye-guard (equine america) everyday.

she kept having attacks (at least once a week) and i turned her out to grasslivery 3 weeks ago and hasnt had one tye up since!

hope you get it sorted. if you have any questions feel free to pm me
 
Thats good that your horse seems to be getting on ok orin, tying up every week is pretty extreme!

.....but to all people who's horses tie up, just be careful putting them on 24/7 grass...my horse has now tied up twice from excess grass (1st time was ex YO's choice of larger field and 2nd time as per post above) and 3 times from being kept in too much (enforced by ex YO) so an attack can happen from excesses of just about anything!!

Orin - did the equine america tye guard not work at all then? I was looking at it the other day thinking of trying it.
 
yes the tye gurad made a massive difference. i think the big cause of her attacks was that she was stabled. since having her out 24/7 had no problems at all
 
My mare tied up a couple (maybe three) years ago. It was January, she'd managed to wriggle out of her rug one day. I can only put it down to the fact that she got a chill. She was quite bad, box rest for two weeks, another two weeks off, six weeks of walk before building back up again. She'd been hunting fit. I'd dump the alfa for something like just grass (too much protein in alfa) and add some oil to her diet. I give mine Ride & Relax. I'm also always careful to monitor her wee after hard work (it goes very dark owing to enzymes or something technical)
Happily, we've had no more incidents so it may just be a one off for your mare. Combination of fall, spring grass and hormones is probably what's caused it. Try not to worry too much (I panicked for months afterwards), just be aware that it may happen again and too look out for the signs.
 
Thanks everyone - good if sometimes conflicting advice all round!

Vet back out today to retake bloods, so we'll see where we go from here. The alfalfa question is interesting - both D&H and Baileys recommended keeping up the alfalfa, although some articles I googled warned against it.

I suspect that it's a very complicated condition brought on by many different circumstances that are probably slightly different in every case. As it's never happened before and there are no obvious reaosns for it happening this time vet still maintains that I shouldn't change anything and hope it's a one off. If it happens again we'll have to look into it a little deeper.

There do seem to be a fair few out of the blue episoded being noted though, so I do wonder about the weather/grass etc.....
 
Hi

I have a big Shire x TB who started to show signs of tying up when he was younger.

i keep him on the Vit E and Selinum additive and a fair amont of oil, any oil will do. I give him veg but my vet said as much as possible so i give him a cup full each day and he has never had problems since. The oil and the vits give a helping hand to the muscles recover after exercise.

Good Luck
 
Following on from estherthreadkells post my friend has a horse that suffers with PPSM a similiar condition to Azoturia. She was advised to use oil in the diet to. If you have any pakistani/indian food stores near where you live you will find that they sell large metal containers of oil (5 gallon I think) which are usually about £6/7 each and are much cheaper than the supermarkets equivalent as they tend to use them a lot in cooking (and not being funny) as they have large families I expect they have bigger sizes as its easier too.

As a point of interest my friends horse who has posted in the vets section regarding peritonitis in her rising 4 year old has also been recommended oil in the diet by her vet. Seems oil is a very valuable health additive for horses.
 
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