Boggle- USA bound!

Ahrena said:
Christ mate how the hell?!
Please, please, please do not beat yourself up. I have never met anyone else who looks after their horses to the standard you do. I can’t believe this is happening to you again, life can be so bloody cruel.
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This.

Is there anything in the new environment that could cause this? Snake bite?
 
Maybe but no puncture wound, no swelling anywhere.

It’s so weird. When I pulled him in from the pasture he was very quiet but we realised he hadn’t drunk probably because he didn’t want to walk to the water (and it was nearing 30 degrees). As soon as he drank he was back to his normal self and super perky and bright. He was eating when I found him.

Compared to boggle who only perked up once he was on pain relief/stabilized at the vets. Atlas has been graded as just as ataxic as Boggle was.

The left hind thing is weird. Cant remember if I mentioned on here or just to CC on WhatsApp. He doesn’t want to weight bear on it much and kept resting it. But no heat no responsiveness to hoof testers, nothing. And why would he also be very ataxic in front?

I am going to go see him as soon as it’s light. Then I’m going to take pepper for a hike, whilst the vets track down a few things that I need. May end up having to drive to Phoenix (4 hr round trip) to get it. I decided I would start him on the loading dose of the EPM drug, for various reasons, even if we do think it’s that and I decide not to continue at least I’m doing the best for him right now.
 
I can’t believe it either. To have another horse present with the exact same really rare/weird thing…

It’s like someone up there is truly testing me. We didn’t quite break her last time let’s give it one more go 🤣.

It’s almost laughable, I actually felt embarrassed to even post what had happened on here. I felt like I should post the video so you didn’t all think I was some crazy nutter that was making this s*** up because that’s how unbelievable it seems.
 
Slightlyconfused said:
This.

Is there anything in the new environment that could cause this? Snake bite?
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I wondered this too. Could it be viral and he just happens to have a sore hind? I remember when living in SA the horses developed immunity to certain tick borne diseases, but care had to be taken when moving to a new area. I lost one to biliary / tick bite fever because of this.
 
Maybe. But the front limb ataxia…I spoke to my Colorado vet friend (Boggles main vet in the clinic) at length last night, seems wrong time of year for ticks it’s been very cold/freezing at night.

She is so awesome, and all over this, and I think her and the Tucson vet will probably talk this week. I HATE to cross over the business and pleasure as she’s a friend now not my vet, but on this occasion I’m going to take what help I can get. And as she said, she’d have been really cross if I hadn’t looped her in on this so hopefully it’s ok.
 
When it comes to ticks, those f*ckers don't die. As long as the ground is above freezing, they're active. If there's enough warmth in the day, they're active. I also think that they're just on another level here in the US!

Lyme can have odd symptoms, and anaplasmosis too. The latter does cause lack of coordination. He'd likely have a fever though, but tick borne diseases can be odd things. I wondered about his pelvis too, but I'm not a vet and basically spitballing based off of weird horse sh*t I've seen in my life. I also hate that EPM exists!

I am so sorry that you're going through this. Atlas is such a good little guy, and this is the absolute last thing that you need.
 
Michen said:
Maybe but no puncture wound, no swelling anywhere.

It’s so weird. When I pulled him in from the pasture he was very quiet but we realised he hadn’t drunk probably because he didn’t want to walk to the water (and it was nearing 30 degrees). As soon as he drank he was back to his normal self and super perky and bright. He was eating when I found him.

Compared to boggle who only perked up once he was on pain relief/stabilized at the vets. Atlas has been graded as just as ataxic as Boggle was.

The left hind thing is weird. Cant remember if I mentioned on here or just to CC on WhatsApp. He doesn’t want to weight bear on it much and kept resting it. But no heat no responsiveness to hoof testers, nothing. And why would he also be very ataxic in front?

I am going to go see him as soon as it’s light. Then I’m going to take pepper for a hike, whilst the vets track down a few things that I need. May end up having to drive to Phoenix (4 hr round trip) to get it. I decided I would start him on the loading dose of the EPM drug, for various reasons, even if we do think it’s that and I decide not to continue at least I’m doing the best for him right now.
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Oh goodness that reminds me! I had one in South Africa with a snake bite. The puncture wounds were right up in the underside of her stifle and we missed them at the first check. She was also showing virus type symptoms so we thought it was West Nile Virus at first. We think she rolled on or close to the snake. She survived but wasn't ridden again.
 
Michen said:
I think I’m going to give him a week and if he’s not significantly improving I will PTS.

I’m not going down this EPM s*** hole if it is that, it doesn’t have a good success rate and it’s hugely expensive to treat.

I’m not doing the whole is it the neck, X ray, not really have clear answers because it’s not a CT thing either.

I just won’t. I absolutely refuse to go down this route with another horse least of all one that I’ve had for a matter of months.

What kind of sick joke is this to have this happen again, at least the vets job was easy she didn’t have to explain anything to me because I already know.

I’m just done. And poor, poor Atlas.

Jokes on me for not insuring him once again.. lol. Clearly learned from my mistakes though this isn’t even a money factored decision it’s a I CANNOT do this again. Mentally.
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I found my yearling filly ataxic early one morning, very fast heartbeat, breathing fast, very confused. Called vet immediately. They thought all sorts of virus things, bloodtested, nothing unusual except slightly raised liver enzymes. Gave her pain meds and she felt a lot better. A couple of days out she was fine and has been fine ever since. Very scary and never got to the bottom of it. Hang on in there and give it a couple of days, I say.
 
So sorry to hear, fingers crossed he is back to himself very soon.
When you mention lack of drinking - any chance it could’ve been a heatstroke type thing? I’m guessing that has been considered already - one of ours had it years ago and presented very oddly.
Hope you are holding together ok. You’ve had such a rough time x
 
Is he sweating OK?

I found out my Appy had anhydrosis when she went ataxic. My emergency vet call had me telling them she looked drunk - had no idea because I hadn't worked her in the heat so hadn't spotted she wasn't sweating.

Crossing fingers & toes xx
 
Yeh he’s sweating fine he was a little sweaty yesterday. His CBC came back normal.

He’s a good drinker, think he just hadn’t drunk because he could barely walk rather than the other way round.
 
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Michen said:
Yeh he’s sweating fine he was a little sweaty yesterday. His CBC came back normal.

He’s a good drinker, think he just hadn’t drunk because he could barely walk rather than the other way round.
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Ahh gotcha. Of course, that makes sense.
Poor little dude, hoping and praying that he is back to himself very very soon.
 
I sincerely hope it's something easily fixable. You've been far too unlucky.

My friend's 4yo polo pony had quite a similar video about 6 months ago. Very ataxic, staggering, even fell onto his side at one point (to the right). Turned out it was a LH abscess and the horse just hadn't been in proper pain before and didn't know what to do so was ridiculously dramatic. The way he was walking, he looked drunk. It was just that he didn't want to use the foot and couldn't coordinate a limp properly. He didn't have heat in the foot initially but after a day or two it was red hot. They thought it was quite deep seated. He's fine now and just started baby polo training. I hope it's something as silly as that.
 
DressageCob said:
I sincerely hope it's something easily fixable. You've been far too unlucky.

My friend's 4yo polo pony had quite a similar video about 6 months ago. Very ataxic, staggering, even fell onto his side at one point (to the right). Turned out it was a LH abscess and the horse just hadn't been in proper pain before and didn't know what to do so was ridiculously dramatic. The way he was walking, he looked drunk. It was just that he didn't want to use the foot and couldn't coordinate a limp properly. He didn't have heat in the foot initially but after a day or two it was red hot. They thought it was quite deep seated. He's fine now and just started baby polo training. I hope it's something as silly as that.
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That gives me some hope. Thank you. I am very suspicious of that left hind it just doesn’t make sense.
 
The most dramatic ataxia I ever saw turned out to be a sliver of glass caught in the frog and the horse completely losing the plot re pain in the hoof. He was a baby who’d always been healthy and he just couldn’t figure it out.

It was such a tiny piece it took a couple of days to find, especially as attention was fixed on all the wobbliness and lack of co-ordination. He recovered to normal in about 24 hours after it was out.

I really hope it’s something stupid and solvable.
 
Absolutely everything crossed for Atlas and you. If anyone is front of queue for some good luck and it turning out to be something simple it’s you.
 
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