Does this look like it could be DSLD?

[Caol Ila]

Gypsum's hind fetlocks have noticeably dropped in the last few months. Obviously, I will get my vet's view ASAP, but I can't do that at 6pm on a Thursday without an emergency callout.

These two photos:


Compared to these ones, the first from only a year or so ago.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I can see why you are concerned about her.

In both of the recent photos it looks like her weight is loaded on the off hind. Does her fetlock on the near hind sink as low when it has more weight on it? So are the hind limbs even in their deterioration? Does she try to always weight load on the off hind?

 

[ycbm]

I'd say that if she had DSLD (now known as ESPA because they know it's a whole soft tissue thing, not just suspensory ligaments) then it should have been noticeable years ago. My friend's horse was put down at 7. I would guess that this is just old age taking its toll, CE, sorry

 

[Caol Ila]

The off hind is slightly worse looking than the near. Neither are great. Back in January, she went very lame on the off-hind. First assumed it was an abscess, but then vet diagnosed it as arthritis. She had about five-to-six weeks off work. During that period, the sinking fetlocks became more noticeable. But she came sound, in walk anyway, and I was riding her on short walking hacks maybe two or three times per week. She went lame again about a month ago, this time on the near hind but presenting in the exact same way as January lameness. Vet saw her and diagnosed more arthritis. I haven't been riding, obviously. She now looks okay in walk (just don't look at her back legs on soft ground -- she twists almost 90 degrees) but the sinking fetlocks has gotten more pronounced.

I know it's a long-term degenerative thing, but could it have been percolating away, unnoticed until five months ago? Or is the horse unlikely to have stayed sound until 27 if she had it?

 

[ester]

My post was going to say the same as ycbm's.

 

[CanteringCarrot]

Also agree with ycbm.


In my (limited) experience, I've noticed that fetlock sinking is fairly common in older "heavier bred" horses. I've seen it a lot in the older draft crosses around here. Also in their mid to late 20's.

 

[blodwyn1]

My Welsh d mare has sunken hind fetlocks at age 23. It is her age and straight hind leg conformation hasn't helped.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Looks age related to me. I was lucky with Kia that he was sound and in work until the abscess that caused his massive foot infection. I’d it was what you think it would have shown it’s head before now.

 

[sbloom]

I just saw a post on FB that I can't now find but I'm positive it said it's quite usual for them to really sink in mid to late teens.

 

[Caol Ila]

Okay, so it's probably not DSLD and not an immediate death sentence.

 

[Gloi]

It does look age related but I'd be getting a Cushing's test if you haven't recently done one due to the general change in body shape.

 

[sbloom]

Edit - so what I saw was in one photo of a post and took some finding. They may be completely wrong, I have no idea, but it doesn't sound like a death sentence either way:

https://www.facebook.com/4DEquitationOnlineEN/photos/pcb.128306039352069/128303602685646/

 

[ycbm]

I'm not sure if the writer of that article is mixing up two things. ESPA is, I understand, where the horse fills in the normal everyday microtears in soft tissue with proteoglycans, which eventually cause the tissue either to go rock hard or to break down under strain.

I don't think that's the same as hypermobility, where the repair should be normal even though the hypermobility may make damage more likely.

I've got a hypermobile horse, he shows no sign of ESPA. My friend had an ESPA horse, it wasn't hypermobile though it's suspensories did give way when it had worked a couple of years, and the fetlock drop looked like it. But it wasn't born like it, and in the hind legs the suspensories went hard and tight and the hind legs went straight and he went bum high after reaching adult height. (again he wasn't born like it)
.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

sbloom that is a fascinating article. Gives some insight into why warmbloods are so likely to have PSSM2.

 

[ycbm]

sbloom that is a fascinating article. Gives some insight into why warmbloods are so likely to have PSSM2.

I don't get that, EP? I can't see anything in the article which links PSSM with hypermobility?

Something weird is going on though, I can't any longer see the article which I replied to when I press the link, I'm getting a much shorter one!
.

 

[Goldenstar]

She’s a lovely old girl .
I have seen several old horses like that , one was helped by shoeing with long heels .

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I can't see the article now I think it has been removed but it was the reference to breeding horses to be more elastic and that warmbloods were now testing positive for PSSM2 which is a connective tissue problem. Not that I know much about that only what I have come across when on PSSM facebook sites.

Edited to say it doesn't relate PSSM to hypermobility in the article but my brain connected the fact that warmbloods are very prone to PSSM2 with the info in the article.

 

[sbloom]

I edited my initial post, having found this link first, then the above photo

https://www.facebook.com/4DEquitationOnlineEN/posts/128306039352069

 

[Caol Ila]

It does look age related but I'd be getting a Cushing's test if you haven't recently done one due to the general change in body shape.

She's been on Prascend since December, when she started losing lots of topline and condition. I'd hoped she would put the muscle back on after being on the drugs for some time, but that obviously hasn't happened. The vet tested her ACTH levels about a month ago, and it was 18, which is well within normal.

 

[Gloi]

She's been on Prascend since December, when she started losing lots of topline and condition. I'd hoped she would put the muscle back on after being on the drugs for some time, but that obviously hasn't happened. The vet tested her ACTH levels about a month ago, and it was 18, which is well within normal.

There's still plenty of time for improvement ?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Is she sound CI? She looks like she’s shifting her weight of her hinds in both photos but it could be the timing.

I wouldn’t worry about condition and topline, it has been a long winter and a frankly weird spring.

I would be worried if she wasn’t sound though. Putting the whole picture together, but obviously not knowing the ins and outs, my concern would be that she’d struggle to get up and down safely.

 

[exracehorse]

My elderly Arab has dropped fetlocks. And Cushings. Had to be retired early. He’s sound in the field but obviously not been ridden for years.

 

[Caol Ila]

She's sound in walk. I've watched her get up and down and she looks okay, but I am obviously monitoring that closely. She's got arthritis in hocks and pasterns, and she's on two danilon per day. There were a couple days early last week where she seemed a bit depressed, and OH caught her lying down at 5:30pm on Tuesday, which is not normal. I was super worried. But then she rallied and has been perky and eager to go on her hand grazing walks for the last three or four days.