wispagold
Well-Known Member
This is a bit of a long story but in short my horse has just been diagnosed with suspected EMS and I am looking for advice/ other people's experience.
Long story
Background - my horse is a 15.2, 17yr old mare 3/4TB and 1/4 Connie. I've had her since she was 2 and we have evented up to novice but in recent years we have been doing more hacking and schooling due to my work commitments. She is fairly quirky and accident prone. I have her on full livery as when she is in a routine that suits her she is a doddle but out of that she can be a right stress head. Doesn't cope well with box rest as her backs legs fill when stood in (she wears equi sox every night). She also weaves aggressively when she is upset. But she also won't live out as she is very prone to mud fever and doesn't like being out if it is cold/raining. If she wants to come in she will run up and down the fence until someone gets her in for she goes through something.
Up until last summer she has always been in full time work (apart from when off for her various previous injuries). I found out I was pregnant last May and mainly just hacked out. She is quite spooky to ride in the school but brilliant in traffic. I stopped riding in October but one of the ladies on my yard hacked her out for me once a week. I had my little girl in February this year. Just as I was about to start riding again my mare came in from the field with a big windgall on her off fore. I had the vet out and she was 4/10 lame in trot with a consistent head nod. As she doesn't box rest well and I was in no rush to start riding as I am breastfeeding and struggling to get much time away from my baby, I agreed with the vet that we just stick to her current routine of out from 8:30am until 3pm, cold hose and just rest her and see what happens. Her leg wasn't scanned but vet suspected DDFT damage. Leg was reviewed after 6 weeks with no change and I was told it could take a year to heal, it could take 2... Not ideal with her being 17 but not much I could do and at least mentally she was happy and pretty comfortable.
About a week after the vet came out she came in from the field lame on her front leg in walk. We tried to keep her in but ended up having to turn her out as she was so unhappy in the stable. The lameness got worse, despite her being on 2 danilon a day. She became very pottery in both front legs and started to behave in the stable (a bad sign!) so was on complete box rest and I arranged with the vets that I would take her in for a full lameness work up (at this point I still thought the lameness was linked to the tendon injury) . I don't have my own transport and with the baby I had arranged to drop her off on the Sunday when my husband could help me. On the Saturday (about 10 days after she became lame in walk) I ended up having an emergency call out as she was not happy moving around, was paddling and had a classic laminitic stance.
The vet immediately suspected metabolic laminitis. She wasn't reacting to hoof testers but had a slightly raised digital pulse (more prodominate in her near fore, opposite to the damaged tendon). Shoes came off the same day. Bloods taken to test for EMS and cushings. Increase danilon to 3 a day. Starvation diet of soaked hay and hifi lite.
Body condition wise she is fatter than I would normally have her, in particular her neck looked cresty to me, but I had put that down to her age. She is by no means obese, people one the yard kept telling me she looked 'well' rather than fat. It has been tricky managing her weight with her being out of work but she isn't a horse who usually gets fat. She was on grass and hay. Hifi lite and token handful of cool mix with her danilon. The grass isn't particularly lush but there is plenty of it.
The blood tests came back today confirming EMS but also came back on the higher end of normal for cushings. So vet wants to retest in a month. She has improved a lot over the last 3 days and is looking much more comfortable on her feet. Vet has said she can have her normal shoes back on when she is sounder.
I don't have any experience with this so looking for advice on how best to manage her going forward. The vet wants her walked out every day starting at 30mins and building to an hour. I'm going to have to do this in hand with either baby in a carrier or have the pushchair next to the school. She is on full livery because I struggle for time with work commitments. This will be even worse with a baby when I go back to work in November. My full livery doesn't cover exercise and I can't afford to pay someone to do this whilst I am on stat mat pay. This mare owes me nothing and I would have quite happily retired her, at least until baby is old enough to be left with someone else, but it doesn't look like that will be an option now.
Does anyone have any experience successfully managing a horse with EMS that it out of work? At the moment she still has an existing tendon injury. Also, from the limited reading I have done, the blood test should not have been done whilst she was in pain so I am unsure if I should raise this with the vet? She has also not fasted at the time of the blood test.
Sorry that ended up so long. It is the first time I have written it all down! Any help gratefully recieved.
Long story
Background - my horse is a 15.2, 17yr old mare 3/4TB and 1/4 Connie. I've had her since she was 2 and we have evented up to novice but in recent years we have been doing more hacking and schooling due to my work commitments. She is fairly quirky and accident prone. I have her on full livery as when she is in a routine that suits her she is a doddle but out of that she can be a right stress head. Doesn't cope well with box rest as her backs legs fill when stood in (she wears equi sox every night). She also weaves aggressively when she is upset. But she also won't live out as she is very prone to mud fever and doesn't like being out if it is cold/raining. If she wants to come in she will run up and down the fence until someone gets her in for she goes through something.
Up until last summer she has always been in full time work (apart from when off for her various previous injuries). I found out I was pregnant last May and mainly just hacked out. She is quite spooky to ride in the school but brilliant in traffic. I stopped riding in October but one of the ladies on my yard hacked her out for me once a week. I had my little girl in February this year. Just as I was about to start riding again my mare came in from the field with a big windgall on her off fore. I had the vet out and she was 4/10 lame in trot with a consistent head nod. As she doesn't box rest well and I was in no rush to start riding as I am breastfeeding and struggling to get much time away from my baby, I agreed with the vet that we just stick to her current routine of out from 8:30am until 3pm, cold hose and just rest her and see what happens. Her leg wasn't scanned but vet suspected DDFT damage. Leg was reviewed after 6 weeks with no change and I was told it could take a year to heal, it could take 2... Not ideal with her being 17 but not much I could do and at least mentally she was happy and pretty comfortable.
About a week after the vet came out she came in from the field lame on her front leg in walk. We tried to keep her in but ended up having to turn her out as she was so unhappy in the stable. The lameness got worse, despite her being on 2 danilon a day. She became very pottery in both front legs and started to behave in the stable (a bad sign!) so was on complete box rest and I arranged with the vets that I would take her in for a full lameness work up (at this point I still thought the lameness was linked to the tendon injury) . I don't have my own transport and with the baby I had arranged to drop her off on the Sunday when my husband could help me. On the Saturday (about 10 days after she became lame in walk) I ended up having an emergency call out as she was not happy moving around, was paddling and had a classic laminitic stance.
The vet immediately suspected metabolic laminitis. She wasn't reacting to hoof testers but had a slightly raised digital pulse (more prodominate in her near fore, opposite to the damaged tendon). Shoes came off the same day. Bloods taken to test for EMS and cushings. Increase danilon to 3 a day. Starvation diet of soaked hay and hifi lite.
Body condition wise she is fatter than I would normally have her, in particular her neck looked cresty to me, but I had put that down to her age. She is by no means obese, people one the yard kept telling me she looked 'well' rather than fat. It has been tricky managing her weight with her being out of work but she isn't a horse who usually gets fat. She was on grass and hay. Hifi lite and token handful of cool mix with her danilon. The grass isn't particularly lush but there is plenty of it.
The blood tests came back today confirming EMS but also came back on the higher end of normal for cushings. So vet wants to retest in a month. She has improved a lot over the last 3 days and is looking much more comfortable on her feet. Vet has said she can have her normal shoes back on when she is sounder.
I don't have any experience with this so looking for advice on how best to manage her going forward. The vet wants her walked out every day starting at 30mins and building to an hour. I'm going to have to do this in hand with either baby in a carrier or have the pushchair next to the school. She is on full livery because I struggle for time with work commitments. This will be even worse with a baby when I go back to work in November. My full livery doesn't cover exercise and I can't afford to pay someone to do this whilst I am on stat mat pay. This mare owes me nothing and I would have quite happily retired her, at least until baby is old enough to be left with someone else, but it doesn't look like that will be an option now.
Does anyone have any experience successfully managing a horse with EMS that it out of work? At the moment she still has an existing tendon injury. Also, from the limited reading I have done, the blood test should not have been done whilst she was in pain so I am unsure if I should raise this with the vet? She has also not fasted at the time of the blood test.
Sorry that ended up so long. It is the first time I have written it all down! Any help gratefully recieved.
