Horse not able to graze. Help please!

[Tegan]

Hi

I'm new here and have a problem with my mare that I would like to see if anyone else has experienced. I apologise if this is a bit long.

I have a 15hh TBX mare who is 23yrs old. Back in the autumn she had seemed a bit run down for a few weeks and then one day could not get her head down to eat. I called the vet who had not really seen anything like it before. We walked and trotted her up and she was fine except on the turns. When the vet pulled her tail to the side her back legs gave way. However when walked over poles etc she was aware of where her feet were so wobblers syndrome was ruled out.

Blood tests were taken which showed nothing except that she was slightly anaemic. She had discharge coming from her eyes and nose so was treated as though she had a virus. For the next coulple of weeks we had several visits from the vet and she was scoped (showed nothing) and her neck was x-rayed (nothing significant). The x-rays were sent to Bell Equine and following a conversation with my vet they said that it could be arthritis in the neck pinching a nerve.

She was prescibed antibiotics and bute and got much better. A visit from an osteopath revealed that she had a trapped nerve and muscle spasms in her neck. She had several treatments and was slowly brought back into work and taken off of the bute.

She was then doing really well hacking, lunging and being lightly schooled (including lessons). She was still having follow up visits from the osteo who felt she was doing really well. I then went for a lesson one weekend and the next day she was back to square one and not able to get her head to the floor and very wobbly on her back legs.

The osteo has visited and she felt her neck wasn't too bad but she now had a slightly sore back (saddle checked and fine). Following another treatment, bute and a weeks rest I am now hacking out in walk and she feels fine to ride. However she is still having real trouble grazing. The only way she can manage is to stick her front leg out at a very awkward angle and it is still very uncomfortable for her.

I think that working in an outline may triggering something and I am happy just to hack her if this is the case. However it is not fair to keep her going if she cannot graze without being in obvious pain.

My thinking is that it must be arthritis however it seems strange that she is completely sound (apart from not being able to put her head to the floor).

Has anyone seen symtoms like this before?

Thanks

Tegan

 

[charlene]

Hi there

In answer to your question has anyone had symptons like this before with their horse, the answer is no, however, I myself have these symptoms, obviously, i dont graze. I have a trapped nerve in my lower back and the pain is excruciating, however it is only when I do certain things. Your mare will look very uncomfortable when grazing as it is obviously causing her pain and pressure on the trapped nerve. I myself have learned to adopt rediculous posture to bend down to pick things up etc. What I would sugest is this, can you not feed her from a hay net, hung at higher level so that she does not have to put her neck down low which will cause her a lot of pain and discomfort. Place her food in a manger not a bucket on the floor. Is she having bute as a pain killer, this should help or even anti inflamatries as well. One things for sure, I certainly would not ride her. Pain in the neck, connects down to the back through the spine and because your horse will be over compensating for the neck her back muscles will almost certainly be compromised. If she copes with hay etc I would not consider having her put to sleep because with trapped nerves, muscular, or ligament problems the body has a way of healing itself and she could become ok again in a few months. Though problems like these will certainly crop up later when the horse is placed under a certain ammount of stress, and at 23 years of age the body is not quick to recover. Hope this helps.

 

[Tegan]

Thanks for your reply.

She is having haynets and her feed in a manger but still tries to graze when she is in the field. I have been tying a haynet to the fence so that she can eat that when she gets fed up with trying to graze with her leg stuck out.

She is not on the bute anymore as it did not seem to be helping with the problem but was making her very spaced out. I have just started her on MSM and she has a magnetic neck cover.

As for the riding I have been advised to walk her out on a long rein but will speak to my vet and osteo about this again.

Many Thanks

Tegan

 

[charlene]

It must be upsetting for you to watch her try and graze and to no avail, im sure you are doing the best you can. Really there is not much more anyone can do apart from pain relief and letting the bodys natural healing process take place, and im sure given time it will. You will have to keep me posted with her progress, I would be very interested to know that she has improved. Just keep giving her her hay and corn in a comfortable position for her so that she maintains her weight. Very important for an older equine. Have you tried putting her on box rest for a couple of weeks, has this been reccommended to you by your vet? I cant imagine how her strainin herself to graze in a position she is so uncomfortable in can help her to recover. I understand what you say about riding her out on a loose rein as her neck is in a level position but small twists or turns can really aggravate something like this to the point where the healing process never quite takes place.

 

[brightmount]

Just a thought, but it might be worth checking out other livery yards to see if there is anywhere that the grazing is on undulating ground with banks, so she could graze without having to stretch down so far. Also, steep hills might be easier for her to graze, facing uphill, than a flat field. I'm thinking of our fields, where the horses often settle in craters or the banks of the stream and graze the banks. Anyway, as I said it's just a random thought.

 

[spannahw]

Hello there,

My horse had a similar odd neck problem last summer. Brought him in one morning to ride and he didn't feel right - not lame just not right. Gave him a couple of days off but no real improvement so vet took a look. Nothing obvious at all, so had a course of anti-inflammatories. After the course, he still didn't seem right so got chiro to have a look - a few things were out but nothing major - just implied something had happened. Few more days off, and tried him again - really objected to me mounting so knew he was STILL not right. Next day he struggled to get his head down. Once he got it down to the grass, was fine, but it was the lowering movement that seemed to be hard for him. We were at the brink of taking him in for scintography (spelling??) to see if it was a hairline fracture of a vertibrae but luckily he came right after rest and anti-inflams. However, on and off, it was a few months before I rode again. Not really sure what caused it and do wonder whether it will recur, but we think he may have fallen at speed in the field and rolled over.

Interestingly, bloods did show red and white cell count was a bit low. He was never really wobbly on his back legs, however. Not sure if this helps at all, but thought I'd share the experience!!

 

[Tegan]

Thanks for your replies.

She is no better at the moment. I have left her in for the past few days with everything within easy reach. The vet is coming to look at her again tomorrow so I will let you know how it goes.

Thanks

Tegan