How to decide? advice pls

[sarahg83]

I have had my mare since 3 and backed her myself. After I had owned her a month it became clear she suffered terribly with abcesses. I had farrier after farrier and eventually managed to keep her relatively abcess free but we do still have about 5 a year. She is shod every 5 weeks as thus seems to help. When her abcesses had cleared I started backing her but she went lame again. I had the vet out who did nerve blocks and suspected it was in the navicular area. We then had xrays that showed some changes but nothing major. I gave her a year off and started backing her again after she had been sound for about 6 solid months. After a week of long reining she went lame again so had the vet and farrier come to see her neither could see the problem so I had a physio out. She said her hips were the problem so had those treated and did lots of exercises ever day as given to me by physio. I then had a dressage person come to help teach me in hand movements teaching her to carry herself properly and work from behind and I backed her again. This went fine for about 3 months and she started getting nappy so I had the back lady back out who said she had back problems gave me more exercises which I did and then gave her another 6 months off any ridden work until we had the all clear. Now she is lame again. She has been doing only walk work for a 8 months just small hacks anywhere between a half hour and a hour 3 days a week. Basically I don't know what to do. I couldn't sell her it wouldn't be fair and who would buy her anyway, she is happy in the Feild so I don't want to put her to sleep but I can only afford one horse and she is costing me a small fortune and I can't do anything with her. A small hack is too much but she is still young. What would you do with a horse like this. It's just one thing after the other snd she never seems right. I can't book any lessons with her because she is still blowing the odd abcess every now and then and I have had to cancel 3 lessons before had to pay for them which is fair enough but now I don't book doing anything because you never know if she will be sound to do it. Sorry for the long post just want advice on what other people would do.

 

[eggs]

My first port of call would be to have a full lameness work up done by a specialist equine vet preferably with an MRI of her feet. The findings of that would then determine my next steps.

 

[Damnation]

My first port of call would be to have a full lameness work up done by a specialist equine vet preferably with an MRI of her feet. The findings of that would then determine my next steps.

This. It is not normal for a horse to have 5 abesses a year. Last horse I knew who abcessed for 6 weeks had a very severe pedal bone rotation.

Get a full workup and go from there.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Depending on what showed up obviously i'd honestly consider putting to sleep seriously. Yes she may be happy in the field (when she's not got an abscess) but you have to consider yourself also. The old saying there are worse places than dead for horses is so true.
Horses are expensive at the best of times and she could continue like this for years and years. I personally wouldn't feel guilty if you do have to go down that route. hugs x

 

[sarahg83]

I wrote my post in a hurry before the school run and thought I should also add her sire has pssm type 1 so I have put the hair sample across to test for that although abcesses are not a syptom of that but unknown lameness would be. Am I wrong for assuming her x ray would have brought up pedal rotation? Would that need to be MRI

 

[paddy555]

I wrote my post in a hurry before the school run and thought I should also add her sire has pssm type 1 so I have put the hair sample across to test for that although abcesses are not a syptom of that but unknown lameness would be. Am I wrong for assuming her x ray would have brought up pedal rotation? Would that need to be MRI

whilst abscesses may not be a symptom of PSSM in my experience they are certainly an unwelcome side effect.

the question of a young horse with continual abscesses came up a while ago in the link below. The owner I believe is on this forum.

http://forageplus.co.uk/teddy-two-shoes-beats-his-abscesses/

I would have thought that your vet would have pointed out rotation if it showed on the x ray. In fact if there was rotation I would have expected the vet to have taken action pretty quickly.

The things I would do are to remove the shoes and ride the horse booted. I wouldn't try to get her barefoot but would keep her feet well protected. I would ring Sarah Braithwaite and see if she has some ideas on mineral supplementation. I would also put her on the full PSSM diet, especially high dose natural vit E oil, and see if that helps whether she tests for Type 1 or not. Presumably you wouldn't want to do a biopsy for type 2 so the diet may give you some answers.

 

[PorkChop]

Oh my goodness I really feel for you, what a sorry time you have both had.

I would certainly have some proper investigations of her feet before making a decision.

Ultimately we have horses to make us happy, only you can decide whether you will be satisfied having a field ornament, and whether she would be happy doing so.

Give it one last push to see if you can get to the root of the problems and then at least you will have peace with yourself and what you decide to do.

I for one would not think badly of you if you decided to pts a horse that ultimately will not stay sound, and one the obviously must be in pain on a regular basis.

 

[cblover]

Hi there, the link from forageplus that someone has copied onto your thread here is my horse teddy 2 shoes. Believe me, I'm the abscess queen and I will help you if I can. Please PM me and I'll do what I can.

I was just about to have Ted pts as he'd had over 20 abscesses by the time he was 18 month old. But there is hope, so please don't give up.

 

[sarahg83]

whilst abscesses may not be a symptom of PSSM in my experience they are certainly an unwelcome side effect.

the question of a young horse with continual abscesses came up a while ago in the link below. The owner I believe is on this forum.

http://forageplus.co.uk/teddy-two-shoes-beats-his-abscesses/

I would have thought that your vet would have pointed out rotation if it showed on the x ray. In fact if there was rotation I would have expected the vet to have taken action pretty quickly.

The things I would do are to remove the shoes and ride the horse booted. I wouldn't try to get her barefoot but would keep her feet well protected. I would ring Sarah Braithwaite and see if she has some ideas on mineral supplementation. I would also put her on the full PSSM diet, especially high dose natural vit E oil, and see if that helps whether she tests for Type 1 or not. Presumably you wouldn't want to do a biopsy for type 2 so the diet may give you some answers.

Hi Thanks for your reply, im curious as to your comment on abcesses with pssm, since finding out about her sire i have wondered if it could cause abcesses but have asked on the pssm fb pages and been told a definate no, although i suspect diffrently i strongly belive they could help cause it. I tried her barefoot with boots before i ever shod her, but we had abcesses in all 4 hooves all the time to the point she was laying down all the time, the farrier was sick of the sight of us but i was addiment i wanted no shoes, but shoes are the only thing that keeps her abcesses at bay or relativly so. Her diet has always been along the pssm diet low sugar just because of her hooves and i made the rest of the adaptions to it when i found out about her sire. The diet really does not seem to help for her at all, but i have heard some have great success with it.

 

[Wagtail]

My youngster had loads of foot abscesses in her third and fourth year, I have never known a horse to have so many. Her feet were very small. They still are quite small but loads better than they were. So far she hasn't had an abscess in her fifth year. How old is your mare now?

 

[FfionWinnie]

Hi Thanks for your reply, im curious as to your comment on abcesses with pssm, since finding out about her sire i have wondered if it could cause abcesses but have asked on the pssm fb pages and been told a definate no, although i suspect diffrently i strongly belive they could help cause it. I tried her barefoot with boots before i ever shod her, but we had abcesses in all 4 hooves all the time to the point she was laying down all the time, the farrier was sick of the sight of us but i was addiment i wanted no shoes, but shoes are the only thing that keeps her abcesses at bay or relativly so. Her diet has always been along the pssm diet low sugar just because of her hooves and i made the rest of the adaptions to it when i found out about her sire. The diet really does not seem to help for her at all, but i have heard some have great success with it.

My horse has PSSM and I can't think of a single reason why a muscle disorder would cause a horse to abscess. A deficiency would be one thing to consider with regards to the abscesses or have you considered EMS/Cushings. I think that would be far more likely. Or just bad luck!

What breed is she, what are you feeding her, etc.

My PSSM horse had two abscesses in one hoof at the start of the year, but so did my non PSSM horse have two, at the same time, one in each hind foot. It was the weather and the rubbish on the roads which caused them. Both are barefoot.

 

[paddy555]

Hi Thanks for your reply, im curious as to your comment on abcesses with pssm, since finding out about her sire i have wondered if it could cause abcesses but have asked on the pssm fb pages and been told a definate no, although i suspect diffrently i strongly belive they could help cause it. I tried her barefoot with boots before i ever shod her, but we had abcesses in all 4 hooves all the time to the point she was laying down all the time, the farrier was sick of the sight of us but i was addiment i wanted no shoes, but shoes are the only thing that keeps her abcesses at bay or relativly so. Her diet has always been along the pssm diet low sugar just because of her hooves and i made the rest of the adaptions to it when i found out about her sire. The diet really does not seem to help for her at all, but i have heard some have great success with it.

It took me a long time to find out mine was PSSM, along the way I had back problems, hind leg problems and an abscess. (only one I grabbed the boots after that or I would have had a lot more) It was, I believe, all a knock on effect. The PSSM caused the muscle problem, that caused him to move badly, that went down into the feet which wore badly laterally (hind feet) The lateral side got too worn and thin and abscessed moving on gravel. I suspect the only reason he didn't get an abscess in front was because he has such good, very strong front feet. If they had been poor it may have been a different story. He also lacked energy which contributed to the moving badly. He was a horse that needed the chiro a lot before we found his problem. The abscess was the knock on effect from everything the PSSM did to his body. The one part of the PSSM diet that turned him around was high vit E. That really did things to the muscles and started to repair the damage, the alcar gave him the energy to move properly so then he started to correct himself. Once he did that he started to wear his feet more evenly.

I would give it a go with the "abscess queen" I remember Teddy's story from Phoenix. He had a LOT of problems. Good luck with your girl.

 

[sarahg83]

It took me a long time to find out mine was PSSM, along the way I had back problems, hind leg problems and an abscess. (only one I grabbed the boots after that or I would have had a lot more) It was, I believe, all a knock on effect. The PSSM caused the muscle problem, that caused him to move badly, that went down into the feet which wore badly laterally (hind feet) The lateral side got too worn and thin and abscessed moving on gravel. I suspect the only reason he didn't get an abscess in front was because he has such good, very strong front feet. If they had been poor it may have been a different story. He also lacked energy which contributed to the moving badly. He was a horse that needed the chiro a lot before we found his problem. The abscess was the knock on effect from everything the PSSM did to his body. The one part of the PSSM diet that turned him around was high vit E. That really did things to the muscles and started to repair the damage, the alcar gave him the energy to move properly so then he started to correct himself. Once he did that he started to wear his feet more evenly.

I would give it a go with the "abscess queen" I remember Teddy's story from Phoenix. He had a LOT of problems. Good luck with your girl.

This has been my thoughts on my mare. Every professional who sees her thinks she has a odd way of moving her hind is regularly stiff and just has a very odd way of going. I feel it is this pain that has caused her to be so heavy on her fronts and i think it's this that causes the abcesses then when hee fronts are in abcess she shifts weight to her hind. She is on alcar and vit e oil soaked hay and little grazing she shares a paddock with a lami and so it's very sparse. I don't know if I need the alcar yet as still awaiting test results but I'm sure with such a high pass on rate and the syptom my mare has it would explain a awful lot. We always seem to get going and then either her back or her hips go out. I just wonder if at 6 nearly 7 if she will ever come right. I added up how much work she has done since she was 4 and it's under a year.

 

[Nappy Croc]

If you want to preserve I'd get her referred to a top equine hospital for investigations as to the cause and X-rays/MRI to rule out pedal bone issues.