Managing the event horse which 'ties up'????

charlimouse

charlimouse

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The winter season has barely begun and already things have gone t*ts up :mad:! After a fairly easy event season (8 events at BE90 and 100) I gave Jem 2 weeks off in the field. 2 weeks ago I brought her back into work hacking 5 days (2 days off), then last week we did:

Monday: hack
Tuesday: day off
Wednesday: 20 mins light schooling followed by a short hack
Thursday: day off
Friday: hack
Saturday: 20 mins light schooling followed by a short hack

Yesterday (Sunday) I decided to do a bit of a loose jumping as she hasn't jumped since she mysteriously went lame on the way down to the XC at Rodbaston. Gave her a warm up, and after a walk and trot on both reins she 'tied up' completly (she couldn't move at all :(). Got the vet out who agreed with me she had tied up (didn't bother doing bloods as it was that obvious), gave her a sedative to relax the muscles, and lots of bute. So Jem now has 5 days box rest, and then can very gradually be brought back into work.

Jem is the first horse I have had to tie up, so although I have the knowledge from doing all my BHS exams, I am short on the practical, first hand experiance aspect :o. So can any of you guys give me a good program to get her back into work? She has qualified for the Badminton Grassroots champs next season, so that is the goal we are working for. Also any feed reccommendations? She was being fed 1/2 scoop pony nuts, 1/2 scoop of chop, and 1/4 scoop blue chip original in the evening, and just getting haylage in the morning as she is good doer, although now I am just giving her a handful of chop with bute in morning and evening and haylage.

To my knowledge she has never tied up before (although I am now wondering if she did slightly at Rodbaston, as I assumed she had banged herself SJ as she was fine when she got home :confused:). She is a 9yo TB mare, she is out during the day, and in at night.

Anybody got any ideas???? (also posted in Competiton riders)
 
forget the blue chip - if she is a good doer she wont need it and it can cause tieing up in some hores. Also, days off can lead to a tie up in certain prone mares, is there any way she can be worked every day? even if it is just lunging? perkaps some harder work too? Make sure she is well warmed up for any work and more importantly well cooled DOWN. Keep on with the turnout, this will help a lot.
Obvouusly all the above is for when she is back in work, has your vet given you a programme of rest and bringing back into work from the tie up?
 
Electrolytes and plenty of water is essential.
When travelling they can get dehydrated so its important to stuff a bit of fluid down them ( even if they wont drink- give unmolassed sugar beet or something) as water will rebalance the electrolyte balance in the muscle cells.
Feed a high- spec electrolyte before and after comps. Maybe even feed it at v.low levels at all times if the tieing up becomes really problematic.
 
Recommend you feed dodson and horrell ERS pellets, specially formulated for horse that tie up and need a low starch/sugar feed, just google them x
 
There are quite a few new feeds out there specifically for horses prone to tying up. Saracen re-leve. Dodson and Horrell ERS Pellets. Baileys Outshine. All of these contain very low levels of starchy carbohydrates and good levels of good quality protiens.
I recently went to a Saracen meeting, we descussed there research into ERS in great depth. I was very impressed with what they were doing, on this particular problem. It could be well worth you giving them a call. We have a few customers use the Saracen releve, with great results.

Other than changing the feed, I would agree electrolytes play a big part, particularily the calcium, magnesium ratio. But definately make sure they are having a completely balanced diet would make a big difference.

I have only once had a horse tye up on me, I was young and 6 miles away from home, it was very scarey (mobile phones were not around then!) I had to slowly walk her home.

This incident made me very interested in feeding and its effects on horses.

Apart from very carefully and thoroughly warming up and cooling down, (exercise does have a huge part in this puzzle too), I would be inclined to give her a herbal detox to cleanse the Liver and Kidneys, as they will be working very had to remove all the toxins built up in her body, because of this episode. Something like Equimins Cleanse will do her good.
 
Electrolytes fed daily, more if heavy sweating occurs after exercise and a selenium and vit E supplement. No sugar laced foods and watch out for high levels of sugar in the grass. If you give your horse a day off then reduce the supplementary feeds (hard feeds) according to workload. Good luck
 
My TB mare ties up from getting a chill to her muscles (when being exercised) so I make sure this doesn't happen, when there is strong winds or cold I use an exercise sheet...

Otherwise same feed advice as above, avoid sugar and starch in the diet. Some swear by a high oil diet (oil as alternative source of energy). Carefully warm up and cool down. Very gradually increase work load after time off. Give plenty of turnout. Work regularly. Rug appropriately.
 
feed: ERS pellets, saracens relieve, be carefull with sugar amount in food. if she has a day off cut out the concentrates in food.
magnetic rugs are good to increase blood flow.
keep her hind quarters warm after hard work like an event. warm up and cool down properly. its the lactic acid building up, unfortunatly, once they tie up once they are very prone to it again. my friends horse ties up regularly so you end up back to square one again. some are worse than others.
when bringing her back into work take it very slow. lots of walk work to get the muscles working again. take it steady.
good luck!!
 
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