PSSM: Your Story

[Sukistokes2]

PSSM, Monday Morning disease, is a condition we are hearing more and more of, it certainly is being recognized more and more. Some may be aware that I have put my horse Kev on the supplements. Several people on here have been very helpful, for which I have been very grateful. I have tried doing my research on this subject but to be honest I've got a bit confused. Some papers are written with vets in mind and while i'm not dim, my brain melts about a quarter of the way through. Other articles are written by feed companies and are really aimed at selling their products, not about helping owners understand what to do.

So people, what's your story? Tell us wanting to learn, in layman's terms about your PSSM horse, type 1 and 2.

This thread is aimed at people who have dealt with this condition, on the front line, so others thinking about this can understand from first hand experience.

What symptoms did you see?
How was the diagnoses made? What type of PSSM does your horse have?
What do you feed?
What not to feed?
How do you keep your horse?
How have things turned out?
What does the long term hold for your horse?
How do you treat? What do you use?

Thank you

 

[ycbm]

From an earlier thread:


Horse one was dead to the leg and stiff from the moment he was backed. Then he 'colicked' and was stamping his feet and appearing to look back at his sides. But there were full gut noises. I googled false colic and got PSSM as the most obvious, and since he was a QH where it is rife, put him straight onto oil and vitamin E and selenium. He tests negative for type 1, but the diet changed him completely. Solid bum muscles went softer and he stopped being dead to the leg. Later I swapped him into alcar so as not to feed high calorie oil in summer, and the result was shocking, given that I thought we had him right with the high oil diet. His bum muscles 'emptied' like a popped balloon, leaving him with wobbly blancmange which took weeks to build up into proper muscle. He hasn't looked back since.

Horse number two was fine for a year after breaking and then began to rush transitions. I mean really run away through the hand, almost a panic bolt. I checked his bum muscles and found them very hard. You could bump him with your palm or fist and there was no movement around your hand. Since he is heavy cross, where it is also rife, I put him on the same diet and within days he was moving more freely. After a couple of weeks his bum muscles rippled of you bumped them. It took him several months to return to his previous best.

My vet has seen both and agrees that the response to the diet, especially in horses where the breeding is rife with it, is a diagnosis in itself.


An update since that was written, both horses turned seven this year and the condition can worsen with age. On exactly the same diet as last year, horse two went stiff in the major bum muscles. I doubled his vitamin E and he was right in a couple of weeks.

Horse one had an absolute crisis. He went so wreak he appeared ataxic and I had his neck x rayed. He was so bad he was tripping over things. I whacked him up to 10,000 iu vitamin E a day and within a week he was stronger and after a month was pretty much back to normal.

Next winter they will be on higher vit e levels from October onwards.

 

[DabDab]

I understand your sentiment entirely...

My horse has PSSM1, inherited from his warmblood (hannovarian) dam.

Symptoms - he was never right, just not normal. I bought him at 3.5years and backed him at 4 and kept trying to make bits of progression before giving up and turning him away again. He was generally a slug, he shuffled along in walk and trot and couldn't canter without violent explosions that just didn't match his temperament. He never seemed at peace, just always troubled (I can't explain it very well).

I couldn't explain it, I had a beautiful, athletic, generous spirited horse that I could see in there somewhere, but try as I might I just couldn't get him out. I cried over it, got stressed over it, and generally willed him to start talking and tell me what it was.

Then when he was 5.5years I stumbled across PSSM online and started reading. I had his hair tested and sure enough.

What do I feed/how do I manage him - I started just feeding ALCAR copra and grass chaff, rugging him up a bit more and not expecting anything from him exercise-wise. I would ride or longrein for maybe 15-20mins every morning, walk and trot. At this point the explosions stopped, but still sluggish and troubled.

I then moved yards so that he could have much more turnout and started giving vit e too. Work was able to be upped a little and we would do half an hour to one hour hack every day, with odd bits of canter added in. We were now 9 months since diagnosis and we still had days/periods of slug, but also periods of almost normality.

Then he lost a fair bit of weight going into the autumn and we had a bit of a crisis. I turned him out full time and switched hay to haylage.

Then the following year we were back to where we had been and we started doing more cantering and I introduced jumping. I switched the Copra for speedibeet and added in oats. Now 16 months from diagnosis he is normal most of the time and seems far happier, but muscle development is still agonisingly slow.

Then I moved so I could have him at home. Feed the same, but haylage now closely controlled (in terms of analysis). Upped the schooling and canter work, and perhaps most significantly, bought him a companion who is hyperactive and keeps him stomping round the field all day. Muscle development has become super charged, schooling is normal, and he seems so noticeably happy now that professionals that have known him for a while comment when they come for routine bits and pieces. We are now 2.5 years on from original diagnosis.

He also has regular physio, but he had that before diagnosis too.

What does the future hold? - he'll stay with me forever, he has already given me more than any horse ever has and I worship the ground his gert big hooves stomp on. He is actually very talented and I would like to event him, and I see no reason why I couldn't (other than money ). But he's just so precious to me that I'm afraid I take teeny tiny steps with him just in case I miss a sign.

Hope that helps someone a little.

 

[SEL]

I have 2 both been diagnosed by genetic testing with type 1 PSSM

Mare - 15.1 french draft x appaloosa (actual breeding a bit of mystery, but those 2 elements are known). Just turned 7
realised 8 weeks after re-starting under saddle in 2015 that she wasn't quite right. Obviously understood the walk to trot transition but struggled to hold it for more than a couple of strides without falling back into walk. Started to get very snappy with saddling and barely wanted to move forward on the lunge (& this was a youngster who had performed acrobatics on the lunge when I first got her). Scoped for ulcers and treated. CAme across PSSM by accident when googling night blindness and it was a lightbulb moment.
Tested Feb 2016 and she carries 1 copy of the gene.
She was already on PSSM 'friendly' low NSC diet due to weight issues and in a dry lot when the problems first started - so I knew it wasn't NSC overload with her.
Tried Alcar - no effect.
She's fine out 24:7 on low sugar pasture. When sugar levels rise she crashes (I'm on rye and clover - ex dairy) and I have to muzzle.
Needs oil in her diet otherwise she's flat. It also seems to keep her CK levels under control.
Supplement wise - I've had to remove her balancer as she stiffened up on a number of different formulas.
Basically she needs hay soaked to death, a tiny amount of kwik beet and oat chaff with vegetable oil
Supplement wise she is on 6000iU of vitamin E, 5mg magnesium oxide, 10mg l-glutamine, and a selenium / vitamin E mix at the recommended dosage. She sometimes gets a bit of seaweed as I think her diet is short in iodine - this doesn't seem to cause any problems. Copper appears to be a no-go.

I also test her bum muscles regularly. When they are stiff I don't bother riding - she just can't handle the weight. Must do 'something' every day though - loose schooling, lunging, riding - to keep her glycogen stores down. At least 45 minutes of work a day needed and 30 mins of that must be trot / canter work.

Hock arthritis is an added complication. If her PSSM is managed the lameness is not visible. When she's sore she looks lame all round and cannot manage a canter transition even loose schooling.
Does a lot better in warm weather. I need to improve my rugging for next winter - she is better hot.

Cannot hold back legs up for the trimmer for long. Have to pay for an extended appointment so she gets lots of breaks.

Regular body work helps her a lot. I think the muscle problems cause her to stiffen up and hold a lot of tension - I wouldn't be surprised if they contributed to the changes in the hocks.

Long term? Not sure. I need to get her off the rich grass at my current livery yard to see whether that helps. If it does and we can medicate the hocks somehow (steroids are looking like w non-starter) then I'd like to think she could manage a hacking life. When she's feeling well she's a nice ride but we've had more off than on days sadly.



Horse #2
Retired pure-bred Belgian 13yo Ardennes. Double copy of the gene. Retired.
Only tested as the other one was being tested and they are a high risk breed
Minimal symptoms when he was in work and all could be due to his arthritis instead of PSSM.
I give him extra vitamin E and a good balancer, but that's it. Low NSC as he's inclined to weight gain, but nothing special. Never tried him on alcar and might give it a go.

The Ardennes is one of the oldest heavy horse breeds and the kind where they think this gene originally developed. I strongly suspect he has other gene in the mix which mean this gene is less of a problem than it is with my cross bred. They also know now that it affects a certain type of fast twitch muscle fibre which pure bred drafts have less of, so all in I can see why the gene was bred forward in these horse without too much issue for a long time. I'm sure if I pumped him full of oats for 6 days a week and then stood him in on a Sunday he could well crash on the Monday, but I could take him out the field this afternoon and feel happy trotting and cantering him (ignoring his arthiritis) and I would be really surprised if he tied up. My mare would be a vet call out if I did that with her.

This boy is an adored companion horse and will be with me until he tells me his joints have had enough (well hopefully before it gets to that stage - you get my drift). I do watch him for muscle wastage as I know that can be a sign of PSSM in the heavy horses and added amino acids to his feed for a few weeks coming out of winter when I wasn't happy with his condition. Huge difference. If I ever see him struggle to get up from rolling or he stops coming looking like he's been sleeping in the muddiest part of the field then I know its time to call it a day. Until then he's a hairy, cuddly pet.


I would say that this would put me off buying a youngster with draft / QH / Appy bloodlines unless they have been tested - in fact I'd be nervous about anything unproven just in case these days. The Ardennes was always going to be a companion horse but my mare was supposed to be a ridden 'fun' horse and managing her is hard work. There is no enjoyment in bullying a horse to do exercises even if you know its for their own good.

 

[SEL]

I understand your sentiment entirely...

He never seemed at peace, just always troubled (I can't explain it very well).

I couldn't explain it, I had a beautiful, athletic, generous spirited horse that I could see in there somewhere, but try as I might I just couldn't get him out. I cried over it, got stressed over it, and generally willed him to start talking and tell me what it was.

^^^ This. I have cried more over my troubled little mare than any other horse or pony in my 40+ years. I've been told she's lazy, nappy, not generous etc but I can't help but think this is a horse in pain who actually will still trot a circuit for me around the school when all she wants to do is lie down with her tired muscles. She gave the vet at her last lameness work-up a shock. 30 mins of trotting on the lunge while he told me that her lameness wasn't really visible only for her pre-exercise CK levels to be over 1600 and post exercise over 4000. I suspect she's been worked with worse if I'm honest.

 

[Casey76]

I bought Tartine when she was a very green 6yo, the fact that she had a cr@p canter didn't bother me at the time as I thought it was a schooling issue, however in 3 years it didn't really resolve, and her right canter lead was always hit and miss, no matter what I did it felt awful. At this point (just turned 9), we were schooling fairly hard in lateral work in walk and trot, but the canter work was really lagging behind. Then she really started disuniting and bunny hopping behind. I got the vet out to do a "performance not as expected" work up and after advice from FW on here, got them to tag on the PSSM test "just in case" It surprised everyone, especially me, when it came back n/P1.

At the time her muscle enzymes were fairly high, even though she had already been on a low carb diet for approx. 6 months.

Other symptoms she which I have since attributed to PSSM include, rubbing herself on the stable walls, lots of rolling in the field (flipping over 6 or 7 times in a row was quite usual after exercise), standing camped out and especially staying camped out after peeing, inability to develop topline, very, very sweaty during exercise.

Since diagnosis I've tried all sorts in the diet, though I've never gone for a really "high fat" diet as she is constantly needing to lose weight. ALCAR didn't seem to make any difference, but I'm about to try that again.

At the moment she gets: 25ml MgO, 20ml boswellia, 50ml Vit E (10k IU), 10ml glucosamine, 10ml Lysine, 5ml Methionine, 2ml Threonine, 1ml selenium; 50ml unrefined sea salt, 25ml milkthistle.

She has 12 hours turnout a day, currently in a muzzle and 1hr soaked hay (too hot atm to soak for 12 hours).

I wish I could say that changing the diet was miraculous, unfortunately for us it hasn't been, and at the moment T is more unrideable than rideable.

She gets monthly massage/physiotherapy, bimonthly blood tests (with the occasional random one if she is feeling particularly bad), and lots and lots of grooming and cuddles.

When it comes to ridden work, I have to be extremely careful and build up the level of work very, very slowly. I think I've had one canter in the past 3 months. For the past month I've been schooling mainly in walk, with the odd tiny bit trotting (our lateral work is really coming on again!), but a couple of weeks ago, going out for a hack - the whole thing in walk - was enough to push her over the edge simply because I rode for more than my customary 30 mins. As soon as we hit 45 mins we had problems.


What does the future hold? Well, she has a home for life. I love her to pieces, even if she regularly breaks my heart. I've shelved all hopes of ever getting her out competing, and the way things are looking I'm not sure how much ridden work she will ever cope with. I monitor her constantly for signs of discomfort and she gets thoroughly coddled.

Edited to add: Last winter I really struggled to keep her warm enough, despite the winter before she was fine out in the coldest of weathers in a 100g rug, in 2016/2017 winter she was out in 500g and only just warm. She also really struggles in the heat as she sweats so much, so I add electrolytes to her bucket every time she is ridden in warm weather.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

^^^ This. I have cried more over my troubled little mare than any other horse or pony in my 40+ years. I've been told she's lazy, nappy, not generous etc but I can't help but think this is a horse in pain who actually will still trot a circuit for me around the school when all she wants to do is lie down with her tired muscles. She gave the vet at her last lameness work-up a shock. 30 mins of trotting on the lunge while he told me that her lameness wasn't really visible only for her pre-exercise CK levels to be over 1600 and post exercise over 4000. I suspect she's been worked with worse if I'm honest.

And me with mine - he always seemed so troubled and closed up emotionally. Literally like he was a robot and literally had nothing emotionally to give. It was only when we changed his diet that he started being as friendly as he can be - he whinnies when he sees me and lets me cuddle his head (but try and cuddle his neck and he will reverse away from you). It has been such an emotional journey for us and there have been times where I just wanted out 100%. I'm glad I stuck with it and him because he's such a kind horse. But who knows how deep we've gone and how much better he could be with more information?

His story is:
Had him a year and he always felt odd to get on - like he was very stiff which he would walk off. He was odd to tack up when you did the girth up and I couldn't put a bridle on him or touch his forehead to get his forelock out. His bum muscles were hard. All in all he was just weird.

Then he tied up - whether this was due to vaccinations, new grass or me taking him out in the trailer when he was fully clipped then riding him in the rain with no rain sheet on - who knows. Combination of all the things probably.
He took a long time to come right - bloods took forever to come back to normal, his wee was a funny colour which vet didn't or couldn't explain as bloods were normal by that point. He came back into work and it was a horrible couple of months. Then he had a holiday and I took shoes off. 2 months later back in work and he felt ok. I had taken him off his hoof supplement as I wasn't sure whether it wasn't making things worse (I did suspect PSSM by this time) and FFion Winnie had said her horse became symptomatic on it. He was tested for PSSM1 and came back negative so we assumed PSSM2.

Changed his feed to include supplements etc and he was back doing dressage/hunting etc all fine. Put him on FP winter balancer and was back to being stiff within 3 days. Took him off it - back to normal. He hunted and did dressage/sj/combined trainings all of last winter. Now on holiday about to have shoes back on to find him a new home.

He felt the best he had ever done just before his holiday - if he felt like that all the time, he'd be incredible!!

 

[burtie]

My warmblood was a late developer and at 6 was still weak looking and quite slow to ride, but nappy, spooky and bucked. Not awful just enough to be annoying.

We took it slow, and I had already noticed that adding oats etc made him slower, so converted to oil but didn't really look that hard as he was mostly OK.

He also struggled from a young age to hold his hind legs up for the farrier, but never needed shoes behind so we didn't worry.

At 6 he needed a weeks box rest with hand walking daily. Even though we cut out all hard feed and reduced hay, when we lunged him after a week to test soundness, he became stiff after 10 mins ad we just got him back in stable before he fully and totally tied up! Luckily the vet was there assessing the lameness so could give a pain relief injection!

After that we looked in to PSSM seriously and he went on a strict diet change! He filled out (had always been weak behind) and grew 2 inches more!)

He was much more forward and better to ride as long as ridden daily.

He lives out all summer and seems fine on the grass, but it is relatively low quality.

He went on to compete in Dressage to Medium level (although engagement was always a struggle!), low level eventing and showjumping and showing as well as fun rides. I have won loads on him!

He struggled a bit 2 years ago at 12 and had hock injections for hock arthritis, which helped. He is now 14 and still is a fun all-rounder but is definitely noticeably stiffer, so I have retired from competing so there is now pressure on him!

 

[ycbm]

Can people please indicate whether you are using natural or synthetic vitamin E. They both work the same, but you need twice as much synthetic as martial because it's a range of actual chemicals and the one that is needed is only half as much in synthetic.

Mine is iu of natural. I'm actually feeding synthetic from tomorrow (loathe that oil stuff!!!) so I will be doubling the dose.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

10,000iu a day for mine equimins natural vit e oil

 

[DabDab]

Equimins natural vit e....some iu a day (I vary non scientifically based on how much work he's done that day)

 

[SEL]

Forage plus natural vitamin E. I know equimins oil is cheaper but the blasted stuff went everywhere and I can make up pots of powder supplements a week in advance. I'm about to boost up to 10000iU again as horse is v lethargic right now.

 

[Xanthoria]

What symptoms did you see?
I bought him at 6m mos. He started showing difficulty picking up all 4 feet at 2 yr old. He's now 5 and clicker training and a lot of patience have helped but shoeing is a real struggle, and not many shoers want to help me.

How was the diagnoses made? What type of PSSM does your horse have?
Blood test and muscle biopsy. He's PSSM2

What do you feed?
He's on 8 acres with little to no grass (dry climate) and gets grass hay twice a day plus 5# alfalfa pellets with 1.5 cups canola oil and his custom supplement that contains 10,000IU natural vit E

I made a comparison chart for vit E: see the three tabs at the bottom and feel free to add your findings! https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1HyzecjwZzxHj3keS5_fQ3aYEvXDU9IBxb5smQAYfslA/edit?usp=sharing

What not to feed?
Any grains, anything sweet, grass!

How do you keep your horse?
Out 24/7, exercised 5 days a week. Taking it very slow, hard to get him fit, he's very sluggish and over 17h so riding him is WORK!

How have things turned out?
I'm really unhappy that this horse I saved up for ended up like this. He's a KWPN by Valegro's sire so should be ultra talented, but his gaits are very average, and I don't expect much of him. He has a lovely sweet temperament, but he's very sluggish and a bit spooky on the trail so I don't enjoy riding him much... he struggles with footing changes so may become dangerous to ride at some point?

What does the long term hold for your horse?
I don't know - he also has shivers so he'll either get worse and be put down, or be a low level all rounder.

How do you treat? What do you use?
Sugar free treats from Uckele, or a few normal ones - they don't really contribute to his overall NSC intake that much.

 

[SEL]

Xanthoria - sorry to hear this. The only plus I sometimes think about my mare is that she was given to me free. She was only lightly backed so no one had any idea about her PSSM, but financial investment was minimal even if my emotional investment has been much higher.

Do you think it came down the dam's side? Any siblings with signs?

 

[DabDab]

Sorry to hear about your horse Xanthoria - how old is he?

 

[Sukistokes2]

Thank you all, this has made for very interesting reading and frankly the collective knowledge on this forum is invaluable.

 

[rachk89]

Thank you all, this has made for very interesting reading and frankly the collective knowledge on this forum is invaluable.

Same for me. Makes me wonder at times if this is what my horse has. It seems that grass makes this condition worse, and he is in a 20 acre field with good grass, so it does make me wonder if this is why he started acting up last year when I moved him. He was so lovely before, but he was also skinny before. He looks better now, but his bum muscles are hard as hell (I figured this was from being in a fairly hilly field, but they did develop really quickly with little schooling/exercise).

Would their back muscles tie up as well? This would explain why his back muscles are so tense right now. He does get better after the physio has seen him, but then steadily gets worse.

I currently feed him half a scoop of Spillers cool fibre, 2 scoops of rigcalm (as otherwise he jumps ontop of the geldings), and 2 scoops of mint to hide the taste of the rigcalm. What should I change his feed to to try and see if PSSM is a possibility?

 

[ycbm]

They hurt all over. But his back muscles wouldn't usually go stiff on their own without your physio finding a lot of tension in the major muscle groups as well. But if the bum is solid, the rest of him is affected as well. What's his breeding? Do I remember reading that he has obvious one-sided muscle wastage? That would not be a symptom, they are like it all over.

You should add a minimum of 5000iu of natural or 10000 iu of synthetic vitamin E and either 10g of alcar or build him up to about half a litre of oil. I find alcar much more effective than oil for mine. This isn't the same with all of them.

 

[rachk89]

They hurt all over. But his back muscles wouldn't usually go stiff on their own without your physio finding a lot of tension in the major muscle groups as well. But if the bum is solid, the rest of him is affected as well. What's his breeding? Do I remember reading that he has obvious one-sided muscle wastage? That would not be a symptom, they are like it all over.

You should add a minimum of 5000iu of natural or 10000 iu of synthetic vitamin E and either 10g of alcar or build him up to about half a litre of oil. I find alcar much more effective than oil for mine. This isn't the same with all of them.

He does hurt in more places than normal though, his stomach area hurts, and his back obviously. He sometimes has issues with his neck too but not always. He is half Oldenburg, half Connemara. He is definitely lacking muscle more on the right than the left, but its only a slight difference, neither side is good.

I'm gonna speak to a vet tonight and see what he thinks about it. I am probably wrong but I guess changing his diet doesn't do any harm.

 

[ycbm]

The diet quill do no harm as long as you don't feed oil to a fat horse. But one sided muscle wastage is symptomatic of something else, and a lame horse will be sore all over from carrying himself wrong. If I was you, as I think I've said on another thread, I'd be getting back x rays then testing medicating the SI joint if that was clear, assuming you have clear hock x rays already.

 

[DabDab]

He does hurt in more places than normal though, his stomach area hurts, and his back obviously. He sometimes has issues with his neck too but not always. He is half Oldenburg, half Connemara. He is definitely lacking muscle more on the right than the left, but its only a slight difference, neither side is good.

I'm gonna speak to a vet tonight and see what he thinks about it. I am probably wrong but I guess changing his diet doesn't do any harm.

It affects every muscle in their body, but as I think SEL said above, it is thought to mainly be fast twitch muscle fibres, which is probably why the bum muscles are such an obvious one.

No, the diet can't hurt really, but it's not exactly a positive diagnosis either....it's hard with a horse who you haven't had from the beginning of their ridden life - most people have had almost everything else medical ruled out first. I have a comprehensive scrap book of x rays and scans for my lad to check and recheck that there's nothing else going on.

 

[Ellietotz]

I have just posted off samples to Animal Genetics today to test for PSSM as it could be in my mare's breeding and be the answer to some little issues. This thread has been so helpful with preparing myself if it does come back positive. Although, I wondered if once managed correctly, will the horse get to live the rest of their life as normal or does it damage them more and more over time? I couldn't seem to find a lot on what it does over time if anything. Basically, what happens in the end?

 

[SEL]

I have just posted off samples to Animal Genetics today to test for PSSM as it could be in my mare's breeding and be the answer to some little issues. This thread has been so helpful with preparing myself if it does come back positive. Although, I wondered if once managed correctly, will the horse get to live the rest of their life as normal or does it damage them more and more over time? I couldn't seem to find a lot on what it does over time if anything. Basically, what happens in the end?

Interesting question!

There are horses on the PSSM forums that are operating well into their 20s, so not all horses suffer in the same way.

Pure bred drafts (the real heavy breeds like the Belgian breeds and Percherons) can get to a stage where the muscle wastage is so bad that they struggle to rise if they lie down. I've seen drafts in their late teens on some of the US heavy horse forums that have quite severe hindquarter wastage (often kill pen rescues) and I'm pretty sure they are PSSM cases as they don't respond to increased feed. In those instances I suspect that the damage is done and the nicest option is PTS.

Even well managed horses can tie-up and a really bad case can lead to organ damage and potential failure - again in those instances owners will often PTS. That can happen at any age, but symptoms are harder to shrug off as the horse gets older.

I never really got a response to my query to one of the US vets as to whether the muscle damage in my mare was cumulative or whether it would repair. I know 'normal' muscle damage can repair, but these horses (PSSM 1) have pools of gylocgen that I don't think reduce over time - so although I can see how you can stop the disease progressing I'm not convinced that you can reverse damage already caused.

So having thoroughly depressed myself on a Monday afternoon I'm going to hope someone pops along with a more positive outlook!

 

[Ellietotz]

Interesting question!

There are horses on the PSSM forums that are operating well into their 20s, so not all horses suffer in the same way.

Pure bred drafts (the real heavy breeds like the Belgian breeds and Percherons) can get to a stage where the muscle wastage is so bad that they struggle to rise if they lie down. I've seen drafts in their late teens on some of the US heavy horse forums that have quite severe hindquarter wastage (often kill pen rescues) and I'm pretty sure they are PSSM cases as they don't respond to increased feed. In those instances I suspect that the damage is done and the nicest option is PTS.

Even well managed horses can tie-up and a really bad case can lead to organ damage and potential failure - again in those instances owners will often PTS. That can happen at any age, but symptoms are harder to shrug off as the horse gets older.

I never really got a response to my query to one of the US vets as to whether the muscle damage in my mare was cumulative or whether it would repair. I know 'normal' muscle damage can repair, but these horses (PSSM 1) have pools of gylocgen that I don't think reduce over time - so although I can see how you can stop the disease progressing I'm not convinced that you can reverse damage already caused.

So having thoroughly depressed myself on a Monday afternoon I'm going to hope someone pops along with a more positive outlook!

Oh dear, I'm sorry! It is really depressing... trust me to ask what happens in the end.

I'd like to hope if caught early on and managed/supplemented correctly, the horse will live on as normal. I thought there were particular supplements that will reduce the build up of glycogen? If there aren't, there probably will be eventually.

I guess on another note, before PSSM was a known disease, horses, like you say, lived into their 20s probably just known as 'lazy and stiff'. I'd like to think that now we know about it and can help them with it, they will live as they normally would but more comfortably.

 

[ycbm]

ET don't forget there are at least two types and the current UK test is for type 1 only. One of mine is negative for type 1, the other I haven't tested. My belief, because my two are very different in their reactions to it, is that type 2 will eventually be found to be more than one disease.

My hope is that because I caught mine early and have been able to prevent glycogen build up, that they will live normal lives. There is no doubt, though, that they have been more difficult to keep stable at approaching seven than at six

 

[Ellietotz]

ET don't forget there are at least two types and the current UK test is for type 1 only. One of mine is negative for type 1, the other I haven't tested. My belief, because my two are very different in their reactions to it, is that type 2 will eventually be found to be more than one disease.

My hope is that because I caught mine early and have been able to prevent glycogen build up, that they will live normal lives. There is no doubt, though, that they have been more difficult to keep stable at approaching seven than at six

Can we test for type 2 yet? I'm guessing it's something the vet might need to do? If it comes back positive with type 1, does that mean that there won't be any sign of type 2? Not sure if that makes sense, basically if they come back with type 1 and you test of type 2, will it come back negative for that? As in, if it's one or the other?
I'm really hoping mine comes back negative, I may pop some Vitamin E in her diet anyway, she's 12 this year so I really hope there hasn't been anything damaging her for a long time. I've only had her 7/8 months. She's been fine and I think I may be paranoid (and reassuring myself mentally) but I want to check.
I'm sorry to hear you are struggling with yours I hope they get better xx

 

[vonno]

I understand that in the UK, type 2 can only be tested via muscle biopsy. However, you can use a USA company called Equiseq who will test from dried blood on a card.
(PSSM Forum on Facebook has loads of info. on this disease.)

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I understand that in the UK, type 2 can only be tested via muscle biopsy. However, you can use a USA company called Equiseq who will test from dried blood on a card.
(PSSM Forum on Facebook has loads of info. on this disease.)

I think most of us are aware of Equiseq and dried blood on a card testing. However it is expensive to have done and, by the sounds of it, the results have been taking an absolute age to come back. I am tempted to get my horse tested and his diagnosis confirmed but would rather know the test result return time before spending a lot of cash and not getting results promptly (I am only going by what posts I've seen on the PSSM FB page!!).

 

[Ellietotz]

I think most of us are aware of Equiseq and dried blood on a card testing. However it is expensive to have done and, by the sounds of it, the results have been taking an absolute age to come back. I am tempted to get my horse tested and his diagnosis confirmed but would rather know the test result return time before spending a lot of cash and not getting results promptly (I am only going by what posts I've seen on the PSSM FB page!!).

This is interesting, I didn't know about that but not sure I'd be too keen drawing blood from my horse... don't think she would either but then again, needs must! Although, is the cost quite different between doing this test or getting a biopsy? I'd probably weigh it up by cost and turnaround like you say.

 

[SEL]

This is interesting, I didn't know about that but not sure I'd be too keen drawing blood from my horse... don't think she would either but then again, needs must! Although, is the cost quite different between doing this test or getting a biopsy? I'd probably weigh it up by cost and turnaround like you say.

A biopsy would tell you whether there were abnormal muscle fibres - they can pick up diseases like mitochondrial myopathy as well as glucose storage disorders. I cant help on price as I didn't need to go down that route.

Equiseq's testing isn't expensive, but you'd need a vet to draw blood for the card you need to send to the US. They are testing for genetic markers in horses who were PSSM1 negative, but showing signs of other muscle disorders. I think they've found 5 markers to date and all except RER seem to point to protein abnormalities.

Lots in the PSSM Facebook forum if you want yo research further.