Stiff hind legs in yearling mini

[Crugeran Celt]

I have a miniature yearling I have owned sine last November. The last two mornings she has come out of her stable with stiff, wobbly back legs. She walks about 5 or 6 steps and then seems fine. She canters out the field with no problems at all and even usually gives a little buck at the two year old she shares a field with. Any ideas? Just to say she hasn't been the healthiest little horse and has what appeared to be colic three times with the vet being called and blood tests taken which didn't really confirm anything other than a lack of vitamin E which she is now on a supplement for.

 

[debsflo]

could it be locking stifle .my mini who i got as a 10 month old and who is now 5 had this quite badly. it has improved as she has matured and muscled up. think they advise hill work and turnout is better than stabling. mine still gets it occasionally.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Would that make her a little wobbly as well? To be honest she hasn't done very much as she has been poorly since we had her what with one thing and another so she hasn't been walked out in hand like my other two minis have. She has seemed quite weak and I have been reluctant to do to much with her. She is really on the mend now and she gallops around the field playing with the others which she hasn't done before the last month or so. My other two are so robust that she has been a bit of a shock to the system.

 

[flintfootfilly]

Have you got a copy of her blood tests? If not, it is well worth asking your vet for a copy of the complete blood report(s) for future reference.

Was CK, LDH and/or AST measured on the bloods? These are muscle enzymes, CK especially (the other two can also be elevated with liver problems). If so, what were the values and reference ranges for that lab?

Were GGT and/or GLDH measured too. Did these appear normal or high?

Have you had your grass/hay/whatever she's eating tested for minerals?

The reason I'm asking all this is because I have an ongoing problem with my ponies which I think is long term selenium deficiency in the diet. One of my boys had a very wobbly stage as a yearling. The vet thought he was a wobbler, and he fell over 6 times on the way in from the field one day he was so uncoordinated. Several years later he also had colitis (diarrhoea with colicky signs).

May be nothing similar at all, but the bloods would give an idea to start with as selenium deficiency causes the muscle enzymes to be raised. Then forage testing would give you an idea whether you need to supplement the feed differently to what you are doing now.

Of course it might be something totally different.

Sarah

 

[AmyMay]

Any chance she could be being poisened by something she's eating in the field? Or perhaps is a wobbler?

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Bloods did show she needed selenium and she is on a supplement for this. The hind leg problems only started two days ago but what is strange is that she steps out of her stable and the first three steps are very wobbly and she drags her toes on the floor then she just trots completely sound out to the field and she fine for the rest of the day.

 

[EstherYoung]

Minis are prone to slipping stifles - it's conformational. And if she's been under the weather for sommat else then she could well have lost a bit of muscle tone which would bring it on. If you know what you're feeling for, the stifle can feel 'loose' when you grope it (but don't grope too much if you don't know what you're feeling for).

They do generally get better as they get stronger and more muscled. Sometimes asking them to move back a couple of steps or picking the back feet up can make the stifle correct itself too. If in doubt see your vet.

Have you tried leaving her out overnight?

 

[flintfootfilly]

Would be really interested to know what measure of selenium was used (eg whole blood selenium, GSH-px, serum selenium) and value and reference range.

What I think I may be seeing with my gang of 5 ponies (but I can't say conclusively yet) is that inorganic selenium (sodium selenite) in a supplement did not help their muscle problems (including the levels of CK in their blood) even when supplemented for 10 months. However, supplementing with organic selenium (selenium yeast) for 2 months may have caused an improvement which was seen 4 to 5 months later.

Regardless of my results, it is well documented that organic selenium is more bio-available than inorganic.

Many supplements, and some balancers and vit/min supplements, use only inorganic selenium. The actual amount per daily ration varies too.

So personally I would choose to check the exact content of the selenium supplement being given, and to make sure it is providing selenium as selenium yeast. The concentration I'd be looking for would provide 1mg selenium as a daily ration for a 500kg horse. I'm afraid I don't know how that scales down for a mini, but the feeding guides for each product should be able to help you on that.

Sarah

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Thankyou all for your replies, I have today spoken to my vet who saw the filly a few weeks ago for other problems and she feels it is probably a conformation issue. Will be leaving filly out 24/7 to see if things improve for her.

 

[Crugeran Celt]

Just a quick update, filly has stayed out 24/7 since last Wednesday and there has been a massive improvement. I have been getting up at 5.30am to catch her as early as possible and she walks towards me with just a little stiffness that I don't think anybody not knowing the situation would notice. She is a much happier little lady too.

 

[AmyMay]

Thanks for the update op.