Tying up or something else?

[Melandmary]

Just wondered if anyone would be able to offer me any opinion on whether my pony might be having tying up episodes please. I have a little rescue cob that has got ems. I wasn’t aware of it when I got her and she got laminitis last year. Anyway, she recovered and i follow all the ems management tips I have read about. She has lost a significant amount of weight and her fat pads have almost gone. I walk her in hand 4 days a week to help with her ems- some days she is energetic and others very sluggish. She was seen by the vet a year ago for a stiffness in her hind leg which he said was her hock and that I should be fine taking her on walks so that is what I do but she hates going up hill( stops frequently), forward and comfortable going down hill. On several occasions though now she has appeared to slip with her hind leg - I put it down to the hock being weak perhaps and avoid taking her on grass downhill when it is wet but today- and I will finally get to the point- she slipped again on tarmac. She carried on walking but appeared uncomfortable on the way home and then stopped on the road and tries to lie down. I managed to keep her moving as we were nearly home and once on the yard went straight into her barn and rolled then got up, shook and went to eat her hay. It is only after reading current threads on here that I am now wondering if her reluctance to go uphill/ lethargy and slipping today is tying up rather than a stiffness in her hock. She has been eating, drinking and pooing normally this afternoon, amongst my rambling thoughts I wondered if she was colicky as she was sweating a bit though it was warm too. Now I am suspecting it may be something else . Thankyou if you got this far!

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Slipping is not typical of tying up. Sluggishness yes but it would be all the way home not just on up/Downhills. I'd say there is something else going on in the body somewhere.

 

[Melandmary]

Thankyou, I will get it investigated. Me clutching at ideas as to why she would be wanting to get down on the road.

 

[SEL]

Some of the symptoms you describe = possibly tying up, but the slipping sounds more like a leg / back issue.

It's pretty cheap to test for type 1 PSSM but I'd want a vet to see if there's something more than the hock playing up

 

[Melandmary]

Thanks SEL, up until reading current posts about Pssm and tying up I was putting the slipping down to her hock and the lethargy down to a very basic diet of low energy hay and minimal grass ( although she is now up to 4hrs turnout thanks to P45)meaning she was lacking oomph. She is certainly fit enough to be doing the walks and we do upto 6 miles at a time which I have built up over around 6 months since she has been sound on her feet. I will get the vet to come and have another look at her because after yesterday I would not be happy about walking her out again. Here’s a photo of said Mary now that I have learnt to put them on

 

[SEL]

Thanks SEL, up until reading current posts about Pssm and tying up I was putting the slipping down to her hock and the lethargy down to a very basic diet of low energy hay and minimal grass ( although she is now up to 4hrs turnout thanks to P45)meaning she was lacking oomph. She is certainly fit enough to be doing the walks and we do upto 6 miles at a time which I have built up over around 6 months since she has been sound on her feet. I will get the vet to come and have another look at her because after yesterday I would not be happy about walking her out again. Here’s a photo of said Mary now that I have learnt to put them on

Uphill can be suspensory issues or something back / pelvis as well as hocks. If the hind leg looks to be not following through properly and slipping then I'd want the stifle checked to make sure it isn't catching.

She looks a great weight in that photo - very pretty little coblet