Tying up

Mahoganybay

Mahoganybay

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Can anyone tell me about tying up, my Standardbred mare tied up 3x last winter, the first two occasions only slightly and the last one was abit worse (but not too bad), vet came and suggested change of diet, which i promptly did, i always warm up and cool down when riding and she always has access to a salt lick.

All summer been fine, then on Friday evening, severe tying up in the sand school, rang the vets who said leave her still & warm for half an hour and then see is she will move, i gave her 30 mins, still would not move, sweating, panting, pawing etc etc, vet came gave painkiller, muscle relaxant etc and box rest over the weekend, she came back today to take a blood test.

Now, having been on google, i personally think she has Recurrent Exertional Rhabdomyolysis (RER), as she:

1. Is a standardbred
2. Is highly excitable
3. tends to have small explosions in the school, lots of squealing, lunging etc
4. Is very fit

She is fed a very small handful of hoofkind, high fibre cubes, outshine, magnesium & sugarbeet and adlib haylage.

Has anyone with any experience with this, the vets say they may have to do a muscle biopsy, is this the best thing, have been researching Vitamin E & Selenium, anyone with any experience of this supplement.

I am so worried for my little mare.

Many thanks.
 
There is quite a bit of work been done on recurrent tying up and diet. A high oil diet with vit e and selenium supplementation seems to be the recommendation. My horse has PSSM (polysaccharide storage myopathy) which is related - there are two types, he has type II but type I involves acute episodes of tying up. Try searching for Beth Valentine an american research vet who has written some very good information sheets for owners. I emailed her as my horses biopsy was borderline and she was very helpful.

Winston gets the equivalent of 625mls (about a pint and a quarter) of oil a day - I feed it in dry form (linseed meal) and it has certainly helped but he has the type of PSSM which does not involve acute episodes. If you do end up having to feed a high oil diet Beth has a fact sheet available on line to work out how much your horse should have.

The biopsy was simple to do but only showed minor amounts of the abnormal polysaccharide they were lookiung for. They are usually a conclusive diagnositc test.

Good luck!
 
dianeholmes said:
There is quite a bit of work been done on recurrent tying up and diet. A high oil diet with vit e and selenium supplementation seems to be the recommendation. My horse has PSSM (polysaccharide storage myopathy) which is related - there are two types, he has type II but type I involves acute episodes of tying up. Try searching for Beth Valentine an american research vet who has written some very good information sheets for owners. I emailed her as my horses biopsy was borderline and she was very helpful.

Winston gets the equivalent of 625mls (about a pint and a quarter) of oil a day - I feed it in dry form (linseed meal) and it has certainly helped but he has the type of PSSM which does not involve acute episodes. If you do end up having to feed a high oil diet Beth has a fact sheet available on line to work out how much your horse should have.

The biopsy was simple to do but only showed minor amounts of the abnormal polysaccharide they were lookiung for. They are usually a conclusive diagnositc test.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Many thanks for that, will research Beth Valentine, there is just so much information online, its hard to know where to start, i very much appreciate you telling me of your experience of this.
 
My only experience of this is when my fit 20+ year old he would have been then, he is 31 now, had 3 weeks off as I had an operation, I stupidly didn't cut his food down because he was on fibre diet anyway, if I'd have thought I would have cut it all down but I did and it was too late, I warmed him up as usual at least 20 mins in walk, started trotting and he was excited and kept wanting to canter, I said go on then, went round once or twice and he just stopped dead in the corner of the school, I thought to myself, classic ty up but thought no it couldn't be due to his diet, vet said it was because I'd gone from 3 weeks of no excercise and because he was fit before, thats what made it come on, hasn't had it since, except very mildly after doing the tendon above his knee and was on box rest, vet advised me to hack him before turnout, dog scared him and started jogging brought it on, not had it since though that was about 7 years ago, I am very careful warming up, cooling down etc.

There are certain foods you can feed, and as you say Vit E and selenium, I fed NAF D-Ty after, he only has high fibre cubes, Dengie Alfa A lite, if I need to I will give him Un-mollassed sugar beet not normal.

Good luck, there are a few different types of tying up, my friend has a pony that when she was competing would ty up out of excitement, travelling, I don't think they found the cause, she was treated for ages by vets and was a mystery.

Stay away from high energy feeds and sugary treats and feeds

Its like cramp, something to do with the lactic acid in the muscles, if serious enough can damage the organs, watch out for red wee, blood tests regularly are a good indication of whatever goes up is coming down before you re-start work, mine had a few blood tests, I was told whatever they use to count was so high there was no reading ! I was mortified. He was fine though after.
 
It could be happening this time of year because its colder, her mucles are colder, in the summer she's probably warmish already, I use an exercise sheet, my horse is fully clipped now, you could do a very high blanket clip so she's still got some warmth on her quarters
 
NOISYGIRL said:
My only experience of this is when my fit 20+ year old he would have been then, he is 31 now, had 3 weeks off as I had an operation, I stupidly didn't cut his food down because he was on fibre diet anyway, if I'd have thought I would have cut it all down but I did and it was too late, I warmed him up as usual at least 20 mins in walk, started trotting and he was excited and kept wanting to canter, I said go on then, went round once or twice and he just stopped dead in the corner of the school, I thought to myself, classic ty up but thought no it couldn't be due to his diet, vet said it was because I'd gone from 3 weeks of no excercise and because he was fit before, thats what made it come on, hasn't had it since, except very mildly after doing the tendon above his knee and was on box rest, vet advised me to hack him before turnout, dog scared him and started jogging brought it on, not had it since though that was about 7 years ago, I am very careful warming up, cooling down etc.

There are certain foods you can feed, and as you say Vit E and selenium, I fed NAF D-Ty after, he only has high fibre cubes, Dengie Alfa A lite, if I need to I will give him Un-mollassed sugar beet not normal.

Good luck, there are a few different types of tying up, my friend has a pony that when she was competing would ty up out of excitement, travelling, I don't think they found the cause, she was treated for ages by vets and was a mystery.

Stay away from high energy feeds and sugary treats and feeds

Its like cramp, something to do with the lactic acid in the muscles, if serious enough can damage the organs, watch out for red wee, blood tests regularly are a good indication of whatever goes up is coming down before you re-start work, mine had a few blood tests, I was told whatever they use to count was so high there was no reading ! I was mortified. He was fine though after.
Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing your experience, you wouldn't believe the amount of food she get in her bucket, it is literally just a handful and she is ridden every day, i am so so careful warming her up and cooling her down and have various exercise sheets dependant on the weather, i clipped her 2 weeks ago, she has a blanket clip, it is defiantly excitement related because she went berserk in the school before she tied up.

When she had a wee after the tying up on friday her urine was red as expected, will be interesting to see what her blood tests come back as.
 
Have you looked at feeding Releve? Researched by S. Valberg who does a very large amount of research in that area

Away from feeding. Has she has her turnout cut down? Its best to have a horse that with RER/PSSM out as much as possible. Stressful situations, changes in routine can also be causitive.
 
My big heavyweight worker tyed up twice within two months a few years ago, the first time was bad and had to be on bran mush goodnes how much stuff of the vet that had to go in syringe to ge thim to have it, and the seconds time we caught it really fast so wasnt so bad,

both times where caused by a change in diet the first was when he went ona competition mix, and the second from a change in readigrass

hes had never had cereals again and is turned out for at least an hour each, and is fed electolytes all year and a mix of alfa, readigrass and chaff with sugarbeet
 
My guy tyed up twice got vet out and sent bloods off to the states for possible PSSM, came back positive. I feed electrolytes and benevit supplement every day, out 24/7 and no episodes of tying up in two years. The oil is fed so that the muscles are trained to utlilise this as energy rather than high sugary feeds. I dont feed oil as he is such a good doer he would explode so he is muzzled and strip grazed, seems to work for us. Good luck I know it can be very traumatic.
 
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