wobbler syndrome/disease advise please,please

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angelish

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hi any advise/help will be much appreciated

i posted in here as i know it is a condition found mainly in youngsters and hoped you very kind people may be able to help also the people in NL will prob just say pts :(

my friends very special 4 yr old has just been diagnosed
he's special as he is a replacement to a 5yr old she tragically lost in a trailer accident (same breeding)

he is a hanivarian (sp ? sos) + trotter 16'3 he only has mild symptoms at the moment
one of his back fetlocks swings slightly ,it was picked up by her instructor and they had vet coming anyway so got him checked , he did the tests and exrayed him a few days later.

he has lesions on two vertabra ,the vet said he wouldn't recomend the op as its not always successful.
he is now a field ordament witch is fine as they love him to bits and would like to keep him like this as long as poss obviously as long as he's not in any distress

so i have looked on internet and all the cases i have found didn't have a happy ending ,
is it worth getting a second opinion ?
does anyone know any success storys ?
is there anything we can do ?
is there any specialist vets on this ?

ill be very grateful for any imfo anyone can give me ,we are all hart broken :(
i know it is not good and he will be pts when the time is right ,he won't suffer on for years
but is there any hope ?
 
it can't hurt to get a second opinion to check the diagnosis but if it is correct then i think the best you can do is keep him happy whilst you still can. I had my one in a million horse pts 2 years ago due to wobblers and i asked about treatment and spoke to people who had gone for the op and all wished they hadn't as it did not work and only stressed the horse out. My vet said if it was his horse he would not choose the op. He started by going disunited in canter and seeming stiff in his back and he seemed to get worse in phases. He would seem to stay the same for a while and suddenly get worse. I had him pts because i wouldn't forgive myself if i went and found he'd taken another turn for the worse and fallen over. Good luck with yours, it can take a long time for it to develop to be really serious
 
thank you for replying
our vet said the same about the op ,he wouldn't put his through it and i looked on u tube and there are videos of horses that have had the op and it looked awful

sorry to here about yours it really is a horrible cruel disease :(
suppose just clutching at straws now
 
Sorry to say I don't personally know of any success stories. I had my horse of a lifetime PTS in January due to wobblers, I am still devastated. He was to dangerous to keep as a field ornament.

We tried a month of strong steroids but it made no difference. I bought another horse in March, he was diagnosed with kissing spines 3 weeks ago-:(
 
How sad for her.
One of those we bred was diagnosed last year, I was horrified in case it was something to do with his breeding but then further investigation appears to have proved he probably suffered a fall down an incredibly steep field, causing the damage.
The owner was prepared to let him retire aged 5 (he'd just won his first two BD classes) but he deteriorated rapidly and there was no option but to euthanise him. He started falling over when standing still.
I don't know of any that had the op but my advice would be to contact Derek Knottenbelt at Liverpool University, he has written text books for vets and seems to have the latest info available to him, he would I'm sure know the best person to ask for a second opinion or would advise who to contact for a specialist.
 
The only success story that I've heard of is of the racehorse Anabaa. He got it at two and was turned away, and later went on to be very successful and a sire. His scenario is different from yours though.So sorry to hear about this.
 
well this thread is quite scary, my TB was diagnosed yesterday and i was just going to post almost the same thing. Our vet has also said no to the opp.

My horse was found collapsed yesterday morning (see comp riders if you want the whole story)
unknow at the time, evt run blood etc... as every time my horse went to stand he just fell straight back down again, gave him massive amounts of pain killers. last night i decided to PTS as i could see him go on any longer but was so happy eating his hay laying down last night and it was very late, the vet was coming at 8am this morning anyway i thought i would do it this morning, but at 6am he got up and stayed up.

my vet has suggested gentle physio to help keep his neck supple and then return him to work. we have all agreed though that the next time he goes down he will be PTS, so for now i am just going to enjoy whatever time i have left with him and spoil him rotten.

fingers crossed for your friends, i friend of mines horse went on eventing with it until she was 15yr olds, fingers crossed and good luck x
 
search the success story of Shamardal on the internet, now a stallion standing at stud after winning numerous Group 1 races. They do sometimes heal in time but not all of them depending on the severity of the disease. Have faith
 
A beautiful young 5yo dressage horse of my friends was diagnosed with wobblers over 8 months ago. She bought him as a two year old and he was her pride and joy. The syndrome became obvious when he came home from a dressage trainer’s yard and was lame. After investigating his case the vet said that that he has misplacement of joints and would not even be able to become a hack. she had two choices 1) PTS 2) Retirement... she couldn't bring herself to put him to sleep so she retired him kept him on livery. Over the past few months his lameness has increased but he was still happy in himself and fun to have around, his owner decided to have him put out to grass with so he could play in a herd for the rest of his days. The problem with putting highly bred horses out to grass is that they get bored and they need to have their minds kept busy! Unfortunately, last night he jumped out of the field onto his face and went tearing through the countryside and damaged his legs and back he was rushed to the vets last night and as a consequence is being PTS today... I have to take my hat off to my friend for giving him a chance, but, I do think if you have a horse that has had its mind occupied and it wont take well to the simple life its best puts best to admit it sooner rather than later. As humans most of us will avoid the emotional distress of euthanising and in some cases it’s best to not let our emotions get the better of us in order to save the animal going through even more pain and distress.
 
SECOND OPINION DEFINITELY. A few years ago I had a yearling down in the field. Looked terminal but after a load of acp's she got up. X rayed and looked a very likely wobbler. Referred to Vet Hospital at Potters Bar, where on initial x-ray still looked like wobbler, but when they did the myologram (spelling?) she WASN'T. Their conclusion was that she had a possible brain bleed. She's recovered considerably, not enough to be ridden, but enough to make me very glad that we trogged all the way down to Potters Bar.
 
thanks again
his exrays have been sent of for a second opinion
it is very slight and just praying they might be able to stablise it before it gets worse ,but we do know thats unlikely.

tyler1 he hasn't been in much work yet as he is big and a keeper so were taking time and letting him grow up so he is used to being turned out 24/7 and would cope fine with it
so sorry to hear about your friends dressage horse

he is hacking out and coping fine you wouldn't know there was anything wrong with him unless you do the tests
will post an update soon as i know anything more but these things take time so could be a while
thanks for all your help everyone
 
Did the vets do a myelogram? That's the most accurate way to diagnose wobblers, I think.
Had a 4 yr old diagnosed a few years ago, x rays showed 3 sites in the neck, 2 of which were confirmed with the myelogram.
The op was never discussed, I don't think it's very common in the UK.
The horse was a grade 2 wobbler and had steroid injections into the 2 sites in the neck. About 4 months later she was perfectly normal and is now doing riding a bit of everything so there is hope.

I think you definitely need a second opinion, I think if left untreated wobblers can only get worse...
 
cundlegreen said:
The only success story that I've heard of is of the racehorse Anabaa. He got it at two and was turned away, and later went on to be very successful and a sire. His scenario is different from yours though.So sorry to hear about this.
Click to expand...

This disease is hereditary. How could anyone go on to use him as a stallion!

I had to put down 2 foals due to this disease. Unfortunately, the mare was pregnant with the second (from a different stallion) when we found out about the first. In this case it was genetic from the mare.

Dan
 
irish_only said:
SECOND OPINION DEFINITELY. A few years ago I had a yearling down in the field. Looked terminal but after a load of acp's she got up. X rayed and looked a very likely wobbler. Referred to Vet Hospital at Potters Bar, where on initial x-ray still looked like wobbler, but when they did the myologram (spelling?) she WASN'T. Their conclusion was that she had a possible brain bleed. She's recovered considerably, not enough to be ridden, but enough to make me very glad that we trogged all the way down to Potters Bar.
Click to expand...

The myologram is the conclusive test.

Dan
 
dcoffe01 said:
This disease is hereditary. How could anyone go on to use him as a stallion!
Click to expand...

The term Wobblers is used to describe the symptoms of conditions rather than one and those encompass a number of causes most of which are not proven to be hereditary.

Both Anabaa and Shamardal performed themselves at the highest level (Shamardal was unbeaten on turf and a French Derby Winner earning £1,099,290) (Anabaa was Europe’s champion sprinter of 1996), both were multiple group one winners and both have themselves sired classic and group one winners and Annaba is responsible for the amazing performer Goldikova and on his death in 2009 he had sired 31 group or graded stakes winners, 543 winners from 807 starters that earned $45,936,578 and that figure is still growing in leaps thanks to Goldikova.!!.

That's probably why they are bred from and if their condition were to be inherited in mendalian fashion then why aren't half their foals and most of their relatives wobblers?
 
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