Wobblers... symptoms and diagnosis

Jet set did you get my reply to your email as it doesn't show although it shows in User List/Applecart14/see all posts. sorry this is my first time on a forum and I am a little confused.
 
I had a horse put down with late onset wobblers at the age of ten. This was four years ago. Rommy was a belgian warmblood with a little TB in him. Wobblers is more common in male horses, warmbloods and quarter horses and horses that typicaly have a long necked confirmation. It can come on early in horses, ie yearlings but it can also be caused by trauma as it was with my horse who fell on his neck in the field. He started having problems with his hind fetlocks rubbing together and I thought it was a tilted pelvis so got the chiro out twice but this did not remedy the situation so the farrier raised the inside of his hind feet to help eliviate the problem. Then in canter he developed a very strange gait where he would concertina his body and it felt like a very strong disunited canter (but it wasn't). It threw you violently out of the saddle - this came on over a period of a few months. When you halted him and reined back and cantered again he would be fine (we now know this 'unlocked' his neck. He was always a very strong ride and had to be led everywher in a chifney as he was so strong (we now know this was related to his neck pain prior to his accident). One day I hacked him out and had to reverse out of a barn and he felt like he was drunk. We went up the lane and he was weaving all over the place so I led him back and called out the vet. Despite the vets inital response saying he thought it was wobblers he changed his mind and thought the horse had EHV (equine herpes virus). However as a safety precaution he was xrayed by portable xray mc at the stable and I was told the xrays were fine. However we know to our cost that they were not fine at all (the mc was not powerful enuf to penetrate the neck muscle to see a clear picture of the spinal column). He was put on bute and finadyne and had a tail sway test which came up positive but a wobblers diagnosis was still not confirmed. He was tested for EHV which came back positive (33% of the horses in the country are carriers but not all go on to develop the illness). I was convinced it was wobblers having read up about it on the internet but again the vets said it was EHV. He had three further attacks over the course of the next couple of weeks and I insisted on a referral to the Philip Leverhulme Clinic at Liverpool Equine Hospital. He was there two hours and underwent numerous xrays on his spinal column and gait analysis and I was given the news that he would not only never be ridden again but he was considered to dangerous to be a field ornament as he was so likely to fall on someone as he was so ataxic. We decided there and then to end his suffering and he was sadly put down there and then. This was in June 2004 but in April 2004 he was competing BSJA and getting clear rounds. Although the intial symptoms came on slowly and he was not in pain the traumatic injury he suffered in the field excelerated the disease. He had four vertebrae effected so an operation (bagby basket) was out of the question. It is important for me to stress that right until the end the pain suffered by my horse was neglible but when a horse is a flight animal and relies on its bodily functions and muscles being able to react as a life or death situation (as horses see things) it must have been distressing for him. Thats why we had him refferred to get a definitive answer which made the decision so much easier at the end of the day. Rommy would have good days - sometimes weeks where he would be fine, out in the field with his friends, doing a one day event, showjumping, dressage, the works. Then other days he would have a 'wobbly episode' and the vet would come out to reassess. I told the hospital if they wanted to keep his neck bones to help students (liverpool is a teaching hospital) then they were welcome. If it helps people learn and understand about wobblers then Rommys life death has been worth while.

You will find the link below very useful.

http://www.equiworld.net/uk/horsecare/erc/wobbler.htm

RIP Rommy - I will always love you and miss you, my beautiful black beauty.
 
read this thread with interest as when i worked in newmarket one of our vets (one of the leading vets in the area) was doing a study on it and (irresponsibly IMO) bred several faols from a wobbler mare. apparently some TB strains have a genetic predesposition for the condition.
he used to say that though wobblers are graded in terms of their disability one of the most telling signs is horses ability or not to back up. some horses are just naturally reluctant obviously but back up a wobbler and at best you get 'reluctance' at worse they actually cant do and fall over if made.
i have no dea if this applies to those who become 'wobblers' due to injury and i am actually not sure if you can catorgorise that sort of horse as a wobbler per see. very interesting thread though.
 
Yes my horse was dodgy backing up. Another thing a wobblers will do which I forgot to mention, is that when you turn them in hand on a tight circle they will swing their outside back leg right out to the side and seem unable to cross their back legs normally in comparison to an unaffected horse. My horses front legs used to 'dither' too. It was like his knee joint couldn't lock and it would sort of give way slightly. We noticed this when we tried him out prior to buying him but I was told that as his confirmation was a little 'back at the knee' this was why he behaved like this. Finally a wobblers horse is totally unaware of placement of his limbs. When we took him to Liverpool the consultant (I forget his name) placed his n/s front hoof so it touched his o/s front hoof. A non wobblers horse would have moved their foot back replacing it so as to stand in a natural stance. Rommy didn't realise where his foot was and would have stood in a very unnatural position for ever. Very sad seeing a horse behaving so strangely and being unaware of his movement. Must have been very distressing for him.
 
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