Wobblers Syndrome....

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Kamakazegirl

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Hi guys, just wondered if anyone has had a horse with wobblers syndrome/knows much about it? My tb mare was diagnosed with wobblers in 2008 after months of intermittent lameness and problems. As such we had to retire her for both hers and my safety. however she didnt adjust well to retirement as she was very highly strung and one day (only a few months after diagnosis) reared on the ice and broke her neck so sadly she is no longer with us. I was so devestated that she was gone that I never really understood what Wobblers was and how it made her deteriorate so quickly-in the spring of 2008 we were doing a lot of competing and she was exceptionally sure footed and balanced and after diagnosis the wind would unbalance her.) Anyway i'd quite like to understand what Wobblers Syndrome is all about-anybody clued up on this? Thanks :)
 
I haven't had a horse which has had it, but as far as I know, it's compression of the spinal cord in the cervical vertebrae which causes the lack of co-ordination. It can either be caused by not forming correctly or by injury. Sorry, but that's all I know - I don't know anything more scientific!!
 
Or OCD, cartilage growth pressing on the spinal cord causing lameness or for the Horse to wobble. Usually graded 1 to 5, 5 being dangerous.
I had a mare that had it, put her to bed one night and the next morning came out and was wobbly and uncoordinated, you could hear it when her feet hit the ground. Sadly she never returned from the Royal Vet College being graded at 5 and had growths all the way down her spine and shoulder....it was best for her :(
It can be managed with Steroids at a lower level i believe.
 
Sorry didn't finish there-so she was put on bute,but she was getting so bad that I was thinking she would have to be pts soon when she died-didn't make it any less of a shock though. It's been hard to accept it when I don't fully understand it!
 
I have a rising 3 year old gelding who was diagnosed with Wobblers when he was an 11 months old colt. Out of the blue one afternoon, he wouldn't lift his head higher than his withers, avoiding me like the plague, despite the fact that he was the most personable boy. The vet came out immediately the next morning when I told him the colt was completely ataxic. He was diagnosed as a high grade 3 Wobbler. Cervical spine X-rays confirmed compression at C4/C5. The ataxia is the result of the animal's lack of proprioception, that is, they are unaware of the position and placement of their feet. I could have had him PTS there and then, or, because of his very tender age, attempt some serious alterations in my husbandry. He was kept in a 45' x 30' section of my pole barn (he was able to interact with my other horses over the divide, but chose not to). He was not fed anything except stringently weighed hay and a handful of chaff into which I added a high dose of vitamin E daily. The farrier couldn't trim him for fear of the colt falling over and causing serious injury to man or horse. His appetite was terrific, but the amount of hay he was permitted was basically considered starvation. He dragged his feet, leaving trails through his bedding. At the end of three and a half months he was reevaluated. The vet came out and had me lead him round the barn, first to the right, then the left. She had me turn him in a tight circle to the right and then the left. As I was removing his lead, I turned to face the vet and saw that she was grinning ear to ear. Thinking I had done something wrong or silly, I asked her why the smile. She said she had never before seen a horse go from a grade 3 Wobbler diagnosis to a grade 1. I knew he had improved, but was so close to him I hadn't realised just how much. My husband asked her what she would do with him. She asked if he would ever be ridden. I said never. Then she asked if he'd be trained to the shafts (he's pure Shire). I said never. She then suggested he have his feet trimmed, be gelded, and take it one day at a time. The farrier came the next day and it was as if nothing had ever been amiss. He now lives with my other gelding. Watching him trot out in the fields is breathtaking. He has such reach and drive and suspension. The reason there were changes was because of his age. I was told that had he been 3 years old or more, those changes wouldn't have taken place. It has now been well over a year since he was gelded and his condition has improved substantially since that day when my vet looked like a Cheshire cat.
 
I have a wobbler. Mt vet thinks he is the product of being overfed/produced as a very expensive young racehorse. Something then happened in his tragic life that meant he was starved for a while and this prob stopped his C1>4 from compressing more. ( as RH2O alludes to being stringent with their diet..'tho hers was under vet instruction)
He was, when he did not make it racing through a family problem, bought and re-schooled on but they thought he was a clumsy big horse and tripped a bit.
Circumstances brought him into my life and the first thing we had done was a neuro assessment. He is about 1.5 in front and 1.5 >2 behind. His gait is unusual at times and his legs can be jerky. He is assessed yearly but it has never got any worse than this. He is not ridden as working in an outline and going down hill could cause him to lose his footing and trip.
He does have a job 'tho. He is in charge of the herd and does a grand job of it. He gallops about as normal and him and my other gelding carry on like 2 colts in a circus.
How sad you lost your horse.
I do love my wobbly boy to bits. My vet is hopeful he will not deteriorate and will live to be an old man.
 
Thanks everyone, i think i am beginning to understand it now. Rutland H20 that is excellent news about your horse, i am glad he has improved, and hopefully he will continue to do so, ive never heard of a case in a horse so young. And Brigadoon, i hope that your wobbly boy continues his circus acts for a long time :) Its nice to know that there are some happy endings with wobblers, not just the doom and gloom that i know of. I think my mare struggled with not doing all the things that she used to be able to do, poor girl.
When she was diagnosed i remember words like ataxic being thrown around and the vet saying that when she trotted it looked like her back and front legs werent connected, however we lost her a few months later and I was only 18 at the time, so its all a bit of a blur.
 
Kamakazegirl said:
Thanks everyone, i think i am beginning to understand it now. Rutland H20 that is excellent news about your horse, i am glad he has improved, and hopefully he will continue to do so, ive never heard of a case in a horse so young. And Brigadoon, i hope that your wobbly boy continues his circus acts for a long time :) Its nice to know that there are some happy endings with wobblers, not just the doom and gloom that i know of. I think my mare struggled with not doing all the things that she used to be able to do, poor girl.
When she was diagnosed i remember words like ataxic being thrown around and the vet saying that when she trotted it looked like her back and front legs werent connected, however we lost her a few months later and I was only 18 at the time, so its all a bit of a blur.
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How old was your mare when she was diagnosed? From what I've learned, the older the horse at diagnosis, the less hopeful the possibility of improvement. When I mentioned the "starvation" diet devised for my boy, it was based on his age and his weight. The vets had me feed hay at 1 1/2% of his body weight. That came out to a daily total of 16lbs, which I fed at evenly-spaced intervals. The idea was to NOT encourage growth at an age when growth can and is readily achievable. The whole process is aimed at allowing the colt's body to grow without encouraging or stimulating growth spurts. That way, hopefully, he would grow without putting additional pressure on his cervical spine. I was, initially, concerned that this process would result in a weedy, underdeveloped Shire. Nothing could be further from the truth. He'll be 3 in late June and is, already, well over 17h2" with tons of bone and hair. The major studies on Wobblers have been done on Thoroughbreds. There are Wobblers which have progressed successfully to the race course. But those horses were, generally, not much more than a year old at diagnosis. As an aside, my boy was scheduled to be put down on the morning I got the good news about his progress. The digger man rang an hour before the vet was due, saying he had an emergency and could we do it in 3 days' time. I rang the vet, who said she'd come out anyway, just to see the colt. The rest is happy history.
 
I had a 5 year old very nicely bred connie with it. Stunning and not too bad, she just looked a bit drunk behind. Was a very good companion pony to my lot as her weight didn't move much regardless of the grazing, no nastiness in her and easy to handle. She went off to keep my friend's pony company when I lost my grazing. I believe she got worse. Is no longer with us but was a pleasure to own her for a while.
 
She was 15 when she was diagnosed, so maybe that's why it got so bad so quickly. And I assume her age was why my vet said my only real option was to retire her. My vet also said that a fall or some kind of field accident may have triggeredit as she was literally fine one day and then not right the next. Ahh that is a happy story, glad your boy is doing well.
 
My 2 year old gelding fell in the field on day and then kept falling down and you could literally almost push him over with your fingertip. Vet diagnosed Wobblers.
We tried him on steroids but he just dropped weight and looked terrible, he kept tripping and falling to his knees and when he tried to canter in the field it looked like his back end was detached from the front.
We had to make the decision to have him PTS just 10 days after diagnosis.
Very sad as he was the most beautiful and well bred cob I have ever had, but it would have been cruel to keep him alive as he was a danger to himself.
 
We had a foal pts due to wobblers at 7 months old. One evening I thought she didnt look quite right, almost lame on all four legs, so took her in. Next morning she couldn't stand up, no use of her back end.
 
My mare got diagnosed at 4 1/2 years old. She was graded 2 (out of 4) in front and 2 1/2 (out of 4) behind. She was retired straightaway and had a foal at 6yrs old which is now rising 7 and getting ready to start his 2nd season BE!

My mare lives extremely happily in the field 24/7 now.

If she had been a gelding i would have strongly considering the operation (through insurance) but as she was a mare i decided (after much discussion with the vets!) to put her in foal.
 
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