Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

I suppose once one's discovered a rare disorder in one's own horse, 
it's easy to then see it cropping up everywhere--especially now that 
it's turning out not to be such a rare thing after all!

I went through a bunch of saddles, had the equine dentist out, gave 
James-the-Wonder-Farrier ulcers, tried a chiropracter, and had 3 
different vets out all in an effort to figure out why Bruiser had begun 
to stumble, yank shoes from missteps, and generally seem increasingly 
uncomfortable moving out.  Turns out he had EPSM which is terrifically 
easy to treat through a simple diet change.  Basically you get rid of 
all the grain (though Bruiser wasn't on a lot anyway) and give them 
lots of oil and free access to pasture--little to no confinement if 
possible--and consistent exercise.  You might try the recommended 
diet/exercise changes to see if things improve.  Though it takes 6 
weeks to get a consistent improvement, we were lucky enough to see 
results almost overnight.

Basically his haunches had become so weak that he was using his front 
end, no longer overreaching from the hind.  Now and then he would 
stumble almost to the ground.  It really was odd and hard to detect 
exactly what was going on.  He pulled shoes so I thought it was his 
feet.  On one of the vets recommendations, we trimmed them shorter and 
shorter until the farrier refused to go any further.  His back was 
hollowing as a result of the weakened hind, so the saddles ALL bridged; 
this made me think the saddles were the problem for months.  When 
nothing else seemed to work, I resorted to a chiropractor--I know lots 
of you swear by them but for me it was like resorting to Voodoo--I was 
desperate--the chiro/vet said right away though that, though he was 
"adjusted" (I never know what that means exactly), he thought my riding 
regimen might be the real problem (too much too quickly), or his 
previous history as a dressage horse (too much forced collection).  
However, since I hadn't really overridden him and since his dressage 
work was fabulously well done by a conscientious, careful teen who'd 
fallen in love with him, neither suggestion proved helpful.  (I must 
say, though it didn't solve the core problem, Bruiser really enjoyed 
the chiropractor's work).

Finally I stumbled across Dr. Beth Valentine's web-site (OSU) and 
learned about EPSM.  Turned out to the be the problem.  Our very good 
local vet looked really surprised and pleased:  "Of course--that makes 
sense--I should have thought of that."   I went from horror:  "Oh no, a 
metabolic disorder--that sounds serious", to "Thank God, a metabolic 
disorder that can be easily addressed--in some cases."  We brought him 
back slowly and carefully, had several setbacks because Yours Truly 
tried to move his recovery along too quickly, but he's doing great now. 
 In his case he'd become really fat and actually lost 100 lbs once he 
started consuming 2 cups of oil/day.  Now he's working pretty hard in 
the dressage ring again, and taking his young teenager and her father 
on long trail rides.

Good luck!  I hope your horse's issue turns out to be as easily 
remedied!

Mary K.


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