Any change now that he has been on meds and new supplements for 3 weeks?
Hi! Between the first and second vet appointments he developed a lot of behavioral symptoms: spookiness, aggression (very bite-y towards people), severe skin hypersensitivity, and would refuse to go into his stall. He was a pain for the barn staff to handle (was previously one of the farm favorites due to how easy he was). As they all seemed to point to Lyme, my vet and I opted to treat with the full 30 days minocycline while we waited for repeat blood to come back. Weirdly, the second Lyme test was elevated but still WNL, but all the behavioral problems vanished with Lyme treatment.
All his other blood work WNL.
I sat on him once a week ago and he was okay, a little bit sluggish but not balky, but the following day I rode and he was back to the balkiness. I put him on a lunge that day and he was better on the lunge behaviorally, but looked a tiny bit off to me. The vet came back out to do routine vaccines for the barn, and she couldnāt really find any lameness but thought he was a bit heel sore. Itās been really dry here so the ground is pretty hard again, and heās been barefoot since he came to me. I am opting to put shoes back on him (farrier comes this week) and wait for him to finish the antibiotics (should be done early next week). Once those two things are done itās back to work, Iāll figure out if itās just behavioral at this point and either restart him myself or have a young horse trainer come out. Maybe itās a case of the terrible fours. Who knows.
As an aside, we are thinking itās not pssm at this point, as he is happy in the field/loose in the indoor/on the lunge to romp around, and he looks very loose and supple. I also had saddle fitter take a look again as she was at the barn. She said overall looks okay and she didnāt think it has anything to do with his problems.
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Itād be much easier if they could just talk!
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So true! Iām sorry youāre gong through all this, I wish you good luck. 
I really believe the terrible 2ās, 3ās or 4ās are real if you have that certain horse and conditions are right for it to emergeā¦
Updating in case anyone else experiences this situation - my horse finished his antibiotics probably the end of May or so and got front shoes put on. He spent most of last week being longed for short sessions and then was back under saddle this week. So far he has been happy as a clam about moving forward. Not balky at all and very responsive to the leg. Seems totally back to normal both under saddle and on the ground. He was coming along so nicely prior to having this time off and Iām hopeful that this is all behind us and weāll continue to progress in his training.
Interesting to note that both Lyme tests (run by Cornell) came back elevated but not within positive diagnostic levels. We opted to treat based off symptoms and lack of other diagnostic findings. He also got a monthlong course of omeprazole (plus taper) while on antibiotics as a preventative measure. He definitely did not lose all his symptoms (notable on the ground) until he was nearly finished with the month of minocycline, so definitely be patient while waiting to see full improvement.
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My 4 yo got spooky and biting and I gave him Doxy and it disappeared, I also got him a wider saddle. And Smartpak makes some nice shaped girths- including a light neoprene one that he seems to like- I rode in loose draw reins for a bit til I got a handle on things, and now he is going nicely in a bendy berris mullen mouth bit
Hi! I would love to connect with you about this is youāre willing as Iām having the same issues with my 4.5 yr old ottb with the balking under saddle which is a very sudden and new behavior.
