Anyone have any advice on ECVM?

[Mandy1]

Hello,
I have an 8 yr WB that’s been experiencing intermittent front end lameness since age 3 1/2. He had a minor collateral ligament injury so we finally thought we had the root of the issue. Two more rehabs due to mysterious lameness so my vet did an X-ray of C6 and C7. She said he had a genetic anomaly and was missing spinal processors. She did not know about ECVM at the time so she not consider this latest revelation a factor. So I sent the information( X-rays, Mri) to dr Jose at Rood and Riddle for a second opinion. He agreed with my vet (keep looking for source of lameness ) My shoer googled the symptoms and he led me to the website that described ECVM and this is what I’ve been seeing clinically since I bought him as a 2 yr old.

I’m now looking for professionals that can advise me on the best stable conditions, nutrition, therapies, and exercise schedule to stabilize him to prolong his soundness. If anyone has any recommendations I’m all ears😊

[Peggy]

I owned one that I managed for a bit with neck injections.

LSS. Came up lame with a high suspensory when he was 9. Rehabbed. Still lame. Looked at feet, ultimately including scintigraphy (unfortunately didn’t do whole horse) and MRI leading to Dx of collateral ligament injury. Rehabbed that. Horse OK for about two years after the almost-year of diagnostics plus rehab, including back to jumping, then problems started again. Repeat diagnostics this time with full-body scintigraphy and found neck (what they’re now calling ECVM) along with collateral ligaments. Vet explained that horse wasn’t neuro but that a packet of information occasionally didn’t traverse the spinal column properly due to the ECVM which would cause a momentary loss of proprioception leading to him putting a foot down harder. Over time, the increased impacts added up. The momentary losses of proprioception were apparently what had been causing the stumbling since he was 3. Did neck injections a few times. Helped, but never got him back to jumping. Finally gave up and retired at age 14 because I felt like I was struggling so hard just to keep him going, he wasn’t happy, he was having intestinal issues, etc.

Aside from injections gave him oral vitamin E and Legend (which my vet said was good for neck issues).

I think that if I’d found the neck problem three years before I did we might have had a better chance. But the bottom line is that he had been stumbling since he was three, which was in 2002. I think people are now more aware of the possible issues that correlate to stumbling.

[IPEsq]

CSU has a lot of experience with these cases. Their internal medicine (Dr Nout-Lomas) and sports med teams do a lot with necks. As a first step, if you haven’t already, I’d try injections. Doesn’t always work, but if they don’t work then in my experience the other supportive bodywork, strengthening, etc also won’t get you very far because the gait deficit will still be there. But sometimes there is treating the joints and sometimes the nerve roots in these cases. Ultrasound might help determine where the inflammation is. The abnormality in itself doesn’t necessarily mean you inject there each time. It can be more complicated because having those missing processes means that the muscles attach to the spine differently than a normal neck.

[Mandy1]

So, so sorry to hear. I’m at the point where I’m accepting he will never be in full work. I do the TRT method for ground work with him because he really likes the job and it keeps us connected and him sane. However, I want to make sure that I’m doing the right thing now, so I don’t have any regrets. He’s such a nice horse and it’s hard to watch him rehab yet again. Thank you for sharing your story it helps.

[Mandy1]

Yes, we injected the neck and his hocks, tried equiox, PEMF treatments and CBD . Nothing made any significant difference. He’s not very stumble, he, and he is not neurological. He has a very long neck, he has allergies to alfalfa, which give him leaky gut, and he was born without one of his front teeth. I’m not sure if any of that is related but perhaps he has other genetic imperfections. I will definitely reach out to the vets you suggested so I can at least get some guidance in terms of stabling, turn outs, nutrition, etc. Thanks for replying to this post. I really appreciate it.

[IPEsq]

If he has lameness that doesn’t block in the leg, then he does have a gait deficit coming from the neck. And could be more prone to injuring something in the front limbs as a result. So that would mean that there is a neuro component to it. I had a horse that started exhibiting something similar as a 4yo. He had changes in the neck but none of the malformations at C6-C7. Injections did make the lameness go away. But he also had a variety of other problems and was not a healthy horse in terms of many parts of his body, unfortunately (despite having breeding with very high performing bloodlines).

I’ve since come to know more about necks and have friends with horses with neck issues. If you can’t get the lameness to go away with treating the neck, then the prognosis is not very good. Assuming that you have ruled out something else going on in the limbs.

Yvette Nout-Lomas and Melinda Story (Dr Story is in the sports med group at CSU) have been authors on some papers about neck and spinal issues.

[Mandy1]

The vet could not get him sound, and she blocked as high as she could go. He’s only taking one notable bad step out of the blue, but it was on that same trouble front left foot.

I did read Dr. story’s article and sent an email for a consultation. I haven’t heard back as yet. I also sent an email to Dr. Grant for a consultation and he has responded and asked for more background information. Again, it looks like he’s never going to be a riding horse, but I just want to do the best for him and get ahead of this as much as I can. Thank you so much for your information, it’s very helpful.