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At a loss for what, if anything, is wrong (soundness) with my horse… help?

The problem is that he will NOT hold chiropractic adjustments.
That is usually related to shoeing issues and/ or hind foot negative plantar angles. ,(search NPA, that, you will learn all about it)
Doesn’t matter how expensive or experienced your farrier is, if he is using traditional trimming and shoe fitting guidelines. Those old guidelines ,especially fitting flat shoes to the very end of the toe, can directly cause back problems. You can check something yourself. Draw a line across the widest part of the hind foot sole. measure how far back from that line to the end of the heels. and how far forward to the breakover point of the shoe. (where the toe wear or roll begins) If there is more distance in front of the line than there is behind , there is a problem.
Then look at the hid feet from the side, at ground level if there is a slight bulge or convex form to the front hoof wall it is a probably sign of negative plantar angle.

Also stand back and look at the angle of the hind foot hairline. If it points well above the front leg knee, that is also an indication of probable NPA.

What happens is the horse has to incorrectly use muscles in the hind end to get over his hind toes without over extending the coffin joint of the hind foot and it causes back issues.

Take Patty very seriously.
My black mare stopped cantering a couple times. A chiropractor could get her right for a while. Then when Patty and the other NB folks starting shoeing her correctly for her NPA in her hinds, that issue went away. She also lost the thickening on the tendons above the hocks.

I saw the other thread on this board about EPM and vision, and then as if I wasn’t paranoid enough, I also read a few articles about Lyme. My horse is not spooky to spooky things, but has lots of trouble with bright footing changes like grass to gravel, grass to snow, and in general light to dark problems on XC like field to woods. He also has trouble with shadows in front of jumps. If I go to turn him out in the dark, he will plow into the fence or gate like he never saw it unless I am careful to check him back on the lead rope and use verbal cues. My lameness vet thought there was something slightly weird about his eye structure when I mentioned the awful night vision (I can’t remember what) and referred me to an equine ophthalmologist this past spring. The ophthalmologist couldn’t find anything wrong with him and unfortunately it was a bright day, so we couldn’t really test her theory of mild congenital night blindness. Nonetheless, I’ve never had him exhibit the stargazing behavior when going from dark to light that she said is helpful in diagnosing night blindness. He even got better about the gate in the dark for a while, but he has recently hit it again after he’d been better and I’d stopped being so conscious to carefully walk him through it at night. Combined with weird inconclusive lameness and his general clumsiness, all of this may tell me that I’m paranoid and shouldn’t read things on the internet, but also that it may be worth my money to have an EPM test done.

Also, apparently Lyme can cause weird lamenesses and bad attitudes. This horse definitely can have a bad attitude. In fact, after the several negative lameness workups, we were sure the only thing wrong with him was bad, and by bad I mean AWFUL, attitude that comes and goes. I also looked back on his race record again and realized he didn’t just race in KY and FL, but also in WV (Mountaineer) and MD (Laurel). I know it would really be a long shot for him to have been bitten by a tick in MD where deer ticks are endemic, especially on the track, and then be subclinical for the next 3-4 years, but it sounds like some horses can indeed go years without obvious symptoms. Likewise, it’d be a long shot for him to have been bitten by an infected deer tick in KY, since they’re pretty rare here, but who knows. I have really awful luck, so it really wouldn’t surprise me to have a horse that this happened to.

As for the EPSM question, I think that’s somewhat less likely than EPM and Lyme. He’s a Thoroughbred and it really only seems to be common in heavy breeds and QHs. I’m not ruling out asking the vet about EPSM, but I’m just not sure if it’s at the top of my list yet.

I still don’t think dressage saddle or feet are really major issues, but I will consciously pay attention to his saddle fit tonight as well as his front feet. I paid attention to his hinds on Saturday and they actually have a positive plantar angle. Especially for being a TB his feet do look great- short toes, upright heels, cup-ish sole. My farrier squares his hind toes and rolls the toe/shoe both up front and behind.

This. I had a horse that was not holding his chiro very similar to this. He has some specific knots that were keeping him imbalanced. When these were worked out (once a week massage and full turnout for a month, then once a week massage with VERY light riding for another month, then once a week massage and increasing workload for another month, then down to massage every other week and regular workload for another month, and finally a full year of once a month massage and my boy is 100% better and never looked sounder.

We also had his saddle reflocked during this time.

Hello. Just found this thread. 1st of all, I think we are living in a paralleled universe and you are the other me. My horse’s symptoms are a little different but our story is the same.
I was just wondering if you ever figured anything out or if you are still stuck in the never ending trial/error loop unsure of what exactly the problem is.

Also I didn’t realize this was from 2014! I thought it was December 14th!!!

I didn’t realize at first this was an old thread either :smile:.

If it were my horse and not holding the adjustments, I would be having a critical look at the feet first and the trim.

Hate it when there’s no end to the story!!

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I know right?

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