They don’t have possums in Europe. There’s some reason to think European imports are more vulnerable to EPM because their dams don’t have antibodies to it.
Forgive me I am not following. Is this horse in North America? Or in Europe ?
1 Like
Also if you’d like to DM me a video I would be happy to watch and share my thoughts.
1 Like
I’m sorry, what? I’ve had horses for 20+ years and had a horse involved with some of the early studies on EPM (diagnosed via spinal tap) and I have NEVER heard this. Ever.
21 Likes
If you had more experience horsekeeping you’d realize this is healthier for horses’ mental health.
Maybe add a Poll to see how many longtime owners - with horses at home or caring for boarders - don’t stick to a rigid schedule.
You say your mare likes routine.
IRL, things happen & routine must be sacrificed.
I’m on my 3rd set of geldings in almost 20yrs of having them home & their Feed Window is vastly flexible.
I’ve fed “evenings” as early as 2P & as late as 11P.
Mornings generally mean 6A, but when I’m out of town, farmsitter isn’t expected to be there at O’Dark Thirty.
Mine are turned out 24/7, that helps as they have access to pasture or stall by their choice.
Stalled or pasture-kept horses that come to expect hay/grain to arrive at precise times are going to be upset when that doesn’t happen.
In a Perfect World a schedule could be graven in stone.
We don’t live in that world.
You’ve been presented with some very possible scenarios involving your loss of ability to care for this horse yourself.
If you are sole caretaker for a problematical animal, these aren’t What Ifs, more like Whens.
Accident, illness, need to be absent for family or work, are just a few.
To avoid another person having to deal with the same behavioral issues you’ve had such problems with, euthanasia is certainly a viable alternative.
21 Likes
That’s not a thing.
They are correct. An intolerant horse is a useless horse. No one is going to ride the same time every day, or follow the same schedule, and how could you ever do anything with them like travel to trail ride or show or move?
I’m glad you’ve decided this is the horse for you to keep and that you can provide a stable environment for it. That seems like the best plan. Please have a plan in place for if something happens to you, because she will come to a bad end otherwise.
27 Likes
I have heard this before. It’s used in my area to explain EPM results where the lab standard says to treat but the local vets don’t treat until a different, much higher, number comes back, especially in the absence of definitive signs.
1 Like
Any horse living where opossums live is probably going to test as having been exposed to EPM, that doesn’t mean they will have clinical signs. Being imported or not isn’t relevant.
7 Likes
The implications of the conversation was that the horses here with more exposure were more resistant and that is why they didn’t treat until the horse had higher titer levels.
1 Like
I believe OP is confusing EPM with EDM.
EDM is associated with low vitamin E as a growing horse and due to common horse keeping practices in Europe vs NA, European horses tend to have less access to fresh pasture as young horses than ones bred here.
8 Likes
That makes way more sense.
3 Likes
You’re calling the entire board of horse people reaching the same conclusion, a very painful conclusion, a pile on?
You need to take a step back, I think. I know how hard that can be. Think of why a whole group of people would say the same thing. Your heart and your brain are at odds, which must be very difficult.
28 Likes
Did you do a blood test? That’s an easy way to know if you’re supplementing for no reason.
One more box to check since a chronic low E level is just overall bad for a horse.
8 Likes
Interesting. I live near a university that was involved in early testing and research, and I’ve never known them to suggest to treatment based on titer levels, only when there were clinical symptoms accompanying titer levels. But I also haven’t had to treat one in many years. I can imagine different vets have different feelings about the tests and treatment. I had just never heard any correlation with imported horses being more susceptible.
I don’t know where you live or what your horse is eating, but if there is a chance of selenium deficiency, blood test for Vit E/Selenium
4 Likes
A PPE is useful but is very basic.
Listen to what you are saying, the first trainer didn’t want to train her, advised you to send her away to a pro. 6 months there and worse behaviour.
People with all sorts of experience call themselves a trainer but again a trainer who says no to riding her. Then you say after 3 months of pro rides, the behaviour worsens again.
Why have her ground manners deteriorated? Just being hard to ride shouldn’t make her hard to handle, is she so scary to ride people are scared of her?
This horse is not responding well to several trainers, is a proven rearer, do not ride her.
All it will take is once and you will be hurt for life.
The real problem is the unpredictableness of the situation. You will think, ah she is fine, hop on her or maybe put your friends child up for a simple slow walk around and bam, over she goes.
8 Likes
I think I did but I’m not seeing them in my outbox. Let me know if you don’t see them and I’ll resend.
When I pulled a blood titer on my horse in December the number that came back was 640 exactly. The lab scale said 95% likely. Vet said they do not consider that something to treat here, not even “positive” really, the number would have to be much higher……insert explanation as to why that included the comparison of the lifetime exposure of horses that live here compared to where the test was developed. The implication being that horses here with exposure from before birth took “more” to become compromised.
Horse has been at a trainer who had treated him for two months already at the time the blood was pulled. Anyway, I’m just saying, I’ve heard the argument.
1 Like
This is one of the hard parts about being responsible for a horse. The hard decisions.
6 Likes
There is more than one kind of pain, one is the physical pain of an injury, or genetic issue, or similar, the other is metal pain. If your mare is so stressed by inconsistency that she needs to be kept to a rigid routine, she is NOT a happy horse. Her reactions are dangerous, to herself and others.
I know you feel piled on, but if I had listened to what the nay sayers were telling me about my bargain buy, then I wouldn’t of ended up in hospital for a month, and spent years getting the body fit, and many more years getting the brain to get over its fear.
My regret, well 2, first, should have sent him on when his explosive behaviour first started. And rather than selling him cheap, with full disclosure, and multiple warnings about him, I should have given him peace. Such a nice horse, until he wasn’t.
22 Likes
