What a wonderful thing 
2 Likes
I’ve had 2 horses with early retirements and let me just say it is incredibly unfair. My first horse was diagnosed with navicular which we managed with a good barefoot trimmer. What I didn’t know and what the vets were unable to diagnose was that she had DSLD. My farrier actually recognized it. She was lame from age 16 onward and eventually the DSLD progressed and she was euthanized.
My next horse, I bought straight from a breeder, thinking I would have better luck. I had this beautiful, conformationally correct, sweet and wonderful horse. I was thrilled. But she started having issues with the canter. Multiple vets looked at her, x rayed her, did injections with no improvement. I gave up on the idea of jumping her or competing her. Then she tied up one day on a trail ride. Just laid down like she was colicking. It was terrifying. By the time we were back at the trail head, she seemed absolutely 100 percent fine. Then it kept happening. The vets drew bloodwork and diagnosed her with pssm type 2 (assumed).
Now I have a wonderful semi retired horse. I wish I could clone her (without the physical issues). She’s brave to the jumps, she’s safe and lovely on trails, good with traffic, dogs, etc. But despite everything i have tried (diet changes, supplements, daily exercise, grass/no grass) we just can’t get her past the 45 minutes of riding without her muscles getting tight. She starts tripping and it’s like her legs get heavy and she can’t lift them up.
To say it is terribly disappointing is an understatement. I have the perfect horse with a faulty body.
7 Likes
This was my fear and why I euthanized when I did. My horses live outside and I couldn’t bear the thought of them going down at night, in the winter, and lying there for who knows how long before someone found him. My neurological horse would fall in summer. Winter was too big a risk.
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