EPM Relapse?

[luckycricket123]

I recently sent an email to my horse’s prior connections to let them know how he was doing and mentioned that I was still not riding him due to undiagnosed lameness.

He has been lame for close to year on the LF when tracking right. I am not super familiar with EPM, but when I told his connections, they suggested it might be EPM as they had previously treated him for EPM with success.

Could it really be EPM? His lameness is mild, but that is his most prominent symptom. He’s had no muscle wasting, and the only other symptom I might apply to him is incoordination when walking down hills, but I also thought that might just be whatever his lameness issue is.

I didn’t own him or know him during his original EPM diagnosis and I’ve never had a horse with EPM, but I was under the impression there would be super obvious symptoms and more neuro issues. This horse has had a neuro exam since his issues began with multiple vets present and they didnt think he was neurological.

I called the vet earlier in the week and am still waiting on a return call, so looking for internet answers in the meantime

[goodhors]

EPM signs can be very minor, especially if you know the horse well. Losing his excellent coordination was a sign on our horse. Little things, tripping, refusing to back up, pulling a shoe by stepping on it, nothing dramatic, no loss of muscle. Got him EPM tested to rule it out among other causes. We treated him, he recovered fully, got his coordination back 100%. Treating early seemed to help, much less damage to fix.

Get your horse EPM tested, it will tell you he has it or does not, so you can look for another cause of his problems. Do NOT pay the big bucks for a spinal tap, use one of the MUCH less expensive methods, still very accurate, to detect EPM.

[joiedevie99]

@goodhors

Get your horse EPM tested, it will tell you he has it or does not, so you can look for another cause of his problems. Do NOT pay the big

Definitely possible. If you know the horse well, you can pick up on very subtle changes long before they fail a neuro test. The good news is that when you catch it this early, in my experience, they’re back to normal within the first week of treatment.

[goodhors]

They may ACT normal, but do CONTINUE treatment until medication is finished! Then wait a couple weeks, get him retested to see if you missed any protazoa in his system.

Using Marquis, we did notice a big personality change after the first seven days. He was back to his normal self!! Vet had told us this was a sign the medication was working, had to finish the next 21 day of meds. He was out on pasture with friends but no working him, no riding or driving him, nothing to stress him while taking the meds, per the Vet. For him, this treatment worked.

[luckycricket123]

If it is an EPM relapse, I’m definitely not catching it early. He’s been about the same way for a year, but his old owner only recently suggested EPM if that makes a difference to anyone’s reply

[goodhors]

We have seen two types of EPM. I call it the sudden onset, which is quite dramatic. Horse goes from normal to staggering about, falling, uncontrollable, in a VERY short time. Maybe as little as a couple hours! Husband shod a couple horses for different customers, left, then got a call later from customer canceling the next appointment. Horse had gone into staggering, falling 2 hours after he left. Sudden onset EPM. Vet had come and put the horse down. This area they lived in is well known for EPM.

The other type EPM our horse got, is a slow, insidious type creeping thru the system. Little things are “off”. We first blamed his age, hard working life, causing wear-and-tear issues. But when we all put what we saw together, it was too odd, not normal stuff. This is when I got him tested to find the EPM. Vet looking at horse could not see anything off in movement. Husband had only seen the sudden onset EPM, had not known about the slow kind. Argued horse could not have EPM. COTH had talked a lot about peculiar presentations of EPM, so I knew it could be weird. Stress and life changes lower resistance to protazoa escaping the spinal cord. Horse had a total change in how we used him that year, certainly under a lot of stress. With the relatively minor damage done, caught so early, horse was able to recover very well. Did not stress out again in his new uses as a 4-H and Equestrian Team horse for my daughter over the next seveal years. And he got used hard with no further issues. She entered everything she qualified for! They were able to be a County representative at State 4-H Show a couple years, earned a lot of points for the Equestion Team.