Help! OTTB won't keep his tongue in and displaces while cantering. Any suggestions?

[FrittSkritt]

@Tux61096;7504050

I wondered this with my own horse. He has never made any noise with his breathing nor shown any difficulty handling the low level event training he has been introduced to, but he has always been difficult with his consistency in dressage, UNLESS he is super relaxed, then he is beautiful.

He is 4 weeks post surgery for epiglottic entrapment and a Llewelyn procedure for DDSP. Not sure if he will be able to go forward with event training, but he’s a sweetheart and just plain fun, so I am happy regardless.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=bornfreenowexpensive;7504650]I had one who did this. He’d open his mouth and suck his tongue into the back of his mouth. Sometimes he’d get his tongue over the bit…but most often he’d just cause a displace so he would make a noise.

Then I just IGNORED it. I just rode him and stayed relaxed. He got better about it. I wouldn’t say he stopped altogether…but mostly. I competed him through training level and was about to move up to Prelim when another injury sidelined him. I wouldn’t say it really affected him eventing. I unfortunately lost him this winter to a pasture kick…but I’d take another horse like him in a heart beat.

I think the “trick” is just take you time and work to give them a good solid education. I had talked to me vet about the surgery…but in the end, it really didn’t cause issues. If he had go up past Prelim (like we had all expected) I would have kept a close eye on it to see if we had any issues galloping…but interesting, mine really only did it during dressage. For jumping and galloping…we never really had the issues. Probably because he didn’t get nervous about jumping.

My guy is coming off two procedures for epiglottic entrapment – one last May and a follow-up in November. (Laser first time and scissors the second.) We did a dynamic (under saddle) scope in early November before the second procedure, found nothing (drove me crazy – he’d be all snorky the day before, but not w/the scope in!), but under the standing scope the same day, he was trapping it.

He doesn’t really sound much different even after the second surgery – I hear it mostly at the canter while doing dressage work… the vet thinks he’s flipping his soft palate, but I’ve never had him stop/fling his head/show discomfort. He’s the type to get BTV easily, which I think contributes in a big way. Have never heard him do it while galloping/jumping, though.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

[QUOTE=FrittSkritt;7505037]
My guy is coming off two procedures for epiglottic entrapment – one last May and a follow-up in November. (Laser first time and scissors the second.) We did a dynamic (under saddle) scope in early November before the second procedure, found nothing (drove me crazy – he’d be all snorky the day before, but not w/the scope in!), but under the standing scope the same day, he was trapping it.

He doesn’t really sound much different even after the second surgery – I hear it mostly at the canter while doing dressage work… the vet thinks he’s flipping his soft palate, but I’ve never had him stop/fling his head/show discomfort. He’s the type to get BTV easily, which I think contributes in a big way. Have never heard him do it while galloping/jumping, though. [/QUOTE]

My guy was flipping his soft palate. We were able to see him do it on a scope…but my vet said he was causing it by how he sucked his tongue in. Basically the surgery was an option for him but not a requirement. I guess they scar the soft palate so it isn’t as flexible or easy to flip. It was something interesting like that (and not 100% certain to work)…bottom line, my vet said just continue his training and if he looks like a good event horse and it is still a problem, then we can head the surgery route. Turned out not to be needed for my guy…but it took time.

[FlamingoRider]

[QUOTE=Tux61096;7504050]
I wondered this with my own horse. He has never made any noise with his breathing nor shown any difficulty handling the low level event training he has been introduced to, but he has always been difficult with his consistency in dressage, UNLESS he is super relaxed, then he is beautiful. It just seemed harder than it should of been for him to carry himself in a nice low level frame. Now I know that the more flexed poll position for the dressage work impairs his breathing because he displaces.[/QUOTE]

Tux, what led you to figuring this out? What you wrote fairly well describes an ottb I’m working with.

[Tux61096]

[QUOTE=FlamingoRider;7505422]
Tux, what led you to figuring this out? What you wrote fairly well describes an ottb I’m working with.[/QUOTE]

Short story long. . .
Well, as previously mentioned, I just kept having this feeling that there was something physical that was making the dressage work more difficult for him, but no chiro, massage, vet or dentist found anything out of the ordinary.

An emergency call to the vet late one night for what I thought was a choke gave me my answer. He wasn’t choking, but had entrapped the epiglottis and was displacing his palate. He ended up having to go for surgery ASAP as the entrapment seemed “permanent” and he was unable to eat or drink comfortably/normally. The Llewelyn procedure was an add on to the laser surgery, as the surgeon felt the DDSP needed to be addressed.

In hindsight, I now believe the inconsistencies in his carriage under saddle on the flat stemmed from the DDSP. Have no idea whether he had ever entrapped before, kind of doubt it, given how distressed he was when we discovered it that night.

Good luck with your guy, your regular vet might be able to give you an idea by looking at him with an endoscope.