Please please please, do not get on this horse again until you have figured out what is going on. A horse at the barn I am currently boarding at fell once, his rider ignored it, and she ended up very hurt. The problem ended up being a neuroligical problem. Unfortunately, the horse had a seizure going over a jump and fell on his rider. She is now in a full body cast for at least 6 months. Your safety should come first…
SarStart for Horses
I have heard about a product called SarStart. You should check it out. Sounds like it may help your problems.
http://www.sartec.com/epm.html
Good luck,
Rozenjaw
Rozenjaw,
The product you mentioned is not an approved EPM treatment. While it won’t hurt, if the horse truly has EPM, it’s not gonna cure it.
To the OP, there is yahoo group for EPM horse owners and have been on it
for years (Basque is a recovered EPM horse). There is wealth of info and
folks who have been down the EPM road more than once. The site is
www.epm@yahoogroups.com. The listowner’s website (www.meadowherbs.com) has a wealth of EPM info–including what is a
neuro exam, list of epm guru vets at the universities, etc., more info than
you can digest at one sitting.
Good luck with your guy. Can’t believe the owner didn’t have a vet out after
watching you fall and then after hearing of a second fall, refused to get one
out. Unbelievable!
Two porblems with that.
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No proof the stuff works to “help” horses with EPM, merely speculation.
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We don’t even know what’s wrong with the horse in question. There is no diagnosis at present.
The vet needs to be called immediately.
I’d test for neuro things and also look into SI problems…
I agree 100%. MANY of us have been poor college students at one point. If $$ is the reason you are not calling the vet…then drop the lease if the owner will not pay for the vet call. I would NEVER call my vet and tell them to just rule out this or that. I call them and tell them what happened, what I’m feeling and let them look at the horse. At each step of the exam, they will let me know our options as to what they are thinking/seeing, what tests they want to run etc. They understand about costs but horses are expensive. What could be wrong with this horse? As all these posts have said…nothing to something very serious… and I doubt you will get any useful info from the internet (UNTIL you have a diagnosis…then you can do more research).
It isn’t her horse so she can’t tell the owner what to do as far as vet care and even if she had lots of money to spend on someone else’s horse…suffice it to say I completely understand where the OP is coming from. It DOES help to try to pin down some possible areas to investigate having watched this scenario on someone else’s horse before. Not everyone can afford to say “check everything and damn the expense!” because “he falls down” doesn’t rule out very much.
My instinct is that given the circumstances you may not be able to find out what is wrong with this horse and you probably should give up the lease sooner rather than later. Sorry this has happened and I hope both you and the horse are feeling better soon and that he gets the care he needs.
No one is saying the OP SHOULD spend her own money on this horse…or damn the expense. Just that with the vague description…a VET looking at the horse can give more thoughtful guidance in narrowing things down. I have never had a vet say damn the expense when looking at strange issues…and TRUST me…my horses have had some weird freak things go wrong with them. They do an initial exam and then we make decisions on what the next step of diagnosis will or will not be. But a BB is not the place to try and solve what is wrong with this horse. A good sports vet taking at least an initial look is…and since the owner will not spend the money…the OP is in a tough situation. If it was me…I would terminate the lease.
Precisely. Which is why giving the vet a shopping list won’t work.
You don’t understand how medicine is practiced, maybe?
Owner/lessee presents an animal.
Gives signalment and history.
Veterinarian then performs a thorough hands on physical examination.
Who knows? Maybe the horse has a heart condition.
With the history presented, this would probably also include a basic neurologic examination which would include evaluation of the cranial nerves, proprioception, coordination, etc. Nothing fancier than a penlight needed for that.
A basic examination of the musculoskeletal system would consist of examination at rest, palpation, observation of the horse in motion, plus or minus flexion tests. Nothing fancier than a longe line and a pair of hoof testers needed for that one.
At that point, you take the findings, add them to the information from the history, and formulate a list of likely differential diagnoses.
Then you go over this with the owner/lessee, and explain what would be involved to rule in/rule out the ddx on the list, how much these procedures/tests would cost, what the risks might be, and what the treatment for the various ddx’s might be.
After this discussion, you decide, based on finances, likelihood, risks, benefits, etc. where to go.
You don’t call the vet and say, “I’d like you to come out and see this horse, but I only want you to look for EPM, locking stifles, and Eurasian milfoil infestation.”
If you have gone through the above initial steps, you may well decide, ased on the physical examination, to only test for milfoil infestation and not powder post beetle dementia, but that’s after the basic exam.
It’s medicine, not ordering off a takeout menu…
—"You don’t call the vet and say, “I’d like you to come out and see this horse, but I only want you to look for EPM, locking stifles, and Eurasian milfoil infestation.”
If you have gone through the above initial steps, you may well decide, ased on the physical examination, to only test for milfoil infestation and not powder post beetle dementia, but that’s after the basic exam.
It’s medicine, not ordering off a takeout menu…"—
Hmmm. Never heard of “Eurasian milfoil infestation” or “powder post beetle dementia”.
Sounds interesting. Any more on that, maybe some links?
:lol: 
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:
exam
Any vet should know how to do and interpret a neuro exam. Circles, tail pulls for balance, direction changes, etc., should be part of an exam for a horse that falls or stumbles.
How old is the horse?
My teenage gelding stumbles if his hocks are sore/stiff, toes too long, etc. Oral supplements and Adequan helps with the hocks as does easing his breakover with trimming, shoeing.
Lyme disease is another source of joint problems that could lead to decreased range of motion and balance problems.
