DSLD specialist? i have a mare with the disorder, where is specialist located?
Dr. Kellon is considered the vet who does the main research on DSLD. I emailed her many, many years ago and she gave me some wonderful tips on treating my horse.
My mare was diagnosed via radiographs at LSU by Dr. Gaschen. I believe she did the study on effects of training Paso Finos with DSLD.
I saw other vets and farriers who also had previous experience with DSLD, but Dr. Gaschen and other vets at LSU recognized some of my mare’s strange symptoms, like standing in holes and loose skin. Dr. Kellon helped me with managing her symptoms and I had my mare relatively “sound” for seven years. Most people think of DSLD as the pasterns dropping, but my mare’s symptoms ranged from skin flaking off to heaves-like breathing. I eventually moved her across the country, which helped alleviate a lot of her symptoms. She was on Previcoxx, Adequan injections, and senior feed, and a specialist farrier. By the end, there was absolutely nothing I could do to help her symptoms, however.
The main symptoms to watch are laying down and their neck dropping since the final stage is DSLD attacking the nuchal ligament.
2 Likes
Thank you so much - would you mind PMing me her email if you don’t mind? My mate was also diagnosed via rads last year and is 26 and we also do all the things you mentioned… Equioxx, Adequan, bar shoes, good feed etc and she was immediately retired. We originally suspected it was just a suspensory but then the DSLD was diagnosed so now she is a pasture princess and all I want is to keep her comfortable for as long as possible … she has lots of skin issues, rain rot etc, but also has Cushings so that doesn’t help with her immune system either!!!
3 Likes
My horse had DSLD/ESPA also, and I followed Dr Kellons protocol/advice also.
He was retired comfortably for six years after dx and put down 8 days shy of his 30th birthday, due to colic.
2 Likes
I’m so sorry to hear about all of that. 
DSLD is one of the worst conditions to watch your horse suffer from.
I’m glad Dr. Kellon’s regiment worked for you. I tried the little patties she recommends, but they didn’t help my mare. I put her on chaff/alfalfa and a senior feed (I can’t remember which one;
I had to order it) which helped her with weight; it was really the Previcoxx that helped her pain. I put her down in 2017, and I still have her old prescription bottle in my box of my horse’s things.
the little patties?
They were a supplement recommended by Dr. Kellon. Not sure if they’re still around.
1 Like
Oh hi - I’m here to create controversy! 
Using shampoo is a bad thing (broadly) - aside from what it may or may not do for horses.
The water used to shampoo a horse is a very precious commodity in a great many parts of the world, especially the USA where people use twice as much as other places, so indiscriminate lathering or rinsing of horses is not great.
The plastic used to make shampoo bottles - environmentally very bad, and we now know: barely recyclable at all. Welcome to landfill, or the ocean…
The actual shampoo itself: the chemicals in them end up in our lakes, rivers and oceans and affect the wildlife living there. Hair product company shampoo diatribe
So yeah, bathing retired horses? Avoid. For ALL the reasons. I barely even bathe my gray show horse, so it rips my undies when I see a lot of soapy baths for plain bays at shows 
If you are in an area where water conservation is an issue, one 7 gallon bucket of water and a sponge goes a long ways towards cooling down a horse versus standing in the wash rack running a hose. I read about being limited to one bucket of water during a California drought, and when I tried it on a horse terrified of hoses it did indeed work fine
I feel for you guys in a water conservation area because I have more than a little bit of experience cooling down hot horses in adverse conditions (high humidity, heavily muscled breed and a sport that demands endurance aka combined driving) and that pony would not be the better for it if I had a single bucket. He absolutely does best with the hose and my mister fan, second best is about 4-5 buckets with ice water and alcohol using a feed scoop instead of a sponge and anything below that delays cooling significantly. I’ve done this often enough with a heart rate monitor as well as taking temp/respiration) that I’m solid in this particular set of circumstances. Typically the hose works fastest because our well is deep and it’s COLD, but mostly because I quickly cover his entire body much quicker than any other method, which gives the largest organ (skin) a real headstart in cooling. Then I go back to major vessels for a bit, then back to the total body (skin). It’s served me well for a really hot horse who’s just come in off a marathon or interval training, but that’s the sort of cooling problems most people don’t have to deal with. But if you do, it’s useful to know!
1 Like
Well that’s the thing - in our water conservation area high humidity is not a thing! So cooling horses with less water works due to evaporation
I’d like to say high humidity and water conservation never crossed paths, but I’d be lying. So far it hasn’t been extreme conservation, nothing even close to out west, but Atlanta actually has its own Colorado River type saga that’s been in the federal courts for decades without resolution. Fun stuff!
I just bathed all of the horses that hadn’t gotten a full soapy bath yet this year. They have all been hosed off, but only the ones that really worked got fully bathed, and then not that often since we haven’t shown in a few years. I wanted the deep down grunge/dander/gook off before I started to blanket for the winter. And as far as shampoo? I use dawn dish soap, in a bucket with a sponge, and then a white vinegar rinse to cut the soap. I KNOW that I use less resources than I did when I was a kid and didn’t know any better!
