He was brought out of work for the winter which could mean he lost his topline. If he has kissing spines and lost his topline, that could exacerbate them. Get really good X-rays done with the oblique angles, check hoof angles and hocks. Lots of good suggestions here. It can be difficult to chase down pain causes. Good luck.
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Has he had a neuro exam at all?
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Agree with the EPM suggestion but also sounds similar to shivers in many ways.
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I was going to ask the same question, but you beat me to it!
This is him at his most agitated when trying to rest in his stall. (Excuse the mud monster, he was just in from turnout!)
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He has had a basic neuro exam, but not an in depth neuro yet.
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Iām in the camp suggesting some degree of laminitis - this looks like pain to me.
Maybe you could ask your vet to block his hind feet and see if the behavior changes. If it helps, then xray and look for next therapeutic steps?
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Bless his heart. I donāt have any advice because Iāve never seen anything like it, but I wish you luck and jingles for him. So strange, isnāt it? I hope itās an easy fix.
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Poor fella, I hope you can get to the bottom of it.
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Gosh, poor guy. Itās does look like pain to my inexperienced eye.
In terms of providing him some relief, have you had a bodyworker out or tried something like acupuncture? (If Iāve missed a comment about these options above, my apologies). If thereās a vet in your area who does acupuncture you might get some insights.
This is not intended as a criticism of what youāve done to dateāyouāve clearly tried a lot to diagnose whatās going on. Just another option.
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I see no one has suggested PSSM. It might be worth checking out. Good luck!
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I posted a very similar video (not on COTH) some years ago of a new freebie pony I picked up off Craigslist and wondered what it was - stringhalt, something else? It was off the charts Cushings, and the body soreness and laminitis were significant. He went downhill quickly after the move and change in environment and diet, but recovered once on Prascend. But there was a few moments the week I got him that I thought we might need to euthanize. It took about 10 days for the Prascend to start working and then suddenly he was like a new pony. Bright eyes and walking around (where he had previously been on self-imposed stall rest.
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TL;DR - A couple people suggested testing for Cushingās, and one mentioned laminitis. I would suggest a complete metabolic panel, which would include thyroid, leptin, and insulin, as well as Cushingās.
The following is my experience:
I have an IR pony, and a year ago he ended up with severe laminitis in all four feet. His behavior on the back feet was identical to what your horse is displaying. My vet called it ātreadingā. I had had some problems with the pony the couple years prior when the weather got cold, as that would trigger laminitis episodes. Initially he was on Thyro L, which did help some, but never got his insulin into any kind of registrable range. As a last ditch effort last year, he was put on Metformin, and the results were pretty much nothing short of miraculous. He is 100% sound and can do anything youād want.
In his case the IR created the thyroid issues, sometimes itās the other way around ā thyroid issues will create insulin spikes. You just have to experiment as to which meds will work. On the Thyro L his thyroid tested normal and his leptin decreased, but his insulin never went down. On the Metformin his thyroid and leptin stayed at normal levels, and the insulin started going down into an actual readable range.
Bonus is Metformin is dirt cheap. It is the only med (or supplement) he is currently on.
During that time I did give my pony two grams of bute almost daily, and also some acetaminophen when it seemed like his pain was really bad. I canāt say I saw a huge improvement in his pain levels, but apparently the bute did help the actual inflammation in the laminae, as by the time we x-rayed his feet after he had been stable for quite some time, there was very minimal rotation in the front feet and none at all in the backs. Fortunately he never seemed to develop any digestive issues from it, but had he done so, I wouldāve treated for that in order to continue the bute. And yes, he got bute almost daily for a couple of months, until I was able to finally start tapering him off of it. Which did not take long, as once he was able to go multiple days in between doses, it was very soon after that point that I just took him off completely and he was fine.
FWIW, his ACTH numbers were always in the normal range.
All metabolic tests were done through Cornell.
Sorry for the novel, but all that to say that I did have a pony display the behaviors your horse is exhibiting, and since heād had a few cold weather laminitis episodes prior, we knew what to look for right away.
Good luck, hopefully youāll get answers soon.
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This is a very interesting post. When weāve used Metformin, weāve had to syringe it down their throats. Then their lips blistered badly. How do you get it down them, and what is the dose? Thank you!
This is interesting, thank you for such a detailed account. Was your horse reluctant to move, laying down more than usual, etc that is typical of laminitis? When my guy first started exhibiting the weight shifting and agitated symptoms, my first thought was laminitis bc from all my research it comes up as the most common reason for shifting weight. However the vets and farrier have all dismissed laminitis because he is totally happy to move - he actual prefers to be moving. He is not laying down excessively, and is more than eager to work. Iāve been told that if the source of the pain was laminitic, he would be reluctant to move rather than constantly trying to move. What was your experience with that?
That was my thought as well with laminitic horses. I would think moving would be the last thing he wants to do, and heād be lying down a lot to alleviate the pain in his feet.
I agree with the poster that said colicky. He looks like heās protesting something internal and just trying to get comfortable but canāt.
I had a senior horse who started acting a bit off one day. He was obviously in some sort of discomfort internally and his way of dealing with it was to walk constantly. He couldnāt stand still to eat his meals, and when he tried, heād keep fidgeting and then go for a little walk and return to his feed for a brief moment, get a mouthful, go for a walk. This was NOT normal for this horse (Iād owned him for 22 years at this point).
My guy was 28 and we were going into winter and my vet actually recommended euthanasia when he showed no response to Banamine and was continuing to worsen over a couple of days. I agreed.
Not saying thatās the fate for your boy (not at all!), only that when you talk about him wanting to constantly move around, it reminded me of my guy. By the time we put him to sleep, he was very tucked up in the flank area. Something internal was going on for sure.
Best of luck to you. If only they could talk, right?
Im assuming heās on cement floor and rubber mats. Thatās hard on a horse with mild laminitis to stand on vs outside on dirt. On softer ground it doesnāt hurt as bad therefore more willing to move. Iām assuming your ring has good supportive footing.
Itās probably making him body sore and I bet his hamstrings are crazy tight.
What does he do in a deeply bedded stall or with some pads taped onto the bottom
of his feet? You can get the kneeling pads from Home Depot and have him stand on them, it provides much relief if it is laminitis. Just cut it into 4 pieces and tape to bottom of the foot.
You are correct that he is on cement and rubber mats in the barn. The arena has excellent footing, and he will stand/work normally out there whilst mentally engaged with something. If I just stand with him in the arena doing nothing, once he starts to relax and get sleepy, he starts weight shifting just like in the barn.
Hi @NaturallyHappy. My pony weighs about 850#. He had dropped quite a bit of weight when he went through this last year.
His initial dosage of Metformin was 8 grams twice a day. Iād say heād probably lost close to fifty pounds and was going around 800# then.
Once the pony got the med in his system (two weeks, maybe?), I went to 15 grams once a day which is where he went has been since around last June (2022).
Since he is a pony and a very easy keeper, he does not get much grain. He gets about a pound and a quarter of grain once a day. I use a coffee grinder to grind up ten one gram pills, dampen his grain with about ten milliliters of water, and then mix the Metformin powder in with it. I then dose him with a syringe for the other five grams. Itās typically 11-12 ml. of med and water in the syringe to dose him. I do hold his head up as far as possible to get the (20cc) syringe as far back as possible. Heās very good at using his tongue to block the med. When I feel no tongue resistance, I know I have it back far enough that nothing is going to come forward. I have yet to see any kind of blistering in this ponyās mouth. And he has been getting daily Metformin since the beginning of April 2022.
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