[QUOTE=bigbaytb;8804344]
Gah I was trying not to go into it all. I have done the research and due diligence with various vets.
He gets almost 24/7 turn out with in/out stall and regular pasture turn out.
Retired from a lot of riding, ridden 3 times a week, does hill work etc, poles etc do not help. Mostly 2nd flight, hound walks, staff back up that doesn’t need to do a lot of jumping (not fit enough).
His shivers is not from sugar issues but from injury developed after he fractured his neck in his stall 5 years ago. His hind end slowly became worse, even though he has been on consistent turn out. He is not PSSM, He gets high amounts of Vit. E (platinum performance). Chiro vet doesn’t doubt he has shivers either, but said due to his size and conformation is a predecessor to stifle problems.[/QUOTE]
respectfully, shivers is not caused by injury or past trauma – shivers, the disease, is a cerebellum disorder/neuromuscular disorder. it’s believed at this point that it’s inherited.
my post wasn’t meant to say you were jumping in, but i wanted to figure out what you were doing first to manage the ‘shivers’ and stifle issue.
how much pole work? hill work? how close is “almost 24/7” turnout? how much vit E?
the reason why i parsed apart your text and asked these questions was because the “shivers” and locking stifle together raised some flags for me - it’s totally possible, but usually locking stifles can be somewhat alleviated/fixed by a very strong work regime and estrone. it has to be a real regime, not just walking over poles 2-3x a week. for my horses with stifles, it is 20-30m of polework a day W/T while on estrone, w a 20m hack on hills to warm up/cool down. you’ll see a difference in 6 months, not 6 days.
he’s going to lose condition if he is not worked like he was before.
shivers horses are usually treated on a ‘PSSM type diet’ even though they are not necessarily PSSM. the high fat/high vitE/low starch diet can do a world of good for a horse with shivers, but if yours has an old injury you’re likely looking at some sort of cervical arthritis, not shivers.
for a horse with CA, well, i’d be looking back at that injury to see if that is what is causing the locomotion issues - i’d be upping vit E to at least 5000mu, (our neuro is on 8000, if that is any indication), swapping for a lower than low starch grain, high fat, MSM, and cetyl M and would be talking to the vet about the possibility of injections and inspecting the neck before going to the stifle.
i guess my question would be what have you done so far to fix the stifle, and how long/how much?
locking stifles is sometimes a lack of fitness issue - condition the horse and the issue resolves. it can also be a saddle fit issue. if you guy lost condition, he lost fitness which may have made it worse which may have made the saddle not fit… it’s all an intricate puzzle and makes the guesswork and problem solving that much more frustrating 
so a horse with a genuine locking stifle problem, and not a stifle slipping problem, i put hind shoes on, load them on estrone for 5-10 weeks, and do poles, hillwork, check saddle, add msm and increase vit E. if that doesn’t work, we try injections.
i have RARELY, RARELY seen a horse come back to full work with either the blister or the splitting, so it’s not something i would do on a horse that is semi-retired.
unfortunately, stifles and shivers are two issues near and dear to my heart, having had to bring a few back from such issues and dealing with shivers from both a management and friend aspect.
