One Rein Struggles & Anxiety - Mysterious Hind End Issues

[EventingMaff]

TB’s are more likely to have PSSM2 vs PSSM1 (neither is impossible, but statistically more likely to be PSSM2). If you want to diagnose-through-treatment, I would add magnesium and protein to his diet, give it ~2-3 weeks and see if you see any improvement. Some PSSM2 horses do not do well on high-fats / oils…so you may want to do some googling on the cocosoya oil.

For protein, there are different ways to add it but you want complete amino acids. Purina SuperSport is an easy add but a bit more expensive (would want upper end of dosage amounts). A bit messier is buying Whey Protein Isolate off Amazon in a 5lb tub and making up a protein shake to add to beet pulp / soak his grain in. My mare gets a handful of ration balancer so not enough hard feed to soak it up, so I use beet pulp as a carrier for her.

FYI that my mare gets a scoop of Purina SS in the AM plus a full scoop of Whey Isolate protein powder and that combined with Vit E (~5000 IU daily) and Magnesium (I keep her on a loading-level dose) has her moderate PSSM2 symptoms well managed.

[Ottbaxel]

This is super helpful, thank you! He is on about 5k IU daily of Vit E already. I put him on Magnesium through the winter with no obvious results that I can recall, but we’ve done so many different things to try and make him comfortable since then, it is worth a shot again along with changing his feed.

[Ottbaxel]

Follow up thought-and this is going off topic from the original post, but! I am now curious.

I have a second gelding that has always had problems. I’ve owned him since he was 12, and he turned 17 this year. Shortly after I got him we discovered that his hocks were fusing. They were injected. Later on, we discovered he has a bone spur in his neck. It was injected. Later still, we discovered he had navicular…later still, he came down with headshakers. Yada yada, you get the point. In the end, after spending a lot of money to try and get him comfortable to event, I decided to slow things down for him and get a second horse to event with (hence my frustration over the second horse being more of a medical mystery than the first). This 17 year old gelding now is half leased out at my barn, and is still ridden 6 days a week but much lighter. Jumping every once in a while, mostly flatwork, trail rides and a gallop around the track sometimes for fun.

I will not go down the rabbit hole for this gelding again-seeing as I can’t afford it, he’s getting older, and he never seemed to love showing anyways. BUT discovering the NPA in my second gelding and doing the research on it makes me wonder about this guy having the same issue. He is very easily back sore, very easily sore in the SI and his hind end in general. He’s definitely creaky in his hocks which is unsurprising given the fusion. He has windpuffs on his hind legs pretty bad-has had them for years, is never lame from them, they aren’t hot, so I don’t worry too much about them.

Perhaps he could have NPA in his hind feet too…maybe it could be putting extra stress on his hind end, hence making it harder to keep him comfortable?

[trakehners]

That wouldn’t surprise me, honestly. Nobody in my barn (my trainer included) really paid attention to NPA as a thing until I went down the rabbit hole with my horse, and now it’s a standard part of the diagnostics for any of our horses if they’re presenting with back/hind end issues. My trainer’s OTTB was negative on all four feet when she picked him up last year and correcting that was a big part of helping him let go of the body soreness from track life.

From my understanding, SI soreness is usually secondary to some other issue. I have nothing other than my own anecdotal experience but I truly would not be surprised if that soreness is driven by NPA for a lot of horses. People just don’t think to look at it which is unfortunate because, as far as diagnostics go, farrier films are pretty darn cheap. I’ve concluded that I’m never buying a horse again without them and I’ll never go more than a year without having a set taken. If I had done it five years ago I’d be in a completely different place with my horse.

[Ottbaxel]

Well I finally got the guy’s feet redone a few days ago. His toe was trimmed a lot more than usual, and he got a shoe put on that is thicker in the heel than the toe to help out. We are going to take updated rads next week-I am sure it’s not going to immediately be fixed but I am hoping it will look a little bit better at least, so I can know we’re on the right track.

In the meantime, I’m pondering how I want to try and bring him back. I don’t really know how long it will take for the soreness from the NPA to go away (assuming this fix will be enough to begin the process of healing his sore spots) but I am assuming it will take a while. I’m going to talk to my vet-not sure about giving him a lot of time off before trying anything, or trying light lunging for a while, or hacking for a while, or some sort of slow rehab program, OR throwing in a few magnawave/acupuncture/something to try and help the soreness along. I’ll see what she says!

He did test negative for PSSM1.

[fivestrideline]

@Ottbaxel

His toe was trimmed a lot more than usual, and he got a shoe put on that is thicker in the heel than the toe to help out

Any frog support? Or is this just an open heel shoe with a wedge?

Having done the NPA thing (dealing with one now, though not as severe a case as yours), they really need support to build that digital cushion which raises the heels. This can be done barefoot, in boots, or with various shoe/pad combos. Leaving no support for the back of the foot and it will simply encourage more collapse - you will likely be stuck in wedges forever. Additionally, wedging a bad trim just puts incredible strain on the suspensories, so you have to make sure the whole package is working together.

@Ottbaxel

I don’t really know how long it will take for the soreness from the NPA to go away (assuming this fix will be enough to begin the process of healing his sore spots) but I am assuming it will take a while. I’m going to talk to my vet

Definitely talk to the vet. If you can get his feet in a spot that makes him comfortable, exercise is usually good for them to help build better posture and muscle strength. Turnout helps too, as horses need movement to move blood through their feet and legs (which helps build stronger tissues). He likely would benefit from some soreness support like bodywork or robaxin (talk to your vet!), but lots of gentle walking will do him wonders.

I’m dealing with NPA now on one of mine - he may end up in a wedge but we just found a shoe that seems to make him comfortable. It will depend on how much we can trim the toe on his next cycle.

[Ottbaxel]

Yes! There is a pad for the frog as well-I’m honestly not sure the name of the pad my farrier used but it isn’t the same as the frog support pads he had the last cycle. My farrier said the same thing, that with the new shoe the heel would collapse unless he had a pad. Hopefully this setup works.

He is on Robaxin already so hopefully that helps him along too. I’ll see what my vet says when I speak to her within the next day or two!

[fivestrideline]

Great! Sounds like you’re on the right track!

[Ottbaxel]

I sure hope so! Going to start hacking him today. Hopefully that will help him out too-luckily his back isn’t sore so I feel ok sitting on him, and we have some flatter spots to start out as well.

[trakehners]

Walking is definitely your friend here! I exclusively walked my horse for about two weeks (in addition to his regular turnout) after he got his wedge setup put on to give his body time to adapt to it. We did hack out so it wasn’t just circles in the arena, but kept it slow and avoided any steep slopes to start (I live in western PA so we don’t really do “flat” here).

Bear in mind that it might take a few weeks when you start trotting, etc., for him to adapt to that too. My horse felt NQR at the trot both directions every ride for a couple of weeks as he started figuring out that he could push from behind, and the only way to fix that was to just ride him through it. It took less and less time every ride for him to figure it out. Obviously you don’t want to push too much but in his case it felt markedly different from how he feels when he’s actually lame which is why I kept going.

As a data point, I had my horse back in 30-minute lessons about a month and a half after changing his setup, but we took it very slow (first few weeks in lessons were w/t only) and didn’t go back to full hour lessons/rides til a few months after he got the wedges because he needed time to build up muscle for his new way of going and really wouldn’t last longer than 30 minutes prior to that. YMMV on that though.

[Ottbaxel]

That’s super super helpful info, thank you!!

We put him on equioxx for a couple of days to help him through the soreness as well-yesterday I kept close to the barn while hacking (figured first day he may be wild) which meant he did a few hills but since he remained pretty level-headed, I’m going to actually hack him out today. Probably going to get him started on ulcergard for a little bit as a preventative for the equioxx, and in case the pain has been giving him ulcers. It’s always one thing after another! lol.

[Ottbaxel]

Interesting find last night-I took my guy out for another hack yesterday (I was short on time so hacked around the edges of our outdoor and the fields near the barn, so still a touch hilly but very minimal). Doesn’t feel crazy different under saddle but when I palpated his hips afterwards it was the first time in months that his SI region didn’t spasm. I’m sure this was helped along with the equioxx, but it did leave me pretty hopeful. He has some sores on the points of his hips so he’s been especially sensitive when I palpate them. He shies away because of the sores AND his whole lower back dips typically. I am really hoping that this is a result of the shoe change on top of the equioxx, and that once he’s off it he’ll still seem alright.

Going to have to get him started on some ulcer meds too though-he was especially angry getting girthed up lol.

[Ottbaxel]

Ugh! Had new rads taken today because my vet wanted to check in after his shoe job. She also watched him go under saddle at the trot to see how he looked, and he is off slightly on the left hind.

That’s a bummer but not shocking-however, what I am more bummed about is that despite much more of the toe being taken off in the last shoeing and the “wedged” shoe, he’s only less negative by 1°. Don’t get me wrong, I did not expect him to be suddenly neutral or positive, but I expected him to be hovering around -1 or -2 ish considering just the shoe alone should have made a difference of a degree or more. What the heck?! Is this a farrier issue, or were my expectations way too high?

[trakehners]

The wedge shoes don’t usually offer more than a degree or two of correction so it may partially be a farrier issue but those really do have a limit on how much relief they can provide. We had to put my horse in a four-degree wedge pad with frog support to get him truly neutral to start. We’re talking about putting him in the wedge shoes this winter to encourage a little more heel growth but he’s also not four degrees negative at this point.

Do you know if there’s a reason why your farrier is using a wedge shoe rather than a regular shoe with an actual wedge pad?

[Ottbaxel]

Yeah, I guess I was just expecting that taking off the toe and putting a wedge shoe on would together make at least a 2 degree difference. Bummer!

My vet didn’t want to do a wedge because they are worried that it will put strain on his suspensories. My farrier was asked specifically not to do a wedge pad, so he went out and grabbed the wedge shoe instead (which honestly, I was not expecting but was open to it when he showed it to me).

[fivestrideline]

@Ottbaxel

My vet didn’t want to do a wedge because they are worried that it will put strain on his suspensories. My farrier was asked specifically not to do a wedge pad, so he went out and grabbed the wedge shoe instead (which honestly, I was not expecting but was open to it when he showed it to me).

Huh. There are many roads to Rome, - your vet is right that a wedge can strain the suspensories, but your farrier is also right that this severe NPA usually needs intervention to correct. Personally I’ve had the most luck if the vet and farrier work together, and a wedge shoe vs wedge pad is still, well, a wedge.

Some vets are very good with hooves. Some not so much. Some farriers are very good, some not so much. Unfortunately that leaves the owner having to make judgement calls on who to trust or what to do for their horse. It’s tough!

I also wanted to say that a horse that is so backsore he drops/spasms is EXTREMELY backsore. The girthiness could be strictly ulcers OR it could be him telling you that weight on his back HURTS. Personally I wouldn’t be riding that (in fact, I have one that is retired because of that exact presentation of back pain). However, these guys usually do need some sort of exercise to keep themselves together.

I just want to encourage you to take a hard look at your exercise program and make sure you aren’t being unfair. I would be handwalking, doing ground exercises like poles and backing, carrot stretches, EquiCore, etc. Maybe walk hacks for a while if he’s able to do those without such back or girth soreness.

Are you still riding this horse wtc? He likely needs time to adjust to his new hoof angles (I would personally be wedging), rest and stretch out the soreness, and teach him that things aren’t going to hurt. If he hurts - somewhere - every time you ride, you’ll be actively undoing the good of the trim/equioxx/etc.

[Ottbaxel]

@fivestrideline

I also wanted to say that a horse that is so backsore he drops/spasms is EXTREMELY backsore. The girthiness could be strictly ulcers OR it could be him telling you that weight on his back HURTS. Personally I wouldn’t be riding that (in fact, I have one that is retired because of that exact presentation of back pain). However, these guys usually do need some sort of exercise to keep themselves together.

I agree with you there, but most of his back palpates fine. Everything the saddle touches doesn’t react to palpation at all-it’s his lower back past the cantle that reacts, and it’s only when you palpate around the point of his hip that shows a reaction. Even palpating his SI directly doesn’t cause much of a reaction at all, so it seems to be whatever muscle runs between the SI and point of his hip-hence why I’m still riding him. That could totally be part of the reason why he’s so girthy still but he is prone to ulcers as well so I’m not going to take any chances. Since it’s his hind end that’s mostly sore and not his back, he was having too tough of a time with backing up and the Equicore, so I have set those aside for now but am still doing stretches.

As for the wedge shoe, I agree with that too-a wedge is a wedge whether it’s a pad or a shoe. I think my farrier heard “no wedge pad” and took that a little too literally and thought wedge shoe didn’t count. Either that, or perhaps the give to a pad can be worse on the suspensories than the shoe? I am unsure. We might trailer him into the clinic and have a different farrier do him there.

As for riding, no. He has had I think 3 ish weeks off at this point, maybe slightly less. The past three days I have hacked him for about 15 minutes on mostly flat grass by the barn. Yesterday we trotted just because my vet was at the barn and wanted to check in and see how he looked-but he is going to just keep doing the short hacks on the buckle until anything else changes.

Edited to add: When he is back sore under the saddle itself he makes it pretty clear-won’t stand to mount, walks off super humpbacked and hops around when you put your leg on. If he were doing this I wouldn’t be on his back, but he’s been standing quietly until I ask him to walk on and then walks off quietly too, so I think he’s fine for hacking.

[fivestrideline]

@Ottbaxel

Everything the saddle touches doesn’t react to palpation at all-it’s his lower back past the cantle that reacts, and it’s only when you palpate around the point of his hip that shows a reaction. Even palpating his SI directly doesn’t cause much of a reaction at all

Think of it like humans with sciatica (if you’ve never had it, it can be anything from vague background pain to excruciating). Sure, the pain is in the hip and leg, but you would find backpacking or carrying a kid around on your back very painful. You’d compensate in ways that strain other structures in an effort to just get the job done.

Again, I’m not saying that riding him is bad. I’m just saying that your description of his reaction is by no means minor - the lumbar spine is directly impacted by riding and the SI is quite hard to palpate even for a vet. My horse has KS mostly under the saddle, but it’s always been his lumbar area that’s the most reactive. Deferred pain is still pain.

I would still recommend lots of hand walking and core work from the ground while you get the ulcers and feet under control, and it seems that the wedges/equioxx at least took some pressure off his hind end. That’s good! It may be no time at all before he’s comfortable to rehab into full work.

[Mounted]

It seems like the challenges with your horse began very soon after you bought him (which I’m sure makes the whole situation extra frustrating). I apologize if this has been discussed already, but was he already consistently doing the job you are asking of him, or has this been a career change for him? I’m asking because I might approach or investigate things differently if the horse suddenly developed discomfort and resistance in the job at which he’d previously been successful, vs. if he was struggling to take on a new job.

[Ottbaxel]

Well, he didn’t have much show experience but he was trained as an event horse-then life got in the way, and he sat for a bit. He had been brought back into work for about a month before he came to me.