Working with a few incredible vets in the past few years I have watched so many horses get relief from their treatment. They are wrapping up a formal paper on the subject but they have allowed publication of this teaser article. It works. I had two with Shivers…it was remarkable and they became happy and manageable. I am so excited other horses will now have the opportunity to get some true relief! Thank you Dr. Audrey DeClue and Dr Kathy Seino!
https://thehorse.com/160347/how-a-percheron-mare-turned-me-into-a-researcher/
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Following this with intense interest… my gelding has shivers and PSSM…
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That was a nice ‘teaser’ but no actual useful information. I hope that more data actually will be forthcoming soon.
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Yes in the next week or two…! There will be a website and podcasts available.
following with great interest also!! I am trying PEMF therapy next week for the first time in hopes of helping with residual Lyme soreness and Stringhalt and will be curious if I am on the right track
Not much information as of yet unfortunately. If the study is just being submitted in September, it may take months before it is published.
I was also under the impression that shivers and stringhalt were two separate and distinct diagnoses often confused ??
[I]"I drafted a letter to my clients asking them for help. In the letter I described shivers and stringhalt and the research project I was undertaking to help provide a treatment for these horses. I was brought to tears day after dayand I am not that type of person–as my clients generously donated to the research. They had put their faith in me, as their veterinarian, to help fix their horses when they found no one else could. It was their chance to help me. Thanks to them I collected enough funding to lease a facility, hire staff, purchase supplies and a 3-D Motion Capture Camera System (OptiTrack) and analysis (Visual 3D) software.
By the early spring of 2018, the first group of horses was enrolled in the pilot study, and we finished this summer and sent off the 3D kinematic data for independent unbiased analysis. This was done so that no mistakes were made, since this is definitely not my area of expertise, and was worth every penny spent. We’re currently writing the paper and plan to submit our results to a publication in September."[/I]
OP, please let us know if you hear more?
Very interesting that they are doing that study and maybe will have some answers.
Gads I can’t stand it. This sort of implies a cure of some sort and I just don’t believe it. And what is “manageable” to a vet is very often “still unsound and unrideable” to an owner. How many times have I read of horses “lameness improving 68% after surgery” or other treatment, but the horse is still actually lame and cannot compete and instead of being euthanized will spend the rest of its life on pain med$ in a pa$ture.
Sorry OP: this kind of teaser is a bit cruel without facts. It’s heartbreaking and stressful to have a horse with shivers.
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I appreciate OP’s posting that there may be treatments, but geez, talk about annoying drama, hyberbole and lack of concrete facts or information. It’s hard to believe that Dr. Audrey Declue is a scientist and not a writer of soap operas… “Stay tuned…”
I’m disappointed in The Horse. I’ve come to expect a higher level of quality writing from them.
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I’m very skeptical. 25 horses is not a large sample, and given that we don’t really know the mechanism behind stringhalt or shivers it seems unlikely that it would be that easy to find a treatment for both.
I applaud this vet for taking on the challenge. And as someone with a biomechanics degree I’m happy that she went about it with equipment and software vs the naked eye.
However, as the past owner of a shivers horse I think we’re a very long way from properly treating, let alone curing shivers.
My horse was purchased as a 4yo. TB gelding. He passed a PPE no problem. Several months later he started to hold the hing leg up a little more when having his feet picked out. By the time he was 6 he had a hitch even at the walk. He was given to an experienced friend to be turned out 24/7 and trail ridden until he was no longer comfortable doing even that.
Diet and medication made no difference. Turnout in a 10 acre hilly field was probably the only thing that kept him going as long as he did.
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Most larger studies have started with a smaller study. Don’t discount this one just because it’s “only” 25 horses 
We need details to see what really went on. This includes how the conditions were diagnosed, how many of them were dietary in nature, the true disease, shivers as a symptom of PSSM, or what.
We do know that these are both neurological diseases so it’s not out of the realm of possibility that one type of therapy could be used in different ways to reduce symptoms. Just throwing that out there.
I really look forward to seeing more of this study :yes:
Website is up with minimal content today. The podcasts posted tell a little more. Please be patient. This treatment is real…It worked on my horses and I have seen videos of the percheron mare she talks about as well as other horses. If you have a horse that needs help contact her. She is an amazing advocate for the horse. https://declue-equine.com
Any update with respect to this?
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When you look at studies on say, PubMed, they are very specific without giving away their exact formula. For example, the study will say that it is a protease inhibitor and the abstract will describe the study size and a few other details.
The fact that this person keeps coyly referring to her “treatment” without giving any indication of what it is in a general way makes it sound like snake oil. It would be much more professional, in my opinion, if she would describe her treatment for what it is: a dietary supplement, a physical therapy protocol, a vaccine, a Lorenzo’s Oil type of discovery, or even a combination of diet and exercise with an honest assessment of the limits of the protocol and its expectations.
A “new paradigm of thinking” is just another vague teaser and sounds like something that will not lend itself to the rigors of science. I am still a skeptic.
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Color me skeptical too. There are plenty of vets out there conducting research and sharing their results without the dramatic teasers or the outsized plea for donations on their page.
Dr. DeClue should also be very careful about referring to her approach as a “treatment”. The FDA requires clinical safety and efficacy results before these claims can be made and the product marketed. That is why supplements, which don’t require safety and efficacy data prior to marketing, often use words like “support”.
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I’m curious, but skeptical.
My horse was part of Dr Valberg’s research. The outcome of her research I find was pretty astounding and comprehensive.
I’d encourage anyone interested in fully understanding where shivers originates in the body so to speak, to watch this presentation, very informative.
In summary the neurons in the cerebellum are enlarged/swollen and chronically inflamed, that is the case with shivers, not with stringhalt, so I’d be surprised a cure for shivers would be the same as for stringhalt.
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We have a horse that my vet referred to Dr Declue to be part of this study. We were very excited about it, I talked to Dr Declue and she was so encouraging and really wanted to have him in the study. She said she wanted to come out and meet him first to see what she would be dealing with and how sever his Shivers would be. She said she would be in contact to set up a time to come out and meet him. I waited a couple of weeks (she had said she was gathering more info/finalizing details and would be in contact within a couple of days). After not hearing back from her, I talked to my vet to see if she had heard anything. She told me she thought the study was going ahead and one of her other clients had had a visit from her and was all set. So I contacted Dr Declue again, thinking maybe she had just gotten sidetracked.
She indicated she was still very interested in having our horse participate, apologized for the delay and set up to come out right away. I called my husband to leave work early so he could be there too (it’s his horse). He rushed home to be here and then I got a text that she was running behind with another client and would have to set up our appointment a different day. She said she would contact us in a few days.
Again, after over a week had passed, I left her a message just saying we were still very interested in the study and wanted to make sure she had us on our radar for re-scheduling the meeting. She texted back and said basically she is rarely in our area, she hasn’t forgotten and she will contact us when she was able to come out. I got the distinct vibe that my contacting her to check in was annoying her, so I texted her back to apologize and tell her we would wait on her to contact us. That was in I believe march or April. Never heard anything after that.
I talked to our vet this summer, thinking the study had been put off (there had already been one delay) and was surprised to learn that her other client had been delivered to the farm they were doing the study at. We are pretty disappointed that after talking to her and having her so excited about our horses case, she basically blew us off. I guess she was able to fill her study and didn’t need our horse? But the fact remains that he has an odd case of what seems to be fairly advanced Shivers and our vet was very anxious for him to be included. Dr Declue herself gave no indication in our initial conversation of anything other than excitement to meet him and interest in his case. So I am not sure what changed, but we are pretty sad that he didn’t get a chance to get this therapy, whatever it might be.
So that’s my very brief experience with the Shivers treatment. I have heard amazing things about the results, but as others here have said, I have no idea what all is involved in the treatment.
This is at best pseudo-science, and at worst a flat out scam…
If any of the findings from this so-called ‘study’ are even remotely legitimate, I would very much like to see them published in a respected academic, peer-reviewed veterinary journal. Until then, it has about as much credibility as a dietary supplement someone is hawking on Facebook that will help you lose 25lbs overnight.
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But that outcome is a secret?
That alone makes me think that any possible treatment is on the snake oil vs science end of the spectrum.
IOW, who asks for donations to support their research but is then secretive about what that research is?
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A long time ago, someone posted their success story treating string halt, with supplements and a specific rehab exercise program.
Anyone remember that?
