DW, as always thank you!! 
Cleared up a lot of my confusion without having to spend hours looking things up.
My horse was also diagnosed with sidewinders - it has been 3 years now and it happened overnight - he was fine and then he was severely crooked and unable to walk straight. I appreciate all the posts here because I have not found any information on it in any other location. I have found exercise has helped. Previcox did not. He takes 2 or 3 bute a day. Iâve tried HA/MSM/Chondroitin/Glucosamine. He cannot have steroid injections because he has Cushings and to make matters worse his laminitis flared up last spring so we couldnât exercise. His biggest problem right now is that he cannot get up when he lays down, so every 7-14 days we have to go get him up. He is 33 years old. He is more lame now, but still has interest in everything and energy most of the time. When he is less crooked we are starting to exercise again. I would appreciate if anyone knows anymore about sidewinders. Most horses in my area have not done well - mine is one of only two that werenât so bad they had to be put down. I will definitely try the Platinum Performance, just because it has been recommended twice to me, but I donât put much stock in supplements anymore. Also he was tested for EPM, vitamin e and selenium deficiencies - all negative.
This was helpful to read. I have a horse with sidewinders. I just posted more today.
So sad, Sagamorgan. If heâs having trouble getting up, it may be time to say goodbye. Iâve watched two friends go through this process with their older horses as their mobility became compromised and they had trouble getting up from the ground.
The horses were putting up a brave front, were still alert and happy â but were becoming hazards to themselves and others due to their deterioration.
Being unable to rise is the biggest fear of any prey animal. If it happens once, that is one thing. More than once, you absolutely must let him go, it is inhumane to do otherwise. Godspeed.
Where I come from, we call âsidewindersâ a bad case of Old Horse.
Most commonly seen in those over 30, my vet attributes it to a case of general spinal/neurological degeneration caused by Pure Old Age. She usually has me give high doses of Banamine to see if that has any effect, which it pretty invariably doesnât. Sometimes they become severely ataxic very quickly once this appears, so have your arrangements in order.
Nature calling his name, Iâm afraid . . . 
I had a mare with the OPâs described symptoms, including leaning on walls. It got to the point where I had to put her down, as she was very uncomfortable. An extensive post-mortem came up with signs of EPSM, and no problems in the spinal column at all. We canât be 100% sure if EPSM was the cause of her problems, but it was the only thing they found.
One strange one Iâve heard lately was a youngish QH, only about age 10, who was kept on a dry lot and repeatedly showed symptoms like this. Negative for EPM, he was X-rayed for everything Tufts could think of (negative), tested for Lyme and other tick-borne variants (treated even though negative), and finally on the eve of throwing in the towel and putting him down somebody got the idea to test him for Vitamin E deficiency. Well, my friend (the owner) got a EUREKA!! call in the middle of the nightâhe was more deficient than anything theyâd ever seen!
Basically, they pushed him TONS of Vitamin E and have been ever since and he made about a 90% recovery; heâs back in light work. Whether itâs a genetic mal-absorption problem peculiar to him, or a result of not enough green grass, it was enough for me to start supplementing anyone who looks even a LITTLE shaky on their pins with Vitamin E in the winter. Which at my place is a subset of the thirtysomethings. Anyway, another idea to keep in your âtool box.â
more on sidewinder
My 28 y/o Appdx. QH mare was recently diagnosed with likely sidewinder. My barn vet consulted with Amy Johnson, DVM at New Bolton, who told him that the only published literature on the syndrome is her summary in the Orsini & Divers âEquine Emergenciesâ book. For those who were looking for more info, Google lets you view the relevant pages if you search for âEquine Emergencies sidewinder.â The science of the syndrome is still in its infancy, though. And the prognosis is not good. 
Lisa
Why does everyone here with a ârecently diagnosedâ case of sidewinder making their first post on COTH?
1 Like
[QUOTE=smay;7472069]
Why does everyone here with a ârecently diagnosedâ case of sidewinder making their first post on COTH?[/QUOTE]
Perhaps because itâs fairly rare and this is one of the first things that pops up when itâs googled?
Just checked and it is THE first result.
https://www.google.com/search?q=sidewinder+disease+in+horses&oq=sidewinder+disease&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l2j69i61l2.4854j0j7&sourceid=chrome&espv=210&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8
[QUOTE=smay;7472069]
Why does everyone here with a ârecently diagnosedâ case of sidewinder making their first post on COTH?[/QUOTE]
Sorry, didnât mean to intrude or offend. When I was searching for info (yes, Google brought me here) I saw how little is out there, and when my vet pointed me to the one published veterinary (not marketing) write-up I thought that it might help others if I added to the thread. I apologize.
Lisa
Certainly not my first post and my 27 year old just got diagnosed today. Acute onset yesterday. Walking sideways in from the pasture and leaning on the stall wall. Vet did a physical exam and my horse does not appear to be in any pain and is actually better today. (no longer leaning on walls). My horse does have Cushings and was diagnosed with suspected EMND disease about the same time that he began treatment with Prascend. He was put on Elevate vitamin E and he made an excellent recovery. He is going to be on stall rest with hand walking until we are sure he can keep his balance out in the pasture. He will be on a gradually tapering bute therapy as well as a greatly increased dose of Vitamin E. My horse is bright with a good appetite. We will see how long we can keep this at bay.
My Horse was recently diagnosed with Sidewinder. She is 32 years old and was put on Prascend last July. She was fine and sound at that time but the vet though it would help her with lameness issues in the future. She became very lame in Mid-November. I am wondering if this sudden extreme weakness lameness in the hind end could be a side effect from the Prascend. Does anyone else have a horse who was diagnosed with Sidewinder within 6 months of starting Prascend? Justing wondering if there could be a connection.
this is a very old thread. Youâre best off starting a new thread with your question clearly in your heading. then people will read and respond to your question, not the OP question.
Thread is about a âsyndromeâ, so it will be broad an speculative. Still not much out there on Sidewinders Syndrome. My horse was diagnosed âsidewindersâ Oct 2017. The vet had tears in her eyes. Yet, my horse had a similar presentation winter 2016, though not as scary. We thought a pasture accident at that time. Then(2016) he had a âwindsweptâ stance with sore muscles and ribs. We lucked out that a vet was willing to come out and do acupuncture. It helped, and I put in a lot of time(jeopardized my job because I was so tired) developing his core muscles and adding supplements. He got to where he was doing his ground eating extended canter and jumping down gullies free of riders weight. His horse pal kept him walking in the turn-out without excessive harassment. My acupuncture vet moved back to California. I moved to an area with many excellent vets. Within 2 wks of being at his new (previous) barn, my horse went full blown âsidewindersâ. I watched him in the field as another horse harassed him and made my horse pace back and forth along the fenceline sideways. My horse also has an extreme asymmetrical eating stance. I do believe ataxia is an âold horse thingâ because of loss of muscle tone, old injuries(including training), lack of feed utilization, exacerbated asymmetry and drop in immunity. So, I had a bit of steroid injected into his bad knee (which ends up in the system⊠Just ask a human who gets these injections) to lower inflammation and had another primo acupuncture vet use his knowledge a few days later. The horse walked off 20 mins later more straight than he had been in years(and straighter than a lot of working horses)! Again, my horse went into being able to beat most other horses down the fencelineâŠThen, a bizarre relapse. I had my vet check for EPM(serum only). My horse had a 97% correlation with EPM. Let me just say that the sampling vet was not buying âan EPM componentâ. The attitudes of trainers, vets and stable clients were very hard to endure. At a point, I even wondered if their egos were unhappy with my horseâs progress⊠Like âWowâ progress! I have since moved my horse to a different, more supportive stable. Seems like there are other components that can add up: kissing spines, neck trauma and false dandelion. EPM and false dandelion can give similar presentations of stringhalt and difficulty swallowing. EPM should be done CSF vs serum ratio if possible(often the horse canât get on a trailerâŠso try empirical ). It cannot hurt to increase thiamine(in brewers yeast) and Vit E (Elevate/Nano-E). So, yes, I give my horse a lot of herbal anti-inflammatories and selected supplements. There comes a point when âshotgun tacticsâ work. The Chinese acupuncture (electro) still is a big part of maintenance. Also, Dr. Kerry Ridgeways DVDs on asymmetry. Mark Depaolo will also give great advice on spinal health. Dr.Reilly of the âequinemedsurgâ site is very âcutting edgeâ. Dr. Valberg and one of my acupuncture vets mentioned Vit B for false dandelion toxicity. There is a lot of denial going on about the false dandelion. My horse is doing rather well, yet I was patronized during all of his recovery and the barn owner at the time dropped the ball regarding my horsesâ EPM treatmentâŠIf I had been using Navigator, such lack of knowledge could have hurt my horse. She made up excuses and waited a bit before asking me to leave her barn after I would not apologize for her screw up. My vet did not even have the guts to stand by me. No, I did/said nothing provocative and consider such people to be immoral. I could not believe the expectations that I turn my horse out in a group while still wobblyâŠThen I was shamed as if I was denying him ultimate happiness(so he can be run into a corner,slip and fallâŠReally?). I even wonder if their attitude was due to the fact that they could not rehab their own horses. Be prepared for push-back if you choose to dedicate yourself to recoveryâŠBut, good things can happenâŠYou can see your horse happily grazing in a normal stance and be able to walk,trot and canter expressively and properly. I am hoping to try him under saddle soon.
My horse was diagnosed with sidewinders about 3 years ago at age 26. I was still galloping and jumping him prior to him being afflicted. He was a Cushing horse that was on Prascend. He was also on large doses of Vitamin E as he had also been diagnosed with End Motor Neuron Disease.He was fine in the morning and then was walking sideways by lunchtime. Over the years I have found his condition to be very dependent on the weather. During the cool/cold weather he reverts back to almost normal. His symptoms spike in hot/warm weather. He gets mega doses of Vitamin E, Prascend and bute (every other day). He seems to get a little depressed when he is hard hit with symptoms. He is still able to walk, trot, canter and can get up and down when he rolls. He has rarely laid down to sleep for the past 3 years as far as I can tell. A student of my vet did research on the condition and did necropsies on about 10 horses but could not find any similarity among them to define a cause.
Yes, they donât want to lay down. My first horse stopped laying down near age 29 and I did not notice it till she fell and could not get up. So, part of it is age and all that stuff that comes with it I suppose. I suspected EMS and the vet suspected Cushings. Cornell results suggest EMS(verbal thru same vet), like his sibling had. After plugging in the Cornell numbers into Dr. Kellons site, I became very alarmed! The above mentioned vet was not willing to approach that last barn manager with the request for forage analysis (you see why we were so unpopular LOL!). My horse is IR by those calcs, yet my vet would not intercede. Between the messed up EPM treatment and my final nicey hay analysis letter to that barn manager, I was asked to leaveâŠGeesh! I did all of the extra work except that one EPM med day. Now my horse gets Lots of Vit E(the natural Vit E relatives like the tocotrienes have been researched in human research to be more effective on nerve health). The big improvement came after a little shot of steroid and the acupuncture. I think that Dr. Valberg mentions false dandelion in one of her end-motor -disease presentations(canât find it right now). My horse did get worse with heat/stress. The acupuncture seems to counter that. My initial acupuncture vet said that they did studies and showed that serotonin was released during the acupuncture (feel good brain chemicalâŠbasis of antidepressant actions). Right now we are in a heat wave and my horse is improving with hill work once again.My current barn manager/owners are very curious and supportive as is the resident trainer. My horse is turned out until he says he is tired(waits at gate). His stamina is growing by leaps and bounds, but we are always racing the clock because of age and other complications. He moves as good,if not better,than a lot of riding horses. He is safely turned out on a safer lot next to his new BFF(brain chemicals again?). Previous manager was trying to force me to turn him out on super rich pasture with false dandelion. Again,the vet knew of the false dandelion possibly contributing to the neuro presentation, yet would not intercede. I heard of the necropsies results HappyTalk mentions. I was told âpossible thrombolytic eventâ. My horse is in his mid twenties. But, if any younger horse can benefit from any of my experiences, it would make the emotional distress worth it. Plus, the horse is just so fun and keeps me in the horse world for now:)
