Stringhalt/Shivers end of the road?

[TBxQHowner]

Does anyone have experience with a horse with stringhalt?

I have a 14 year old 17hh Thoroughbred Gelding. His symptoms started when I got him off the track. Initially he would just short step with the left hind. There were some issues in his training, didn’t want to pick up the canter and would kick out. We worked through it all. He turned out to be an awesome well-broke/well-schooled horse. He barrel races. Jumps. Trail rides. Everything.

However, he now cannot back up without his leg seizing up on him. His initial steps are the worst after standing. His leg almost becomes stuck.

Every time he becomes nervous it gets worse. If he’s not exercised it becomes worse.

We’ve tried the high fat diet. However, he stocks up on it and his sheath becomes inflamed and edemas appear on his belly.

He’s on the extra strength glucosamine shots.

He’s had chiro and it doesn’t seem to have any lasting effect/if very minimal.

I’m not sure what else I can do for him and I hate seeing him this uncomfortable. We’re seriously considering putting him down. I can’t seem to take him anywhere anymore without getting funny looks.

Any suggestions?

[NancyM]

There is surgery that CAN work. It is best done as soon as possible, after the issue has been identified. A part of a tendon that runs through the hock is removed, cut on either side of the hock and it slides out of the tendon sheath. The attachment of the tendon to the end of the muscle above the hock is included in the removal. The longer the issue has been present, the more adhesions can be present, makes the surgery not as successful. Ask a surgeon about this. We had a client who had it done with his horse, it was not expensive (about $600) for the surgery, and was fully successful. I got to watch the surgery, and do the after care. I was amazed.

Other than that, I have a stringhalt horse myself. He’s quite a bad case. It is not painful, and it doesn’t bother him much when moving around and in his life, but he does not pick up his hind feet. At all. He’s a pasture ornament. Fortunately, our abrasive ground does a good job with a “natural trim” with wear. Otherwise, he would be a case for heavy drugs to get his feet trimmed. This is the main issue with stringhalt horses, farrier work. Other than that, they can be quite functional, and can usually be ridden and jump and compete in horse shows (sometimes not the hunter division) with the problem untreated.

Getting “funny looks” isn’t really a valid reason to put a horse down.

[findeight]

Stringhalt is a generic name for a whole bunch of different conditions, including injury, involving the stifle area. The stifle roughly corresponds to the human knee, more complicated then a regular bone to bone joint.

Dont see you have had any x rays or ultrasounds done? Is that true? Chiro can’t adjust things away without knowing exactly what is wrong. Might make it worse, Glucosamine shots are for joint health and lubrication, won’t help if it’s soft tissue or a dislocation, bone chip or old fracture in that complicated stifle arrangement,

[Bluey]

What region of the country are you?
Are you sure it is stringhalt, not stifle problems?

There are some very good veterinary orthopedic surgeons that can advise you where to go next.
Find one in your area and see about fixing it, as soon as you can.

Know of horses that were operated on for stringhalt.
That requires a very short little snip, snip, taking a little length of a tendon in each hock out and they were fine after that, competing back at their same high previous level.
I watched one of those operations, very simple, horse standing there.

Maybe your horse is a good candidate for that?

In the SW many go to the La Mesa, TX Dr. Bo Brock.
As a vet orthopedic surgeon, he is one of the best in the region, along with a couple others, one in OK, the other in TX A+M.

Best of luck that your horse can be helped.

[TBxQHowner]

I’m worried that the surgery will be unsuccessful and have not found a vet that I would actually go through with a surgery. The ortho guy that I would have used moved away.

We’ve done x-rays of the affected hind and nothing showed up. Clean as a whistle. No ultrasound.

I will call some vets vets in the area and check with them. I am on Vancouver island so my vet selection is limited BUT could haul him to a clinic on the mainland. My concern is, while I love the horse dearly, if surgery is unsuccessful currently with our set up, it will not be a benefit to him.

His hinds are currently not shod, and I think that’s currently contributing to the problem. Hoping to get shoes back on in the next two weeks.

He is still good with the farrier as long as the farrier keeps his hoof a bit lower to the ground and not way out behind him.

He seems extremely uncomfortable and it causes him a lot of stress and discomfort when it happens. He doesn’t want to move forward at the walk. Today he was so bad he was hopping for a few steps and holding the leg out to the side a bit more. I just feel so horrible for him. Currently he has to be in a paddock because it’s the rain season here. I strongly believe that turnout may help the situation.

Currently he cannot back up AT ALL. We can’t tie him either because he does pull back because of the hind leg.

Hopefully once he gets new new shoes I can take him out twice a day and it will help.

He he seems to really enjoy barrel racing and maybe getting him jumping again will help strengthen his stifle/hind end?

Im going to be adding some ground flax and magnesium to his feed and maybe that will help him too.

I’ve just started him back up on the glucosamine shots hoping it would help.

[Bluey]

@TBxQHowner

I’m worried that the surgery will be unsuccessful and have not found a vet that I would actually go through with a surgery. The ortho guy that I would have used moved away.

We’ve done x-rays of the affected hind and nothing showed up. Clean as a whistle. No ultrasound.

I will call some vets vets in the area and check with them. I am on Vancouver island so my vet selection is limited BUT could haul him to a clinic on the mainland. My concern is, while I love the horse dearly, if surgery is unsuccessful currently with our set up, it will not be a benefit to him.

His hinds are currently not shod, and I think that’s currently contributing to the problem. Hoping to get shoes back on in the next two weeks.

He is still good with the farrier as long as the farrier keeps his hoof a bit lower to the ground and not way out behind him.

He seems extremely uncomfortable and it causes him a lot of stress and discomfort when it happens. He doesn’t want to move forward at the walk. Today he was so bad he was hopping for a few steps and holding the leg out to the side a bit more. I just feel so horrible for him. Currently he has to be in a paddock because it’s the rain season here. I strongly believe that turnout may help the situation.

Currently he cannot back up AT ALL. We can’t tie him either because he does pull back because of the hind leg.

Hopefully once he gets new new shoes I can take him out twice a day and it will help.

He he seems to really enjoy barrel racing and maybe getting him jumping again will help strengthen his stifle/hind end?

Im going to be adding some ground flax and magnesium to his feed and maybe that will help him too.

I’ve just started him back up on the glucosamine shots hoping it would help.

Here is a video of one horse and a bit of his case history:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBFi1GsEqO4

I am not sure anyone can say how to go from where you are now.
Your vet and maybe a second opinion could possibly help?

The one horse I knew was a Grand Prix Dressage competitor that had been doing very good and was back competing well after the surgery.
Don’t know how he fared years down the road.

Don’t you have a veterinary university close your vet may refer you to?

[NancyM]

Since you are local to me (relatively), the vet clinic that did the successful stringhalt surgery, and has more experience with this sort of thing than any other I know in this area, is Craig Whalley’s clinic, in Cloverdale, BC. It was his partner who actually did the surgery on the horse in my care. I am more familiar with Craig, but the partner was also fantastic for this problem. I would highly recommend that you call them, make an appointment, and ship this horse across the water, and let them take a look at your situation. The surgery is done at the Cloverdale standardbred track, they have a rubber room there. The phone number of Craig’s vet practice is 604-576-6660. If they say “this case is hopeless and it is not worth trying to operate”, then go ahead and put the horse down. The one that they operated on for me could not canter, could not hold the canter rhythm at all. The stringhalt was evident at all gaits, but the canter was impossible. She was going to have to be put down, she was that crippled. The surgery fixed her 100%.

Bluey, we are quite a ways from vet colleges here. Pullman Washington is probably the closest.

[Bluey]

We also are hours away from vet colleges here, but drive hours away for so much you do competing with horses anyway, hauling is part of it.

OP may consider, if the horse is not going to get better, if some veterinary college may accept it as a donation for them to study the condition for a bit?
What they may find could help another horse.

[TBxQHowner]

Thanks NancyM. I will call them Monday and get some video to send them initially. With ferries (it’s over $500 round trip) maybe they have a recommendation on the island. I’d rather spend the $500 at the vets than on the ferries.

I did some more research as well and think a vitamin e supplement would be beneficial for him. I’m very slowly adding oil to his diet hoping it doesn’t cause a severe reaction.

Hes done one so much for me and I just hate to see him suffer. While he’s a stoic horse I’m not sure I could just donate him to research and being on the island the cost of even getting him to the college would be large.

I will post a video later as well. but for now, his symptoms look more like this:
https://equusmagazine.com/diseases/shivers-videos-template-26142