Well, it has been a long time since I have been on and I just realized that I forgot to post a follow up on this thread! So, for anyone interested in how things have been going with Remi, he is doing fantastic!
We have determined that Remi has PSSM (even though his basic equine screen and CBC came back “clean” for PSSM).
As I said I was going to do, we tested for lyme and determined that he did not have lyme. Long story short, PSSM has been diagnosed and he is now being fed a PSSM diet.
Although he was already eating low NSC grains (beet pulp and a ration balancer), I changed his diet up to add in oil so that more of his calories were coming from fat. Additionally, we began supplementing with a selenium and vitamin E supplement as well as Equitop Myoplast (which I will be changing up once he is done this container to a pure spirolena supplement that has no added sugar like the myoplast has).
I have to say, the difference is amazing! While I know that the diet can take months to make all of the changes it is going to make and it might have to be tweaked, within just a few weeks of being on this diet he showed so much improvement!
I mentioned before and, as I’m sure most of you saw in the video, he was extremely reluctant to work. The only thing that would really motivate him to move was if he was spooked, however now he is forward moving at all of his gaits. He is still having difficulty holding his lope going one direction, however I am hopeful this will continue to improve and it is already so much better compared to what it was. He also is showing far less grumpy behaviour (ear pinning when asked for transitions, ear pinning in the cross ties). He is also much less reluctant to being saddled and I have been riding often and believe that the exercise is helping him. He seems to be gaining more muscle all around as well.
Best of all, I feel like I am on the way to having my best friend back. While we are not quite ready to hit the trails like we used to, he is doing so much better and I hope that in time, with more arena work, he will be fit and confident enough to trail ride again and exercise at higher levels without quickly running out of steam like he often used to. I am just so happy to be back in the saddle and working with him again instead of being restricted to groundwork, hoping that he would be having a good day. Now, I am confident every time I ride that he is doing great!
Thank you so much to everyone who contributed to this thread. It was ultimately all of your suggestions that essentially resulted in his diagnosis - I feel like if I had not posted this here I would have dismissed PSSM all together since his blood work did not show abnormal CK/AST levels and I would have been right back at square one again. I wanted to follow up on this thread for anyone curious as to how he was doing and for anyone having similar problems with their horses - also, for anyone who has a medical mystery horse, don’t give up hope! You will find the answer and I know how exhausting it can be to hear people tell you that it is a behaviour or training problem - at the end of the day, YOU know your horse and know when something is up.
Sorry this was so long, but I am just so excited!
Thanks again to everyone! (:
