Look at how cute! I love his little ears. 
ETA: that color looks great on him.
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First thing that was ever looked into because laminitis was assumed based on his breed/time of year.
Either way! I trim him myself every 3-4 weeks and we’ve never had long toes. I had 3 local trimmers plus two NEW vets put eyes on him (and all his rads) with his flare up last spring. Zero concerns about trim.
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Yesterday was spring vaccines and a general follow up with our new vet that IDed the neck issues.
Firstly and a reminder how he has been vaccine reactive with 104/105 fevers. he got his Zoetis Core + Potomac + Flu/Rhino IN. We are now 29 hours post jabs and the highest his temperature went up was 100.3. I took his temp at the time of the vaccines and it was normal then, otherwise I would have been questioning the thermometer readings!!
What changed? He’s been on the Equinox which is perhaps helping and I also started him on bovine colostrum back in Sept '24. I had been taking it myself for my own health issues and found it to be worth the cost. With his EPM titer, the sarcoid he had on his nose, and his FWS, I thought maybe he could use some extra immune support himself. Since then, the FWS has resolved though we will really see come summer, and completely non-reactive (knock on wood its not super delayed) vaccine round. Im still a little in shock but wanted to share my anecdotal info on all this.
I asked Doc whether or not he thought his lower spine findings could be ECVM, and he didn’t think so so that was good to hear. Charlie is most reactive and wanting massages up at his poll/ears, which is around where he has the nuchal ligament mineral deposits. He thought it shockwave could be worth a try there. Any insight on that from the hive mind?
He also thought that the Equioxx helping the knee buckling may not be entirely neck related as he is still more comfortable in his boots when out on gravel. He said that with it not being a SUPER powerful drug, that it makes him question if the buckling is only neck related. Charlie is not footy walking on the drive, but is def more inclined with the tripping and knee buckling. Im waiting for our write up to come back, but he thought that it could be worth a trial in some shoes with a little rock and some pads which I’m willing to try. Once I get the specifics about what he was thinking on that end, I will post for additional thoughts. He’s had multiple hoof rads done and all look good to the vet and backup trimmer I have, so nothing obvious there.
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Wonderful to hear. Regarding shockwave, I haven’t personally used it yet but my sister-in-law has a horse with back issues. When she bought him he was extremely painful. He has arthritis in his back and he has visible scar tissue lumps on his back. They did a few rounds of shockwave, although a few years apart. So not the normal protocol. But anyways it made the swelling from the scar tissue go away completely on one side of his spine and nearly gone on the other. It really kick started him to have a healthier back, imo. It was pretty crazy to actually see the results with your own eyes.
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I am trying shockwave on myself on some chronically torn hip tendons (a pain for > 3 yrs). I have had 3 sessions and I must say…could it be? It seems to be helping. Have previously done PRP, a ton of PT and an ultrasonic needle tenotomy but both only helped temporarily.
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I’ve done shockwave at the nuchal ligament attachment. That horse loved it. But he was a weirdo. He didn’t even need sedation! He didn’t have mineralization but did have effusion there, which it cleared right up. We checked during follow up neck ultrasounds for a couple years and it never came back. I’d totally use it for the mineralization issue.
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Super promising to hear! How many sessions did he need?
I think we are in the weirdo club, he loves having the percussion massage gun IN HIS EARS 
. Any other horse here would be through the ceiling if you tried that 
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There’s an accupuncture spot in
The ear, near the tip, that calms
Horses. Most horses love a gentle massage there once you find it.
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We are scheduled for our first shockwave session at the therapy barn next Monday, here’s to hoping we have as good of luck as you did. It was May of last year that things flared up, and he has seemed a little more touchy these last two weeks with the weather starting to warm up so I wonder if that makes it worse for whatever reason.
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We are one full week post Shockwave session 1 of 3 and his new Equine Fusion Ultra Jogging Boots came in yesterday. We tried them out free lunging inside (shenanigans were not asked for or encouraged) and he seemed to feel REAL good . They also make pads to help dampen the impact a little more which are ordered.
After that, I popped his saddle on, asked for a walk/trot/canter both directions which felt pretty good. Then we hand walked out in the driveway with no obvious discomfort.
He has an appt with the professional trimmer tomorrow just to get her eyes on his feet again and another Shockwave next week.
The trot at the first part of the video looked super nice, he was the most fluid and over his back/relaxed in the neck than I’ve really seen.
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Wow, he did feel good. He does look more fluid than in other videos. My girl gets trimmed next Monday then I will get good measurements and order some.
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We had our second shockwave session last week and before treatment, our rehab vet had me ride him through all his paces. We rode in the indoor with the super nice footing, we rode in her limestone lunge ring, and then on the gravel drive. We got a trip pretty quick on the drive (not a full knee buckle).
She agreed, @StormyDay about him being a half tick off on the front left still. She flexed him with me on board and had me trot down and back on the drive as well. He actually did pretty well with that. Anyways!
We go for our third shockwave next week. To start though, she want to block that front leg and see if we can ID any specific areas in the limb that may be contributing. If he blocks clean, she wants to try PRP injections in the neck, which I’m game for. We see her again Wednesday, she’s having me stop the Equioxx the Sunday before so hopefully we can really get down to business on where the issue may be.
I have upped our riding intensity a bit this last week and I think he is riding better after the shockwave. It seems like he’s figuring out reaching his neck down while trotting and cantering more than I ever remember. Normally, his left lead feels pretty good and his right is like a motorcycle around the corners. The last two rides after the second shockwave have his right lead feeling MUCH better than it normally does. He was also pretty willing to be forward, but still relaxed and not wanting to get zoomy.
These are from last night, couple passes of trot and canter both ways:
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I think I’d trip on a gravel driveway too; rocks hurt!
He looks pretty darn good. I’ll be interested to know how he blocks.
You and me both!
An update on the Equine Fusions too…I need to try them again WITHOUT the gel pads…they started twisting almost immediately and I thought it was due to the different physics of driving vs riding. I put them on just hand walking and they twisted then too. Its ether the pads, or they are breaking in and don’t fit quite as snug.
HOWEVER. I tried the gel pads in his Renegades, and really like how those are fitting. That’s what he had on at the vet, and for our videoed ride.
I do think there is a hoof or limb component to all this too. When I just hold his hoof to pick it…he moves it around and pulls a lot before I even use the pick. He seems MORE comfortable when I trim though so I am stumped on what to think there. I’ll have to get a video of that too. And he’s always kinda done that so it’s not new. He does that on BOTH fronts and is completely fine with his rears.
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So I have a young horse who is like this (although for her it’s her hinds) and her deal is that holding up her own foot is soooooo haaaaaaaaaaaard. She’s super happy to just rest on the stand, though. 
Maybe your guy has something similar where holding up his own foot is the tough part, for whatever reason? If you’re trimming from the bottom, do you have the hoof between your knees? And pulling forward you’ve got him on a stand? Neither position is really on HIM to hold it all in place.
It could be interesting to give him more stability when you pick, just to see what he does? I’m asking my filly to just hold your own damn foot up for like a few seconds at a time, but the working theory for her is it’s just a strength thing. Here’s hoping anyway, haha.
Did you say he has some lower neck stuff? That can make it harder to hold up the front leg sometimes. Doing some scapula range of motion stuff can help with that.
Yep, between the knees! And he is fine for it being forward on the stand as well.
He does, mild degeneration. With that said, I regularly do stretches and mobility stuff with him. And he’s quite happy to show off his “Norwegian” Walk (it’s like a Spanish walk…but he likes to try and add his back feet in too ). He offers that freely…he did it walking to the mounting block yesterday as a matter of fact 
.
Maybe picking up the hoof is just a worse/less comfortable position given his issues though. I’m really curious to see if we find anything else at our next visit.
Yeah, he may just find it hard to hold his own foot up! It will be interesting to see if/how that improves as you continue to work through all his other stuff. If you get to the point you think you’ve addressed any pain, maybe some simple strengthening for that specific thing would be worth a shot!
(My little filly would like to commiserate that holding your own feet up is haaaaaard 
)
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Why do it yourself if your human will do it for you?
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