@RAyers - I want to copy your response here and send it out to a whole bunch of people on the west coast right now! ECVM has become a weird fad diagnosis and I have heard so many wild stories recently. I hate the word “malformation”, especially as more and more information seems to be showing that the majority of TBs and WBs have a malformation.
Most recently, I had a mare who I imported as a barely broke 4yo and showed through the 1.40m. She was meant to be a sales horse, but covid happened and that resulted in me keeping her longer than originally planned. In the last summer I had her, she packed my 15yo daughter around my kid’s first ever 1.40m classes beautifully.
Over 6 years of ownership, the mare was sound as a dollar and is built in a way that just lends itself to that (meaning my bodyworkers never had anything to say about her either - which is not the norm out of all of the horses I’ve had!). Mare has also always been the absolutely loveliest type - will jump every time always, with ears perked happily forward and soft-eyed, and never holds a grudge for rider error. Had full x-rays (including neck and back) done on her a little over a year ago and vet commented that the x-rays were beautiful with a couple of minor findings consistent with age/experience.
Ended up selling the mare this year. Mare gets in minor accident at new barn and is NQR afterwards (minor hind end lameness). New owner has new-to-area/new-to-horse vet evaluate the mare…though almost canceled because the mare was almost back to normal. But in the end thinks, “can’t hurt to have the new vet get a baseline on her.” Vet doesn’t have much to say upon examination. But then reviews the x-rays (from a year prior). Vet calls owner and says (in cliff notes form), “you need to put this horse down right now. She has ECVM, and I would feel better about riding a wobbler than your horse.” She (accurately) mentioned that it’s a highly controversial diagnosis, but was absolutely insistent that the horse needed to be put down immediately and implied that the new owner was cruel to keep her alive.
Thank god the new owner is a friend and called me before deciding anything - friend was utterly beside herself and devastated at the news. I helped connect her with a couple of other [very experienced] vets who were both HIGHLY CRITICAL of the vet’s “diagnosis” and disagreed with both the diagnosis and the plan for the horse. The second vet is a bodyworker and came out to work on the horse who I can happily report is back to 100%.
I get that ECVM is a thing and can cause problems. But this horse had a LONG history of soundness and was performing (and winning) at one of the highest levels of the sport…and not only winning, but packing around a kid who wasn’t “making” it happen. No lameness. No funny steps. No stopping. No painkillers (as in the horse didn’t even get bute at shows, let alone anything else to enhance comfort). Absolutely nothing funky ever in all the years I’d had her. Certainly none of the hallmarks of ECVM.
And sadly, I just heard from a trainer friend that the same vet convinced another acquaintance of mine to put down a horse that sounds strikingly similar to mine - a horse with a long history of soundness at a high level of competition and, most importantly, no symptoms. That owner is now suing the vet who did the original x-rays and “missed” the “diagnosis.”
I’m still absolutely blown away that a vet can seemingly arbitrarily decide that there is a “normal” horse spine and if a horse deviates from that…put it down! Right this minute! Nevermind that the horse might be bright-eyed, sound, and happy.
My point is that I have a hard time reading that a hard stop is “neck/back issues”. I understand not wanting to deal with kissing spine or some other particular diagnosis (especially if you’ve already had to deal with it before). But neck/back issues seem to be the new “it’s navicular!” answer when no one’s sure what “it” is.
