Monday, November 2, 2015

Your chance to be an armchair vet: What's wrong with Paddy?

Let me preface this all by saying that the vet has already been called and will be out Wednesday, so please don't worry that I'm using the Internet to diagnose my beloved Paddykins (also, Aimee would murder me in my sleep). So we'll get to the bottom of this with actual technology an' stuff. But in the meantime, it's fun to play armchair vet in this week's edition of "What's wrong with my horse?"

Here's the timeline:
  • Sept 15 - Paddy moves to Trainer's barn to prep for Championships. He goes from 24/7 turnout with his beloved Brego to 12 hour turnout by himself.
  • Oct 1 - Legend + Pentosan
  • Oct 7-11, Region 9 Championships. Paddy felt awesome even if he was a brat in the arena.
  • Oct 13 - Changed to Paddy's "winter" feed, Triple Crown Senior. Normally he gets TC Lite.
  • Oct 14-15 ish - I notice Paddy feels kind of stiff all over, but he works out of it.
  • Oct 16th or so - Trainer ride, she mentions that he feels a little stiff on his right shoulder.
  • Oct 17-24 - I don't ride as much but when I do, Paddy feels stiffer and I have to push him. Normally he goes mach one-Haffie. He also seems a little less interactive than normal.
  • Oct 25 - Paddy comes home for some R&R and to get his feet done.
  • Oct 27 - Trimmer notices that Paddy seems stiff and doesn't want to hold up any of his feet. He's also not constantly messing with the trimmer (usually he licks his hair and other helpful things). Trimmer says he doesn't seem himself.
  • Oct 28 - Great ride out on the trails - big trot, good canter work. Everything seems mostly normal except that after 20 minutes, he's exhausted.
  • Oct 29-Nov 1 - Stuck riding or hand-walking on the road due to weather. Such fun. Many yays. He seems to not be landing toe first on the RF, and short-striding a little at the walk, but looks and feels fine at the trot. 
  • Nov 2 - Bodyworker comes out and mentions that his topline is not great, something I had also been noticing. He's extremely tight in his neck, especially on the right. He also usually spends the entire session messing with anything he can wrap his little lips around, including the Bodyworker's hair, belt, the grooming box, etc. This time he just sort of stands listlessly, although near the end he starts throwing brushes and he looks much perkier after she's done . We discuss what might be wrong with him, and I call the vet.
 
Hard-working Haffies require massages.


Here's a few things that keep coming to mind:
  • He seems to be stiff and unwilling to go forward - normally he's a very strong, forward ride.
  • He doesn't seem to be himself - normally he's into everything, and now he's just not.
  • I thought he might be sort of depressed because he didn't have his Brego while at Trainer's, but his attitude hasn't really changed since he's been home.
  • I also thought he might be tired of working in an arena day in and day out at Trainer's. However, trail rides and road work are equally as unexciting.
  • I've had two people who don't see him every day (trimmer and bodyworker) comment that he didn't seem like himself.
And also:
  • I'm doing a Panecur Powerpac, just in case he picked up something at Regionals or Trainer's barn
  • The trimmer could find no abscesses, heat, or anything to indicate something wrong with his foot. We are, however, treating a deep crack in his RF heel (no thrush apparent, but still treating), which might be the cause of the toe-first landing. I will have the vet look at this limb in particular.
  • Bodyworker found no soreness in his back.
  • Some horses are sensitive to changes in sugars, and his winter feed is about 5% higher in NSCs than his summer feed. However, he's had that feed before and did not show any signs of it affecting him.
Soo, what does the Internet Armchair Vet Symposium think? Have you ever had anything like this in a horse of yours?

56 comments:

  1. Not enough cookies. Low Iron? He sounds like he is doing what I do when my Iron is low.

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    1. Oh interesting, I hadn't thought of that. I'll look into iron for horses.

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  2. aww no, poor Paddy!! we esteemed and accomplished armchair vets here on the east coast (particularly the midatlantic region) start shouting "Lyme Disease!" whenever a horse crops up with mysterious ailments that include physical and personality changes... but idk if that's a thing in your area? in any case, wishing you the best of luck :(

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    1. I was going to say that anyone up here would slap the Lyme label on him in two seconds flat. Do you guys get that down there?

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    2. Carly & Emma, I had the Lyme thought too. Vet has been requested to do a blood test.

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    3. Lyme was my first thought too! We've had several in the last year pop up positive. Glad to know blood work is on the list.

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  3. Auto immune issue or IR problems. Mostly though, FEEL BETTER PADDY!

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    1. The timing with the change in feed makes me suspect an IR problem too. I'm already in the process of switching his feed back.

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  4. Jen - can you measure the base of his frogs? Use a measurement that marks by centimeters to see if he truly is landing less on his right front. It might be that the crack in his heel is bothering him enough that he is using it less. If that were the case, then the stiffness might be from him favoring that foot.

    I ask this because when Ashke was evaluated the last time, his right front was .5 cm off his LF. This was due to the small pebble that had gotten stuck up under his frog in the toe of his foot and caused some bruising and tenderness.

    The last question is when were his teeth done last?

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    1. And has he been worked on by a chiropractor? It may be he was farting around and threw his neck out.

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    2. The Bodyworker is not a chiropractor but said it didn't feel skeletal, rather muscular. His teeth are due in 2 mos but the vet will look at them Wednesday to make sure there's nothing that needs attention now. He doesn't drool his feed or quid hay, but his tmj is very tight, so that's odd.

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    3. Btw, where do you measure the base of the frog? Curious.

      I can tell he's not landing heel-first by slow-mo video on my phone. I'm not sure if all the stiffness is just from soreness in the RF heel, but it's a possibility. We're definitely treating that foot aggressively.

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    4. My chiro/accu vet (Dr Diane Wagner) has a pair of calipers and she measures the base of the frog where it's the widest part. Then she compares measurements because that tells her how he is using his body. Because he is barefoot, his frogs show the impact from him connecting with the ground. (I think it works with shoes, but I've never had Ashke shod so . . .)

      Is he not landing heel first on just that foot? Ashke doesn't land heel first on his front feet - he lands almost completely flat footed, but has a nice break over. His break over, however, is set to the outside of the center line, which makes the boots more difficult for him to wear.

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    5. The frog where it gets bulgy at the back, by the heel. I'm so eloquent.

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  5. Maybe Paddy has seasonal depression. I suggest treating with spa time and cookies.

    But in all seriousness, I hope he gets better ASAP!

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    1. Paddy likes your idea of extra cookies the best of all these suggestions!

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  6. Get well soon Paddy, hopefully the get will have answers & that Sir Paddington will be right as rain in no time.
    Sending serious healing vibes *hugs*

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  7. Hmm...that's not good. Maybe PSSM? I have no experience with that but since I'm playing armchair vet... Good luck. I hope it's something very minor.

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    1. Definitely looking into having a pssm test done. If for no other reason than to rule it out!

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    2. That was my first thought. It's prevalent in QHs, drafts, draft crosses, etc., but I have no idea of Paddy counts as any of the above.

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    3. Haffies count as drafties, so it's a possibility.

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    4. PSSM was my first thought too... Hopefully it's something easy to fix and get him back to normal!

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    5. Sorry, random additional information... My friend has a PSSM horse, a big warmblood. He doesn't have tremors unless he gets into something too sugary. Normally he's just really stiff coming out of the stall, doesn't like picking up his legs, etc. He works out of it pretty quickly though. It's just his normal state.

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    6. TBA, no need to apologize for additional info, every little bit is helpful! Paddy definitely is stiffer than normal, even out of the pasture, and wasn't super happy holding up his feet for the trimmer (but has been fine for me). He doesn't work out of it, nor does it really get worse. But that doesn't mean it's NOT PSSM, lol!

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    7. I doubt it is PSSM, since tying up typically happens in the large muscle groups and Haffies weren't on the list when I was investigating this . . . however, testing will alleviate the worry.

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    8. It took a lot for my drafty to work out of it, you really had to send him forward forward forward at the walk. Like march your giant butt, pony. After that he would start to work out of it, but not fully. He had it pretty bad though.

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  8. Poor Paddy! Could be any number of things, from simple muscle soreness to Lyme, Ulcers, metabolic issues, etc etc. I wish our horses could talk sometimes!

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    1. It sure would be easier than trying to treat 30 different possibilities!!!

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  9. Yeah the stiffness has me also thinking metabolic issues like a low grade tying up issue. Interested to see what the vet says!!

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    1. Yes, and a lack of magnesium also occurred to me. I might try a supplement to see if that helps.

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  10. Sounds like maybe Lyme though I dunno if you have that in Texas. Also ulcers would explain the depressed attitude though I don't know how that would cause lameness. It is fall so PPID/founder and other such issues act up this time of year.

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    1. I'd thought of ulcers too, and we'll definitely look into that if some of these other things don't work out. So many possibilities!!

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  11. I was going to guess PSSM like Alanna mentioned - common in Haflingers and similar breeds. A friend's Haflinger was diagnosed after symptoms that sound a lot like Paddy's.

    Get well soon, pony!!

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    1. Supposedly paddy was tested for pssm by his previous owner but I've never seen the vet papers so who knows if that actually happened. If that's what's going on, it's very mild because there are no muscle tremors, and the new feed must be the trigger because he's had no access to grass or any other high sugar food. Still, I'm backing him off of the winter feed and we might test for type 1 since that's pretty easy. Thanks for the tip!

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    2. My draft never had the muscle tremors. He just got really stiff, had lameness that would move around, shortened step, etc.

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    3. Lindsay, interesting. Paddy's never had muscle tremors, and he's the same when I first get on him as after 20 mins of exercise. Was your horse always stiff, or only after a bit of work?

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    4. Stiff as a board walking out of his stall :( The boarding facility I'm at in Cali didn't offer pasture board, but we gave him as much TO as we could. He eventually went to live with the lady who has his half brother, who also has PSSM. He did better living outside full-time, but he still really struggled with it. HIs brother, however, is eventing up to Training/Prelim. He just takes a lot of management.

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  13. My first thought was LYME!! And then PSSM and/or another metabolic condition, especially since his winter feed is higher in NSC. I'd be happy to chat about symptoms/diagnosis/etc. since I went through diagnosing Dino with PSSM & Cushing's a few years ago. Pony problems suck! Hope your vet can narrow things down!

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    1. The crazy thing is, his regular feed is 9.8% NSC and the winter feed is 11.7%. And he's had it before. But who knows, maybe this year is the year things are different. Anyway, he's switched back now, so maybe that will help, even though he doesn't show any of the traditional signs of PSSM or Cushings. Who knows, maybe he picked up Lyme somewhere? If only they could talk!

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    2. Talking would sure make things easier. *sigh*

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  14. Things like that were always indicative of the following for Kacey:
    ~ Being cooped in a stall with isolated turn-out (for various reasons)
    ~ Weather change (from hot-cold AND cold-hot)
    ~ Lack of proper exercise/training

    Since all those seem to not be the case, I'm stumped. Luckily, I've had a very easy-care horse in Kacey, so I'm not totally up to date on the signs of worse things. *hugs*

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    1. Yeah, I'd expected some change when I brought him home and he got more movement, but he hasn't changed at all. And he's getting plenty of exercise so that shouldn't be it either. Hopefully the vet has some insight!

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  15. Yes. I would go down there just to murder you in your sleep if you weren't taking care of Paddy. Fortunately, you are possibly the most neurotic person I know, so he's in great hands.

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  16. oh pooor paddy!!! please get well soon :/

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  17. Just this morning I was asking my bhf why we did we have to pick the most anxiety producing + expensive + dangerous sport / hobby? Her pony is suddenly broken, so she's cycling through the long list of problems and solutions.

    Good luck - I hope it's something simple, like lack of cookies.

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    1. Haha, yes, Paddy thinks more cookies will fix anything! :)

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  18. Ulcers! This sounds so much like Apollo before his treatment. Hope the vet gets to the bottom of it and it's an easy fix :)

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    1. Yes, it does seem like how some horses present with ulcers, but he's just not an ulcery guy. Still, definitely something to consider.

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  19. I'm thinking ulcers or some kind of mineral deficiency. Either way, I hope it's not serious and gets resolved quickly.

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    1. It does seem like how some horses present with ulcers, I agree.

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  20. Stress induced ulcers and Mg or ZN deficiency + discomfort from the hoof issue.

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    1. He has been under a lot of stress lately so ulcers are entirely possible. :(

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